The Perth Branch of the Royal Mint (London) was established by Act of Parliament in Western Australia. It was the third mint branch to be opened in Australia. Its initial purpose was to refine the gold produced in Western Australia and to produce much needed coinage for the State in the form of sovereigns and half sovereigns. Coinage operations ceased when Australia came off the gold standard in 1931 and all subsequent output was in the form of gold bars. Apart from some shillings produced in 1922 and occasional medals, major coin production did not resume until 1940 when bronze circulating coins were made in 1968.

The Royal Mint (London) had closed its Sydney Branch in 1926 and with the introduction of decimal coinage in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the status of the Melbourne and Perth branches was questioned. The Melbourne Branch was closed in 1966 and the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra opened in 1965 to mint all circulating currency for the Commonwealth. Control of the Perth Branch of the Royal Mint was transferred to the Western Australian government and the Perth Mint was established in 1970.

In 1984 the Western Australian Development Corporation (WADC), as part of the Australian International Gold Programme, was commissioned by the Government of Western Australia to be Project Manager for the redevelopment of the Perth Mint. The Perth Mint was reconstituted under new legislation, the Western Australian Mint Act 1970, which was replaced by the Gold Corporation Act in 1987. Gold Corporation came into being on 30 June 1988 as a fully autonomous organisation, wholly owned and guaranteed by the State of Western Australia. It provides products and services to the gold industry, precious metals investors and international precious metals markets.