Notable firsts • 1st colour 1999 20th anniversary GML: 5-coin set • 1st hologram 1999: GML hologram set – 5-coin set • 1st irregular shaped coin 2006: square sterling silver beaver • 1st 0.9999 silver coin 2006: Four Seasons $50 commemorative coin • 1st coloured coin using plasma technology: commemorative $20 plasma coin for the International Polar Year • 1st million-dollar face-value coin: 99.999% pure gold • 1st glass added coin 2017: Under the Sea Series: Seahorse • 1st glow-in-the-dark coin 2017: Canada 150 Anniversary Set: Aurora Borealis $2 coin • 1st of its kind gold maple leaf (GML) bullion coin from a confirmed single source: the Meliadine Gold Mine in the Kivalliq District of Nunavut (2022)
Other notable innovations Multi-ply plating In 2000, the mint patented an improved, money-saving production method called multi-ply plating technology. Since that year, the mint has used this technique to produce 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, and 50¢ pieces of Canadian circulation coinage, all of which were previously minted from nearly pure nickel alloys. Similarly, a copper-plated steel blank was used to produce the 1¢ coin until production ceased in 2012. Also in 2012, multi-ply plating was introduced for the $1 and $2 coins. This particular plating process uses a steel core that is electro-magnetically plated with a thin layer of nickel, then a layer of copper and finally another layer of nickel. As a smaller quantity of copper and nickel is required, this process has reduced circulation coin production costs. The composition of plated coins is more durable, thereby reducing the number of damaged coins in circulation and increasing their overall efficiency. By varying the thicknesses of the alternating layers of nickel and copper, the mint can create coins with unique electromagnetic signatures, preventing fraud and producing the most secure circulation coins on the market.
Coloured coins In 2004, the Royal Canadian Mint issued the world's first coloured circulation coin. The 25¢ coins were produced at the mint's facility in Winnipeg and feature a red-coloured poppy embedded in the centre of a maple leaf over a banner that reads: "Remember / ". The obverse features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt. The process of adhering colour to the coins surfaces involved the utilization of a high-speed, computer-controlled and precision inkjet process. Approximately 30,000,000 coins went into circulation in October 2004 and were available exclusively at Tim Hortons locations across the country. U.S. Army contractors travelling in Canada filed confidential espionage reports describing the coins as "anomalous" and "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology". In 2006, the mint produced a second colourized circulation coin in support of a future without breast cancer. The 25¢ coin features the pink ribbon symbolizing breast cancer awareness. More recently, the mint produced two other 25¢ poppy circulation coins in 2008 and 2010, both of which feature colourized designs. In 2008, the mint also produced 50-
toea colourized coins for Papua New Guinea. These coins were manufactured using a robotic mechanism that oriented the coins in a way that ensured all the colourized designs faced the same direction. This new technology was also used to produce the "Top Three Moments" coins. These 25¢ coins are part of the mint's Vancouver 2010 circulation coin program and feature designs celebrating the top three favourite moments in Canadian Winter Games history. The men's hockey gold medal at Salt Lake City in 2002 was voted by fans as the No. 1 Canadian Olympic Winter Games Moment of all time – out of 10 moments — in an online contest hosted in 2009 by the mint and Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. Coming in at No. 2 was the Canadian women's hockey gold medal at Salt Lake City 2002, followed by Cindy Klassen at No. 3 and her five long-track speed skating medals at Turin 2006. The coins marking these top three favourite moments were launched into circulation on September 29, 2009, November 17, 2009 and January 5, 2010, respectively.
Physical vapour deposition The mint succeeded in extending the life of the die beyond that of past chrome-coated dies, with the adaptation of the
physical vapour deposition (PVD) technology to coat its dies.
Glow-in-the-dark coins In 2017, the mint released a set of circulation coins for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. In these circulation coins, the $2 coin has a coloured version which features some
northern lights. When left under a normal source of light and then turning off the lights or when illuminated by a UV lamp, the northern lights glow turquoise. This coin was the first circulation coin in the world to glow in the dark. Around ten million coins were minted, but it was expected that around only one in ten Canadians would have one. However, this was not the first time that the mint worked with glow-in-the-dark technology. In 2012, a three-coin set of glow-in-the-dark dinosaur skeletons were released, but these coins were never for circulation; they were made for collection.
UFO-themed glow-in-the-dark coin The
Shag Harbour UFO incident on October 4, 1967, was commemorated in a glow-in-the dark coin launched October 1, 2019. This coin is the second in the Royal Canadian Mint's "unexplained phenomena" series. The first coin in the series was released in 2018 and depicts the
UFO encounter near Falcon Lake (Manitoba) in 1967.
Barbados flying fish coin As announced on November 26, 2020 the RCM produced a $1 glow-in-the-dark coin featuring a
flying fish, in collaboration with the
Central Bank of Barbados. It went into circulation on December 1, 2020. In 2022 this coin was announced at the 2022
Excellence in Currency Awards for Coins that the coin won the 'Best New Commemorative or Test Circulating Coin' award for 2022 by the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) held in Amsterdam.
Mintshield In 2018, the mint introduced Mintshield, a production technology for its silver maple leaf coins aimed at reducing "milk spots", discolourations that can appear as white spots on the surface of silver bullion products. It is the only mint to offer technology specifically aimed at milk spots.
Activities Bullion products and refinery The mint produces and markets a family of high-purity gold, silver, palladium, and platinum maple leaf bullion coins, wafers, and bars for the investment market as well as gold and silver granules for the jewellery industry and industrial applications. The mint also provides Canadian and foreign customers with gold and silver processing, including refining, assaying, and secure storage. Additionally, the Royal Canadian Mint operates a technically advanced refinery in which it refines precious metals from a variety of sources, including primary producers, industry, recyclers, and financial institutions. The mint refines raw gold to 995 fine through the
Miller chlorination process.
Bullion coins In 1979, the mint began producing its own branded bullion coins, which feature a maple leaf on the reverse. Since 1979, the fineness of the gold used to strike the gold maple leaf (GML) coins has increased from .999 to .9999, and finally, to .99999 (for a special series from 2007 to 2009). In addition, GMLs are produced in sizes that are fractions of a
troy ounce: 1 oz, oz, oz, oz, oz, oz, oz, and in sets that combine some or all of these weights. Special-edition designs have commemorated the tenth anniversary of the GML (1989), the 125th anniversary of the RCMP (1997), and the 25th anniversary of the GML (1994). A three-coin set was released to commemorate the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games (2008–2010), and a fractional GML set was issued in 2011 to commemorate the centennial of the mint's gold refinery. Renowned for its unrivalled purity, the mint's gold maple leaf remains one of the world's most popular bullion coins.
Silver maple leaf The Royal Canadian Mint's silver maple leaf (SML) was first issued in 1988 and featured the same design as the gold maple leaf bullion coin. These coins are available to investors in 1 oz, oz, oz, oz, and oz sizes. In 2004–05, the coins were sold in sets of four coins that featured two wildlife species: the Arctic fox (2004) and the Canada lynx (2005). Each coin was of a different value and depicted the animals in a separate pose. Colour and selective gold plating have also been applied to special issues of SML. Holograms have proved popular applications, having been featured on SML coins in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005. Platinum maple leaves were struck in 1 oz, oz, oz, oz, oz, and oz weights, between 1988 and 1999 and again in 2009. In addition, the platinum maple leaves were sold in special issue sets in 1989 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the GML and in 2002 as a five-coin set featuring holograms. In 1999, the coins featured the polar bear design appearing on the inner ring of the $2 circulation coin.
V nickel World War II saw low mintages of most coins, as the 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 Victory in 1943. The composition was changed again to nickel-
chromium-plated
steel in 1944. The concept for the V design came from Winston Churchill's famous V sign, and the V denomination mark on the US 5¢ pieces of 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 rim on the reverse instead of denticles. This was the mint's first export contract since a contract for the Dominican Republic 32 years earlier. The second contract came in April 1970 from the Central Bank of Brazil. The RCM produced 84million blanks for the 50-centavo piece. An order for 100million general-circulation five-centime and ten-centimo coins for
Venezuela was received as well. By 1973, orders totalled 65million coins, and 70million blanks. By 1974, the Ottawa facility produced a facility record 1.2billion coins (foreign and domestic). Other coins have included centavos for
Cuba, kroner for Norway, fils for
Yemen, pesos for
Colombia, kroner for
Iceland, rupiah for
Indonesia, baht for
Thailand, and a thousand-dollar coin for
Hong Kong. Other client nations include
Barbados and
Uganda. In 2005, the mint was awarded a contract valued at US$1.2million to produce 50million toea coins for Papua New Guinea. The circulation coins were produced in denominations of 5 toea, 10 toea and 20 toea, and were manufactured at the mint's facility in Winnipeg. In 2005 alone, the RCM manufactured 1.062billion coins and blanks for 14 countries. From 1980 to 2005, the RCM has manufactured approximately 52billion coins for 62 countries. These coins were manufactured at the Royal Canadian Mint's facility in Winnipeg. In 2007, the mint produced coins for a variety of other countries, such as New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. In 2008, the mint produced over 3million coloured 50-toea coins for Papua New Guinea. These were the world's first coloured coins to circulate outside of Canada. In addition to adding a painted design to more than three million coins, the mint was required to identically orient the design on every coin. To accomplish this, the mint, in collaboration with Canadian robotic equipment manufacturer PharmaCos Machinery, developed its own robotic arm to "pick and place" each coin on the painting line, creating a new technical capability unique to the Royal Canadian Mint. In 2009, the mint produced coins and blanks for 18 countries, including the (10-cent coin) for Panama.
Numismatic coins In 2006, the Royal Canadian Mint issued the $50 Four Seasons 0.9999 silver coin. This was the first 5 oz pure silver coin issued by the mint, and had a limited mintage of only 2,000 coins worldwide. High-grade examples of this coin fetch $1500 to $5000 at auction. Demand for the coin was unprecedented, and it was the lowest mintage 0.9999 silver coin ever produced by the Royal Canadian Mint until the 2009 release of "Surviving the Flood", a 0.9999 silver coin which has a worldwide mintage of only 1500. On October 19, 2007, the Royal Canadian Mint issued ten new collector coins, including a 25¢ coin minted to commemorate the 60th wedding anniversary of
Elizabeth II,
Queen of Canada, and
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; and a $15 sterling silver coin bearing the effigy of
Victoria, the first from the series of five coins illustrating the effigies of the
previous Canadian monarchs.
Toronto Transit Commission tokens From 1954 to 2006, the mint supplied the
Toronto Transit Commission with 24million tokens. These tokens were taken out of service in 2007 for official use. The lightweight token was replaced due to the ease in duplicating counterfeit versions. Subsequent tokens for the TTC were manufactured in the United States by
Osborne Coinage.
Canadian Tire In October 2009, the mint produced
trade dollars for Canadian Tire which temporarily replaced their regular $1
coupons. The initiative called for the production of 2.5million nickel-plated steel tokens, as well as 9,000
brass-plated steel tokens. As part of the limited-time offer, the trade dollars were distributed in 475 stores nationwide.
Notable medallions Made of base and precious metals, several of the mint's numismatic coins are enhanced by special technologies including holograms, enamelling, lasering and embedded crystals. The mint also produces medals, medallions and tokens as part of this business line. The mint produces a great number of military decorations for the
Department of National Defence including: the
Sacrifice Medal, the
Canadian Forces' Decoration and Clasp, 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
Memorial Cross and the
Canadian Victoria Cross. It also produces military decorations for
Veterans Affairs Canada, as well as long-service medals for the RCMP and artistic achievement awards for the Governor General of Canada. The mint also produced the athletes' medals of the
Montreal 1976 Olympic Games and the
Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The mint produced 615 Olympic and 399 Paralympic medals at their 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. • In 1983, the RCM issued a medallion to commemorate the wedding of
Prince Charles and
Lady Diana Spencer. The composition of the medal is 50% pure silver and has a diameter of . The coin had a production limit of 100,000 and its issue price was $24.50. • The RCM created a medallion to honour
Elvis Presley. The medal features the word
Graceland (above an image of the mansion and its gates) and an actual denomination of $10. The reverse of the medal features an engraving of Elvis, along with the words "The Man/The Music/The Legend". The medallion itself is undated, but as the medal is , one would assume it was made for the 10th anniversary of the singer's death. Additional information can be found in the certificate of authenticity which states this Elvis Presley medal was authorized by Legendary Coins and struck by the Royal Canadian Mint. The packaging bears a copyright date of 1987, and states the "medal is for commemorative purposes only" and is "not legal tender". • Medallions honouring hockey legends have also been created. To commemorate
Mario Lemieux's induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, a special set honouring all the inductees was issued in 1997. In 1999, a nickel medallion was issued to honour
Wayne Gretzky's retirement. The issue price was $9.99 with a mintage of 50,000. The mint makes collector coins and related products for collectors and enthusiasts in Canada and all over the world. Several of these coins have earned international industry awards and in 2010, the mint sold out the entire mintage of a record 25 collector coins.
Vancouver Olympics In 2006, the mint entered a partnership with the
Vancouver Olympic Committee and became an official supporter of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. As such, the mint ran a three-year program of circulation and collector coins in honour of both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Their Vancouver 2010 coin program included the largest circulation coin series in relation to the Olympic and Paralympic Games ever conceived by any mint worldwide. It included the production of 17 circulation coins, 15 of which were of the 25¢ denomination and two of which were $1 "lucky loonies". The mint was the first in the world to commemorate the Paralympic Games on a circulation coin. These commemorative 25¢ coins were distributed across the country through participating Petro-Canada and Royal Bank of Canada locations. Regarding the circulation coins, one of the novelties was that ('''' 'by the grace of God queen') was removed from the Queen's effigy, making the 25¢ coins the first "godless" circulating coins since the 2001 International Year of the Volunteer 10¢ piece. On the 1911 issue of King George V, the inscription was accidentally left off. The first circulating $1 coin was dated 2008 but the obverse is the standard effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt with the wording "Elizabeth II" and with the Circle M privy mark. The program also included the production of two sterling silver Lucky Loonies in 2008 and 2010, with mintages of 30,000 and 40,000 respectively.
Vancouver 2010 Winter Games medals The mint also produced the athlete medals for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Vancouver 2010 gold medals are each made of sterling silver plated with six grams of 24-karat gold. The silver medals are sterling silver while the bronze medals are composed mostly of copper. Their composition is governed by International Olympic Committee regulations. Each medal features a piece of one of two contemporary Aboriginal artworks and weighs 500 to 576 grams each. The design on each medal is based on two large master artworks of an orca whale (Olympic) and raven (Paralympic) by
Corrine Hunt, a Canadian artist of Komoyue and
Tlingit heritage based in Vancouver. Each medal features a unique, hand-cropped section of her artwork. The medals are also undulating rather than flat. They had to be struck nine times each to achieve this unusual shape. The medals were on display throughout the 2010 Winter Games at the Royal Canadian Mint Pavilion in Vancouver. There, visitors waited in line, sometimes for over seven hours, to see and hold the medals. With so much interest generated by their Vancouver 2010 program, the mint opened an additional retail outlet in Vancouver. This store is at 752 Granville Street, between Georgia and Robson streets, and was closed in 2017. == Award-winning coins ==