Following the discovery of gold in the
South African Republic (causing the 1886
Witwatersrand Gold Rush), the country's President
Paul Kruger decided to establish a national mint. This was established in 1890 and opened on 6 July 1892 in
Pretoria. After the end of the
Second Boer War in 1902, the country was annexed into the
British Empire and became the
Transvaal Colony, leading to the closure of the mint after the
pound sterling became the legal tender of the new colony. Under the
Mint Act of 1919, the British established a branch of the
Royal Mint on 1 January 1923, which produced £83,114,575 worth of
sovereigns during its lifetime. As South Africa began cutting ties with Britain, the mint closed on 30 June 1941 only to be later reopened as the South African Mint. ==Products==