2016-09-09 Fri

In 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint produced five 1 million-dollar 100 kg coins of 5 nine gold. The first coin is safe in a vault and the rest 4 were sold for $2.6 million each—two to anonymous buyers, one to the owner of a mining company in Western Canada who lends it to different museums, and one to a Dubai businessman. The Mint got a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest and purest coin. Australia made a 1,000-kilo coin, but with 4 nine gold. Canada also introduced 15 10-kilo 99999-pure gold collector coin with a $1,00,000 face value in 2011.

72-pound pure silver blocks sent from the refinery are sliced and melted in a furnace at 1,250°Celsius. Long molten strips are cooled off and turned into 1,000 pounds coils. The silver is again heated to soften it using 65 tons of force on both sides. Blank coins without images of the required shape are punched out.

The leftover silver is sent back to the furnace. A rim is added for the visually challenged to identify coins and to protect the image. The coins are then weighed using Material Recovery Technology which uses the inbuilt laser to shave off bits until the precise weight is reached. The leftovers are sent to the furnace again.

Blank coins are sent to a conveyor belt and fall into a machine which strikes the required designs. Collectors’ coins are taken to the manual press room where they are struck four to six times to ensure that the image is clear. Faulty coins are sent back to the furnace and the others are rechecked by around eight more people.

The Royal Canadian Mint is also known for the beautiful coloured coins that it mints along with glow-in-the-dark coins with holograms and crystals.