Royal Australian Mint | mint | www.metalmarket.eu

History of creation

The foundations for the Royal Australian Mint were laid as early as Australia's adoption of its constitution in 1900, which authorized the government to introduce a series of laws and regulations to introduce its own currency. However, Australia had to wait a while for the adoption of a monetary law, as it did not happen until 1909. The event was not synonymous with the establishment of a national mint. It took much longer to become independent of Britain's Royal Mint.

Construction of the mint was not approved until 1962, while it began a year later. Canberra was chosen for its location - more specifically, the site adjacent to the National Library, between the Old Parliament and Capital Hill. The grand opening ceremony attended by Prince Philip took place on February 22, 1965. The first task assigned to the mint was the production of circulation coins. Over time, bullion and collector coins were also included, which the mint minted as part of its own programs, as well as programs for many countries around the world.

Curiosity

The Royal Australian Mint is primarily responsible for minting Australian circulation coins, but this is not its only function. It also uses its huge production capacity to mint coins, medals, medallions, tokens for domestic and international private customers. In its history, the mint has had the opportunity to mint coins on behalf of New Zealand, Nepal, Malaysia, Israel, Bangladesh, the Philippines or even Fiji.

Fulfilling so many orders while maintaining the highest production standards requires not only trained personnel, but also technology. Production is overseen by 170 mint employees and robots - the nearly 5-ton Titan, which carries the drums of coins weighing several hundred kilograms and transfers them to the actual hopper, and Robbie, which supports the process of packaging the finished coins.

One of the tasks of the mint is also to maintain the National Coin Collection (ang. National Coin Collection), which includes all coins produced by the mint over the years, as well as old and rare Australian and foreign coins. According to the latest valuation, the cotton wool collection is as high as $24 million.

Production volume

Since its inception, Royal Australian Mint has placed a very high emphasis on quality, research and development, and a high level of technological sophistication in the production being carried out. Interestingly, it was the first mint in the world to receive accreditation in accordance with ISO 9001 International Quality Standards.

By reaching for innovations and enlisting the help of robots, the mint boasts significant production capacity. It is estimated that more than 15 billion circulating moments have left the local production facility since its inception. Current production capacity allows the minting of up to 2 million coins each day, which translates into 650 coins per minute.

The mint uses such a large production capacity to meet its own country's needs for circulating coins, as well as needs reported by other countries. The Mint also mints many collections of bullion and collector coins, which are highly regarded by investors from around the world.

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