Leston Lawrence, 35, was alleged to have taken nugget-sized pieces of gold, known as “pucks”, to a gold buyer in Ottawa on multiple occasions, the Ottawa Citizen reports.

He was paid cheques in the range of $6,800 for these, which he then deposited in a nearby bank.

However, one day a teller became suspicious and noticed from his account profile that Lawrence worked at the Mint.

He sold 18 pucks over a four-month period, worth a total value of at least $179,015.

One explanation of how Lawrence might have obtained the nuggets arose when a tub of Vaseline was found in his locker.

The court heard that a puck could be concealed in the anal cavity and not be picked up by the Mint’s metal detector.

Crown attorney David Friesen said they had “compelling evidence” of someone “secreting (gold) on his person and taking it out of the Mint”.

Justice Peter Doody has reserved his decision until November.