Arcelor Mittal have launched their XCarb® programme ‘towards neutral steel’, as in carbon neutral steel. Steel is widely used the production of coins.

By its very nature, bullion is a valuable and more expensive commodity than standard commemorative coins comprised of nickel, copper or zinc, for example. This can lead to greater scrutiny of the items produced and their provenance.

Back in December, Coin & Mint News posed the question ‘how important is ethical sourcing?’, highlighting a few organisations that are considering the sourcing of their metals and looking at ways to make the process more transparent and sustainable.

Leondaro Abdias, Director of Innovation and Market at the Brazilian mint, Casa da Moeda do Brasil, announced measures to combat illegal gold trade in Brazil during an event held in May titled ‘Ways of Gold: the Importance of Traceability to Prevent Illegality and Irregular Extraction’.

The Turkish State Mint has reduced the size of the lira coins to offset rising minting costs, according to local reports.

Counterfeiting is nothing new – indeed it has often been called the world’s second oldest profession. Counterfeiting of money has been going on ever since the invention of physical money in around the 6th century BC.

The National Bank of Belgium is encouraging citizens to flush out their low denomination coins and exchange them as quickly as possible, due to shortages of the 5 and 10 cents in particular.

Consumer demand for ethically sourced and sustainable products has grown in recent years, partly as a result of a greater awareness of the impact of manufacturing upon producers but also due to increased scrutiny over the environmental impact of metals mining.

SICPA has recently extended its operations into the gold market with the launch of BullionProtect®, which is now being used by Indonesian bullion producer Hartadinata to provide more confidence in gold bar trading.

Australia’s lower denomination coins will end up costing more to make than their face value, according to a report by the research outfit Morningstar, thanks to soaring metal prices.