The Canada Royal Mint began in 1908, coinciding with an era of expanding gold production in the Yukon and British Columbia. A refinery was needed to do the complex chemical work of bringing freshly mined raw gold up to mint standards without shipping it back to the UK.
The original Canadian Mint refinery in Ottawa opened under the watchful eye of Governor General Earl Gray on January 2, 1911. Under his direction, the mint minted Canada's first domestically produced coin, a 50-cent piece. Countess Gray closed the ceremony by striking Canada's first bronze penny.
In 1979, the Gold Maple Leaf coin was introduced to great popularity. Four years later, the mint increased the gold content of its Maple Leaf series to .9999 fine gold bullion. Following the continued success, just six years later, the Royal Canadian Mint launched the Silver Maple Leaf series of bullion coins.
In 2001, the Royal Canadian Mint became the initial mint in the world to use laser technology in its manufacturing procedure. The casting pattern is registered by a scanner and cataloged. That way, each coin can be traced back to the exact day it was struck and the die it was struck with.
The Canadian Mint presented new anti-counterfeiting measures in 2014. With these new technological advances, gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins have never been more secure, implementing Bullion Digital Non-Destructive Activation (DNA) technology to ensure the integrity of these royal canadian mint coins.
Beginning in the 2010s, the Royal Canadian Mint issued a variety of commemorative collections of gold and silver bullion coins. Among these collections, the majority had a pure metal content of .9999, either gold or silver. The following is a list of some of the famous series issued by the Royal Canadian Mint during this time period, some of which are no longer in production while others continue:
Wildlife Series: The Canadian Wildlife Series had coins in .9999 pure silver with six designs depicting animal species commonly found throughout Canada, from the gray wolf to the wood bison. Every coin had a limited mintage and the series featured two releases per year through its run from 2011 to 2013.
Birds of Prey Series: The Canadian Birds of Prey series was a semi-annual release that included a total of four designs and debuted in 2014. The coins featured a pure silver content of .9999 and weighed 1 troy ounce. Birds represented in the collection include, in order, the 2014 peregrine falcon, 2014 bald eagle, 2015 red-tailed hawk, and 2015 great horned owl. The designs were also recently re-released in 2017 as reverse test specimens. with the same four birds presented.
Maple Leaf Series: The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coin was introduced in 1988 and has been minted every year since. They contain .9999 Fine Silver and are one of the most beautiful dollar-sized coins. The design of these coins is exquisite, with meticulous attention to every little detail. There have been many modifications to the design, including trial versions, various private labels, holographic enhancements, and commemorative varieties.
World War II saw low mintages of most coins, as metals (especially copper and nickel) were needed for the war effort. The composition of the 5¢ coin was changed to tombac in 1942, and the design was changed to a V for Victoria in 1943. The composition was changed again to nickel and chrome-plated steel in 1944.
The concept of the V design came from Winston Churchill's famous V sign and the V denomination mark on US 5¢ pieces from 1883–1912. A novel feature was an inscription of Morse code on the coin. This International Code message meant "We win when we work willingly" and was placed along the edge on the reverse in place of the denticles. The regular reverse and composition resumed in 1946. Chrome steel was used again for the 5¢ coin from 1951 to 1953 during the Korean War, but the reverse remained unchanged.
In 1967, the Mint introduced a series of commemorative coins in honor of Canada's centennial. Designed by Alex Colville, each coin produced that year featured a creature native to Canada: a rock pigeon on the 1¢ coin, a rabbit on the 5¢ coin, a mackerel on the 10¢ coin, a lynx on the 25¢ coin, a howling wolf on the 50-cent coin, and a Canadian goose on the dollar. A $20 commemorative gold coin was also minted for collector sets, featuring a coat of arms on the reverse. It is worth noting that the Royal Canadian Mint wanted to commemorate Canada's 60th anniversary in 1927 with variant coin designs.
The Ottawa Mint was the first mint established in Canada. In fact, this facility was also renamed to bear the name 'Royal Canadian Mint' when its ownership was transferred to Canada. He initially began reporting to the Finance Department. However, in 1969, the Royal Canadian Mint was reorganized as a Crown Corporation, making it independent of the Department of Finance. Under this reorganization, the mint would act as a self-made corporation with its own board of directors.
Due to its rich history and architectural significance, This Mint in Ottawa was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. The Tudor Gothic architecture of the original building still stands, giving it a distinctive identity, and setting it apart from other buildings in Canada's capital.
The Ottawa facility presently produces collector and commemorative coins, bullion coins, bars, wafers, and medals. The Royal Canadian Mint's gold and silver refineries and assay laboratories are also located here. In addition, it also has a full-time advanced engineering research team working tirelessly on various RandD projects.
The Master of the Mint, in 1960, N.A. Parker hinted to the government about the need for a new Royal Canadian Mint facility. Since the capacity of the Ottawa facility had been reached, the government recognized the need for an additional facility. Although Canada's Prime Minister at the time, Lester B Peterson, suggested building the new facility at Elliot Lake, Ontario, no real plans materialized until much later.
Consequently, when the Royal Canadian Mint became the Crown Corporation, a new facility was expected as several studies showed that the Ottawa facility had become obsolete. The Mint ultimately decided that the Ottawa facility would retain the historic building, while the newer branch would handle the minting of Canadian circulation coins.
The Minister for Supplies and Services at the time, James Richardson, first proposed a facility in Winnipeg. However, this proposal generated substantial debate because the law stipulated that the Mint that was responsible for producing money in Canada should be established only in the capital region. The argument was that plants that were more than 1,000 miles apart would face numerous communication difficulties.
Ultimately, Winnipeg was chosen as the site for the Royal Canadian Mint's newest branch after the various technicalities were ironed out. The Winnipeg facility allowed the Ottawa branch to focus on designing and minting coins for collectors while handling the production of all coins in circulation in the country.
The Royal Canadian Mint is a Crown corporation and operates under the royal Canadian mint act. Serving the public interest, a Crown corporation has greater managerial independence than other government entities, meaning it can operate on a commercial basis. Like private sector companies, the Mint has a board of directors made up of a president, the Mint's president and CEO, and eight other directors.
Traditionally, the President and CEO of The Royal Canadian mint is known as the Master of the Mint. The president is Marie Lemay (appointed in 2019) and the chair of the board is Phyllis Clark. In descending chronological order, the people who have served as the Mint's Master Engravers are Cosme Saffioti, Sheldon Beveridge, Ago Aurand, Walter Ott, Patrick Brindley, Myron Cook, and Thomas Shingles.
There are 10 members on the Mint's board of directors and 12 members on its Executive Team. The Royal Canadian Mint has four lines of business: Bullion and Refinery Service, Canadian Circulation, Foreign Business and Numismatics.
The Mint produces and markets a family of high purity gold, silver, palladium, and platinum maple leaf coins, wafers, and ingots for the investment market, as well as gold and silver granules for the jewelry industry and industrial applications. the Mint also provides Canadian and foreign customers with gold and silver processing, including refining, assaying, and secure storage.
In addition, the Royal Canadian Mint operates a technically advanced refinery where it refines precious metals from a variety of sources, including primary producers, industry, recyclers, and financial institutions. the mint refines fresh gold to 995 fine through the Miller chlorination process. The gold is then poured onto anodes for electrolytic purification to a fineness of 9999 using the Wohlwill process.
In May 2007, the Mint produced the world's first and only 99.999% pure gold Maple Leaf Bullion (GML) coins. Offered in limited edition 1 troy ounce (31g) gold bullion coins, three series of these special GML coins were produced (2007, 2008, 2009) in addition to the 99.99% pure GML coin, which is produced under demand. A 100kg version of the 99.999% pure GML coin was produced as a promotional tool and then sold as a product when interested buyers came along.
The core mandate of the Mint is to produce and manage the distribution of Canada's circulation coins and to provide advice to the Minister of Finance on all coin-related matters.
As recently as two billion Canadian coins are minted each year in circulation at the Mint's facility in Winnipeg. While the effigy of the reigning monarch has appeared on all Canadian coins produced by the Mint since 1908, the reverse designs have changed considerably over the years. The Mint often introduces new commemorative designs that celebrate Canada's history, culture, and values.
Since 2000, all of Canada's circulation coins have been produced using the Mint's patented multi-layer plated steel technology, except for the $1 and $2 circulation coins, which began using this technology on 10 April 2012.
The Mint manufactures collector coins and related products for collectors and enthusiasts in Canada and around the world. Several of these coins have won international industry awards and in 2010, the Mint sold its entire mintage for a record 25 collector coins
Made from the base and precious metals, several of the Mint's numismatic coins are enhanced with special technologies including holograms, enameling, lasers, and embedded crystals. The mint also produces medals, medallions, and tokens as part of this line of business.
The mint produces a large number of military decorations for the Department of National Defense, including the Medal of Sacrifice, the Canadian Forces Decoration and Pin, the General Campaign Star, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and bars, the General Service Medal, the Special Service Medal, the Operational Service Medal, the Canadian Memorial Cross, and the Victoria Cross. It also produces military decorations for Veterans Affairs Canada, as well as long service medals for the RCMP and awards for artistic achievement for the Governor-General of Canada.
The Mint also produced the athletes' medals for the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and Paralympics. The Mint produced 615 Olympic and 399 Paralympic medals at its headquarters in Ottawa for the 2010 Winter Games
The Mint also designed and produced the 4,283 medals for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.
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