Awesome blog,
Composition of loonies and toonies will be switched to a steel core from nickel
Thought you might find this interesting...
montrealgazette.com
Kevin
Headline: Canada to mint cheaper steel coins
OTTAWA — Canada's mint will soon unveil one-dollar and two-dollar coins made from brass-plated steel, replacing more expensive nickel cores, the government said Friday.
An explanation in the official Canada Gazette said the traditional use in coinage of high cost alloys at volatile market rates has driven up production costs for governments around the world.
"In many countries, the intrinsic metal value of the coins are greater than their face value, leading to coin hoarding activities that reduces the efficiency of the monetary system," it said.
The new coins will be slightly lighter, Can$16 million (US$16 million) cheaper to produce and ship, and harder to counterfeit.
However, the change will cost coin-operated industries up to $40 million to recalibrate vending machines to recognize the new coinage.
The mining sector will also be hit as global nickel demand falls by about 539 metric tonnes per year, or 0.05 percent.
Source: google.com
Headline: Cent, Nickel, and $1 Coins Chart Uncertain Future
During the 2011 fiscal year, losses from producing and distributing the cent and nickel reached $116.7 million, as the unit cost for each rose to more than twice the face value. The US Mint’s Acting Chief Financial Officer David Motl indicated that demand from Federal Reserve Banks for these two denominations is expected to increase in the near future.
Meanwhile, the US Mint’s most profitable denomination was the $1 coin, which generated $382.8 million in seigniorage. On December 13, 2011, Vice President Biden and Treasury Secretary Geithner announced the suspension of production of Presidential Dollars for circulation. The coins will still be minted in limited quantities needed to fulfill demand from collectors, but undoubtedly production will experience a sharp decline.
Source: coinupdate.com
