Transport of precious metals
It is absolutely okay to transport a few coins of silver or even gold on your own but when it comes to transporting larger amounts of precious metals you shouldn't do it yourself. You should hire a special company who knows how to transport precious metals and has proper insurance. It can be dangerous to you and your family if you store large amounts of precious metals in your own house. More and more people decide to store their precious metals not at home but with a professional storage company. But how to get your precious metals from your home to a storage company, perhaps in a different country, like Canada?
Do-it-yourself transport to Canada
Usually it is no problem to transport precious metal bars from most other countries to
Canada. You can take them with you when get on board an airplane and bring them to
Canada. Precious metal coins can be a little bit trickier because they usually have
a face value and are considered legal tender. Please make sure to talk to customs in
your country and ask for requirements.
You can take as much precious metal bars with you as you want or asyou are allowed with
your carry-on baggage. But you should keep in mind the security risk because you
probably won't be able to keep your precious metals a secret. On your way to the gate
you must go through a security check and your precious metals will be detected from the
scanners they use. The oficers there will probably ask you what you are carrying and
they want to see it. It is a good idea to ask if you can show them the precious metals
in a private room or area with nobody else looking over your shoulders. But still some
people will recognize it and you don't know who is travelling with you.
When you travel to Canada you must report currency and/or monetary instruments totaling
CA$ 10,000 or more. In this case you need the form E677 which you can find here::
Download Form E677
Fill in all the necessary information and present it to the customs officer at arrival.
In case of silver, platinum and gold there will be no charge but it is important that
your precious metals have a purity of at least 995. They probably will check if you have
to pay any duties or anything else but there is no cost for importing these three
precious metals.
Transport with Atlantic Canada Metals Inc.
If you are thinking of transporting a larger amount of precious metals to Canada you
should think about to give the job to a special company who knows how to transport
precious metals from one country to another country. Atlantic Canada Metals Inc. is
working together with the best companies in the world when it comes to the transport
of valuables. Here is a short description of the process:
1. Preparing a list of all precious metals
You need to prepare a list of all of your precious metals you would like to ship. For
every piece we need to know if it is a bar or a coin, the material (silver, gold or
platinum), the purity, the weight and the name of the producer (refiner). Please send us
this list by email.
2. Offer and order
Once we have checked your list we will provide you with an offer. If you like the offer
then you have to place an order which you can do by email. After that you will receive
an invoice for the whole amount and you have to pay it in advance.
3. Pack and seal
Your precious metals need to be properly packed and sealed by you. You need sturdy
transport containers which can protect your precious metals during transport. You
should use metal boxes, wood boxes or good plastic boxes which can't break. Under no
circumstances should you use cardboard boxes because they will break. You need to make
sure that no box is heavier than 25 kilo and you should number your boxes in case you
have more than one box. You must prepare a list of content for each box and send these
lists to us. If you don't have numbered seals we can send you seals and you must tell us
which seal numbers you used for which boxes.
4. Drop off and transport
You must drop off your boxes at the office of the transport company, usually at the
international airport closest to your location. Before you do this you must provide
us with information about your car (make, model, color and license plate) and how many
people will be in the car during drop off. After we have talked to the transportation
company and everything is in order we will provide you with the address of the drop off
location along with names and contact numbers. You must call them and arrange an
appointment to drop off your precious metals.
5. Transport and storage
After you dropped off your sealed boxes, they will be transported by air to Canada and
then transported in an armored car to the high security vault. Your sealed boxes will be
opened once they arrive in the high security vault usually in presence of customs
officials. The contents of your boxes will be checked and then stored in your storage
account.
Cost of transport
It is not possible to provide a price list for transporting precious metals. But to
give you an idea what it could be, we came up with a rule of thumb which you can use:
Base price: CAD 9,500 plus the value of the precious metals multiplied with 0.005 and
plus the weight of the precious metals multiplied by 10.
Example:
90 kilo precious metal with an value of one million CAD:
Baseprice: CAD 9,500
Value: CAD 1,000,000 x 0.005 = CAD 5,000
Weight: 90 kilo x 10 = CAD 900
CAD 9,500 + CAD 5,000 + CAD 900 = CAD 15,400 + 15% HST
Please keep in mind that this is just a rule of thumb and you will receive an offer with
a final price.
Execution time
The whole process will take about 7 to 10 weeks. Most of the time is needed for the
preparation (step 1 to 3).