At a small precious metals shop in Salt Lake City, customers come in clutching bags of gold and silver. Some coins and bars were passed down through their families; others were purchased from the shop only a few years ago.
Tellers at Monarch Coin Corp. sort through the bags, weighing and testing each item as customers hope to cash in on a surge in gold prices that’s sparking a modern-day gold rush across the country.
One treasure Monarch is seeing come and go quickly: gold bars from Asahi Refining, a publicity-shy metals refinery in West Valley City that creates high-demand bars of rare purity.
Asahi gold — usually collected in 1-ounce or 10-ounce bars — stays out of stock at Monarch for days, said Staci Larsen, Monarch’s president and CEO. In 2020, the shop bought large quantities of Asahi gold and silver bars from distributors to keep up with demand, she said.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sales associate Jackie Perez displays gold coins at Monarch Coin Corporation in Salt Lake City, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025.
The spot price for an ounce of gold was about $2,628 at the end of 2024, according to the American Precious Metals Exchange, which set it at $4,223.50 as of Friday. Many bars are coming back through her doors as buyers take advantage of the high resale price, she said, but then they sell again fast.
Utah’s Asahi refinery is a subsidiary of Asahi Resources and Environment (ARE) Holdings, based in Tokyo. The West Valley City plant is the only refinery it operates in the U.S. — where it’s the largest precious metals refiner in the country, according to a post on its Instagram account.
It’s also one of only two gold refineries in the U.S. that are on the Good Delivery List created by the London Bullion Market Association — a prestigious accreditation signaling that its bars meet strict global standards for purity, weight, appearance and quality.
(Monarch Coin Corporation) A 1-ounce troy gold bar made by Asahi Refining.
Last week, Utah Sen. Mike Lee introduced a bill that would require the federal government to make sure every gold bar it owns meets the Good Delivery List standard within the next five years. “The American people deserve to know about the riches THEY own — and the quality of their stewardship,” Lee wrote in a post on X announcing the bill, which would also require an audit of the government’s gold reserves.
Asahi handles a large share of Utah’s imported gold — the state brought in 2.2 million troy ounces, worth nearly $3 billion, from other countries in 2023, according to a Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute report. Asahi also takes in gold mined in the U.S. — though not from Kennecott Utah Copper, which said it refines its own gold.
The West Valley City plant turns semi-pure bars from mines — known as doré — and recycled metals, including jewelry and fabrication scraps, into nearly pure gold and silver bullion.
Asahi is also certified as Responsible Gold compliant, meaning it follows the London Bullion Market Association’s ethical sourcing and anti–money laundering standards.
Its refined gold is Utah’s biggest single export, according to the Gardner Policy Institute.
The refinery is expanding
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Asahi Refining, one of two London Good Delivery refiners in the United States, is seen in West Valley City on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.
Asahi is building a new 12,000-square-foot refinery on its existing site in West Valley City with a grand opening slated for 2026. The company says in its 2024–25 sustainability report, released in late October, that the project will expand its U.S. operations while raising the bar for efficiency and sustainability.
“Our new refinery was designed by and is being constructed with U.S. and Japanese engineers,” the company said in the report, “working together to increase operational efficiency by improving material flow, minimizing waste and upgrading equipment to modern standards.”
ARE Holdings declined an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, citing the company’s responsibility to maintain “strict security protocols to protect the integrity of our facilities and uphold the trust our customers place in us,” it wrote in an email.
“These measures help ensure that our practices remain discreet and secure, in line with the expectations of those who entrust us with their valuable assets.”
More than 60% of the expansion project’s budget will be spent with local contractors and suppliers, according to the report.
Once operational, the new refinery is expected to use significantly less energy when processing silver. According to the report, each metric ton of silver will require 270 kilowatt-hours less electricity compared to a traditional refinery — roughly enough to power an average U.S. household for about nine days.
That improvement comes partly from upgraded electrolytic refining cells — specialized equipment that uses an electric current to separate pure silver from impurities.
Gold is a top Utah export
Utah’s gold exports are booming — and it’s not just the volume driving the surge. The skyrocketing price of gold has sent the value of those exports soaring, said John Downen, an economic researcher at the University of Utah.
In the first seven months of 2025, the state’s gold exports rose by 122% compared to the same period last year, even as exports of other products fell, he said.
“Gold exports tend to be fairly volatile from year to year, and part of that is just because the price of gold has really gone up rapidly in the last year or so,” Downen explained. “So part of that, 122% increase is just from an increase in the price of gold, not necessarily the quantity of gold that we’re exporting.”
Still, gold accounts for almost half of Utah’s exports.
In 2024, nearly 45% of Utah’s exports came from metal manufacturing, totaling $8.1 billion — with gold making up 97% of that, according to the most recent May report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute on Utah’s international trade.
Utah’s gold exports are also heavily concentrated. About 98% go to the United Kingdom — a trend that’s unlikely to shift anytime soon, Downen said, especially since no U.S. tariffs have been imposed on gold exports to the U.K.
(Ashley Gilbertson | The New York Times) Sanjar Khamraev smelts gold jewelry and bars into a large bar worth $1.5 million at Bullion Exchanges in New York, on Oct. 17, 2025. Gold prices are soaring to historic levels, drawing newcomers and regulars alike to New York’s diamond district.
One possible reason for the strong relationship is that the U.K. is a major global financial hub, Downen said.
It’s home to the London Bullion Market Association, the international trade group that represents the London gold and silver market. Its members include central banks, private investors, mining companies, producers, refiners and fabricators from around the world.
The West Valley City refinery dates back to 1983, when Johnson Matthey opened the facility during a renewed interest in gold mining in the west.
Asahi Refining’s parent company, which rebranded from Asahi Holdings to ARE to emphasize its environmental focus, established a foothold in North America in 2015 by acquiring Johnson Matthey’s gold and silver refining businesses for $118 million.
The deal included the West Valley City refinery and a refinery in Brampton, Canada, according to a news release.
That acquisition also transferred Johnson Matthey’s London Bullion Market Association Good Delivery status to Asahi for the two refineries.
Gold’s timelessness
Monarch Coin, a family-run business trading precious metals since 1959, doesn’t deal in jewelry, Larsen said. Instead, it specializes in gold and silver bars and coins whose value moves with the global market, offering customers a tangible way to invest.
Larsen said the recent surge in buying is tied to record-high gold prices and what she calls “fear-based investing,” fueled by economic uncertainty and the government shutdown.
“It’s a safe haven metal,” Larsen said. “It’s an investment that holds your money, and it’s a physical thing you can hold. People don’t trust the dollar so much as they used to.”
The store operates with tight security, including doors that must be opened by employees.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Monarch Coin Corporation in Salt Lake City, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025.
While some of Larsen’s customers at Monarch Coin scoop up gold and silver in bulk, others return every week or two, spending whatever they can from their paychecks to slowly build their stash, she said.
The purchases, she said, are a way to hold wealth outside the banking system or stock market.
“People just kind of come in regularly and keep it going for themselves,” Larsen said. “It’s been really good for them.”
It’s a rhythm that can feel almost old-fashioned in a world of digital trading and online currencies: the daily flow of gold and silver moving in and out of the shop, each bar or coin weighed, tested and authenticated.
And while some brands, like Asahi, are a rarer site in the shop than others, she said, the allure remains the same — solid, tangible value that you can hold in your hand, piece by piece, over time.
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