Gold heists are a thing of legend. But, they are very real outside of old ‘wild west’ movies.
Experts at The Gold Bullion Company investigated the estimated worth of loot seized from the world’s largest gold heists to identify the most expensive ones, including South Africa's own historic mine robbery.
Ten years on the Sibanye Gold Mine ‘job’ takes the spot of the fifth most costly heist of all time. According to the experts, 500 kgs of gold was looted with an astounding estimated value of R652,801,141.
“Twenty gold miners were arrested for stealing over 500 kg of ‘gold concentrate’ from Johannesburg-based Sibanye-Stillwater. The miners secretly filled hidden sacks sewn into their overalls during their shifts,” said Rick Kanda, managing director of The Gold Bullion Company.
| Gold heist | Year | Amount stolen (kgs) | Current value (estimated) |
| British Bank of the Middle East heist | 1976 | 12,000 | R15,665,916,391 |
| The Brinks Mat Gold heist | 1983 | 3,000 | R3,917,622,814 |
| Guarulhos Airport robbery | 2019 | 748 | R977,195,719 |
| The Golden Door Jewellery Creations theft | 1983 | 736 | R960,948,183 |
| The Sibanye Gold Mine job | 2014 | 500 | R652,801,141 |
| The Toronto Pearson Airport heist | 2023 | 400 | R522,326,523 |
| Australian Safe Cracking heist | 1995 | 285 | R372,050,338 |
| The Summer Bliss robbery | 2012 | 216 | R281,975,005 |
| The Great Gold robbery | 1855 | 91 | R118,752,830 |
| Singapore Brinks robbery | 2012 | 70 | R91,354,996 |
Kanda gave the following tips for those with gold assets to avoid robberies:
Home storage
If you simply have a little amount of precious metals, home storage may be the ideal solution for keeping your gold and silver safe.
You should consider placing your metals in a high-quality safe for added security. The safe should be concealed in walls or floors and bolted down.
Ideally, the safe should be fireproof and waterproof to protect your bullion from unintentional harm.
Safety deposit boxes
Renting a safety deposit box at a bank is more secure than storing it at home since institutions have high-level security measures in place such as high-tech surveillance and regulated access.
Many banks are also insured, allowing you to recover the value of your precious metals if anything happens to them. For a price, you’ll receive the lone key to a box to store your gold and silver.
Storage vaults
A specialist storage vault is the most secure choice for protecting your gold and silver. These vaults are designed to protect massive amounts of precious metals with superior security features.
They are also climatic and temperature-controlled to keep your precious metals from deteriorating.
IOL