3 Ginger Snaps

Scanning some City of Winnipeg promotional materials I came across an advertisement for a visit to the Royal Canadian Mint. Being a bit of a nerd, and recalling a recent visit to Ottawa where I saw a very long line up to get into the mint, I thought we might have better chances to get into the mint in Winnipeg. We did. Turns out there is tons of tour availability here in the middle of the country. We were not allowed to take any pictures on the tour. We did learn a few things though.

Charlotte

The stamping machine that presses the coin design from the die into the coin presses the head and tail of the coin simultaneously and can press 14 coins every second

One of the security features at the mint is that workers on the production wear uniforms that have no metal in them so that when they exit the building through metal detectors they know they aren’t stealing

Ruby

• The mint makes money for a lot of different countries (80) – not just Canada. Some of the countries they make money for we have traveled to including Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore
• The design on the loonie was not the original design for the $1 coin. In fact the master punch was originally designed as a traveler in a canoe but it got lost when it was sent from the mint in Ottawa to Winnipeg.

Arden

• There is a coin crusher that crushes any of the coins that aren’t made perfect how they are supposed to be
• You are not allowed to take photos on the tour because they want to keep the way they make the money a secret

Hil

• Canada is a leader in coin manufacture technology and invented the method for making coins multicolour
• In 2015 the mint manufactured a loonie that glows in the dark. The loon is as it looks on a regular coin but the sky in the background glows in the dark as a representation of the Northern Lights

Drew

• In 2000 the mint invented a world leading technology for platting coins with different layers of copper and nickel. This allowed various coin operated machines to use sensors to detect the amounts of these metals in coins used in machines and thereby certify the authenticity of each coin and prevent people from scamming the machine with fake coins.
• About 20% of the metal that comes into the mint leaves the mint as scrap once the coins have been punched
• The raised edges in the sides of coins serve two functions. First – each denomination of coin has a different edge to help people with visual disabilities detect which coin is which. Second – the raised edge of the coin provides a tiny space buffer between the picture surface of the coin and any other surface the coin might come in contact with such as another coin or a countertop. This buffer helps preserve the design on the coin from being scratched off. When a coin is manufactured it is expected to be in circulation for about 40 years
• The Royal Canadian Mint is a for profit crown corporation. It was founded in 1909. Prior to that all of Canada’s coins were made in a mint in London. The Royal Canadian Mint was first opened in Ottawa. After a while of operation, the mint in Ottawa switched to producing only collector coins. The mint in Winnipeg was opened in 1976 to produce circulation coins. The mint does not produce bills.

The mint is capable of producing 15,000,000 coins a day

one more factoid for all interested parties… according to our tour guide, the mint doesn’t use any of their own vehicles to transport finished coins to ports in BC or Quebec. They rent marked trucks from major corporations such as McDonalds, Tim Horton’s or Walmart so that the coins can travel in disguise. So, as Arden says, the next time we see a big truck on the road, it could be Timbits or it could be money!