Financial Times Royal Mint Article

STRIKING A BLOW FOR THE TREASURY
Published: February 6 2006 02:00 | Last updated: February 6 2006 02:00
*The Royal Mint has a continuous history dating back to striking silver pennies for King Alfred in London in 886
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*It moved from Tower Hill in London to Llantrisant, south Wales, in 1968 to add capacity for decimalisation. It employs 800 people

*The Treasury pays the Mint for coins issued at prices fixed under contract and the Mint collects the face value of coins from banks it supplies on behalf of the Treasury.

*The number of new coins issued each year ranges from 5 per cent to 8 per cent of the total estimated coins in circulation. Demand for new coins arises mainly because of growth in the economy, together with a need to replace coins lost, worn out or taken out of the country by tourists*The Mint's latest presses each strike more than 700 coins a minute, making it impossible for the human eye to separate the individual pieces as they pass through*The Mint has the largest output of any mint in the world outside the US...

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