Bullion groups launch gold bar database to thwart fraud

FILE PHOTO: Employees process ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold at the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant, one of the world's largest producers in the precious metals industry, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

LONDON (Reuters) -Two gold industry associations are working with miners, refiners, traders and shippers to create a database of gold bars in an effort to prevent trade in counterfeit metal and allow buyers of bullion to trace its origin, they said on Monday.

The scheme aims to exclude gold linked to violence and crime from the mainstream market. Gold worth billions of dollars is mined each year in illegal conditions and large amounts are sold by groups including warlords and drug traffickers.