The numbers don’t add up at the Royal Canadian mint. An audit is being conducted into 2008 financial numbers which show that the mint should have a significantly larger stockpile of precious metals than it actually does. Police have not been called and the company is treating the situation as an internal matter. But no one knows if the discrepancy is a result of a robbery or an accounting error. What is known is that the problem may arise from an unprecedented increase in demand for gold from the mint in 2008, due to a 325 per cent increase in production of Gold Maple Leaf coins. Security is extremely tight at the plant, as any theft can jeopardize contracts the mint has both domestically and with foreign governments. There have been only four thefts from mint plants in over 100 years of the company’s operation.