Ohio Precious Metals started in 1974, reportedly in the garage of a small group of precious metal enthusiasts in Jackson, Ohio, reclaiming metals stripped from telephone equipment and melting them into bullion bars. A 2003 change in ownership brought major expansion, and by the time the LBMA added it to the Good Delivery List for gold in December 2013, it had grown into the largest Good Delivery refinery in the United States. The company's trajectory changed sharply after a 2012 merger with Dallas-based NTR Metals formed Elemetal — NTR Metals Miami was later found to have imported over $3.6 billion in gold from illegal Latin American mines between 2012 and 2015, and the resulting 2018 money-laundering conviction cost Elemetal (and Ohio Precious Metals with it) its LBMA Good Delivery status, forcing the gold refining operation to shut down.
Ohio Precious Metals now functions as a cautionary case study alongside Republic Metals: both were once among the largest US gold refiners, and both are now discontinued brands whose bars exist only in a fixed, closed secondary-market supply. Unlike Republic Metals' straightforward accounting-fraud collapse, Ohio Precious Metals' downfall came through its parent company's criminal conviction for anti-money-laundering violations tied to a subsidiary's illegal sourcing — worth understanding as part of the brand's story, even though it doesn't affect the metal content or authenticity of genuine bars already in circulation.
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Start tracking freeNo — its parent company Elemetal lost LBMA Good Delivery status in 2018 after a money-laundering scandal involving its NTR Metals Miami subsidiary, forcing the gold refining operation to shut down.
Yes — by 2013, when it was added to the LBMA Good Delivery List for gold, it had grown into the largest Good Delivery refinery in the United States.
No — the scandal involved illegal sourcing practices at a related subsidiary, not the metal content or legitimacy of bars already produced and in circulation, though as with any discontinued brand, buy from established dealers.