The 32nd Mint Directors Conference (MDC) was held last week in Cape Town, South Africa. The event hosts the MDC Coin Awards, sponsored by MingFeng Packaging, which this year took place last night during the MDC Gala Dinner at Cape Point Vineyards.

Reconnaissance International, co-publisher of Coin & Mint News™, has launched DataVault™, the industry’s first dedicated, searchable online database for coins and banknotes – designed specifically for currency professionals who need fast, reliable, and up-to-date information.

Coin & Mint News™ continues its ‘Remarkable New Issues’ segment, in partnership with CoinsWeekly, by highlighting three new collectible issues with dynamic designs – and in the case of Austria, a colourful centrepiece.

The Bank of Zambia has begun issuing new families of both banknotes and coins. The currency showcases Zambia’s rich heritage, with its unique flora and fauna as the central theme; hence it is called the ‘Heritage Series’.

The Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten began issuing a new family of banknotes and coins on 31 March. This is not just a redesign and upgrade for the coins and notes but a completely new currency, with the Caribbean guilder replacing the Netherlands Antilles guilder.

Reconnaissance, co-publisher of Coin & Mint News™, launched a new website – cashsustainability.com – on 22 April (World Mother Earth Day) as a cash community asset to capture and consolidate initiatives, work and research from every part of the cash cycle, and provide tools to support organisations on their pathway to a greener future.

The Mint Directors Association (MDA) held a webinar last month titled ‘Change For Coins: How to Harness the Passion of a New Generation of Collectors’, which focused on collectibles and leveraging product launches to grow brand loyalty and optimise commercial opportunities.

Researchers from the UK’s National Health Service have identified a possible unexpected benefit of the rise in contactless payments: fewer children are turning up at hospitals after swallowing coins or sticking them up their noses.

President João Lourenço of Angola has officially opened the National Bank of Angola’s new high-tech cash centre – Casa do Kwanza – in the capital, Luanda for the storage, processing and distribution of the country’s currency, the kwanza. The cash centre has been four years in the making, at a budgeted cost of approximately Kz 33 billion ($36 million).

The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has released a new family of circulating coins for member countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). This includes Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo.

Spain is reportedly the latest country considering cash rounding, after a proposal has been tabled to eliminate the one and two cent coins. The news closely follows the German National Cash Forum’s cash rounding advocacy last month, which asked the country’s Federal Ministry of Finance to ‘advocate for...a binding statutory rounding rule in Germany’.

The Royal Mint has made an equity investment in Canadian cleantech company Excir, its partner for precious metals recovery.

Gold has been viewed as a safe-haven asset for centuries, a role that is unlikely to change anytime soon. By its very nature, the precious metal asset holds store of value and is a hedge against volatility as a so-called safe and stable investment, in addition to providing protection against inflation. The current weakening of the US dollar only reinforces this.

The Central Bank of Solomon Islands has issued a new $1 coin into circulation featuring a new effigy on the obverse. The updated version retains the same dimensions as the previous issue, in addition to the Nguzu Nguzu motif on its reverse, but replaces the effigy of the late Queen Elizabeth II with that of King Charles III designed by Dan Thorne.

Last year was an eventful year for the Monnaie de Paris. Coin & Mint News™ spoke to the CEO of Monnaie de Paris, Marc Schwartz, at the recent World Money Fair in Berlin to discuss the Mint’s busy but successful year and its plans for 2025.

Euro coin counterfeiting figures from the European Commission report a growing number removed from circulation in recent years, and a sharp rise in 2023 in particular (the latest year it has reported on). The number came to 480,317 – up 62% compared to 2022 and the highest level by far since the introduction of the euro in 2002.

Germany’s National Cash Forum is now advocating rounding to the nearest five euro cents for cash payments, asking the Federal Ministry of Finance to follow suit and ‘advocate for, and press ahead with, a binding statutory rounding rule in Germany’.

As 8 March marked International Women’s Day, it seemed apt this month to take a look at some recent programmes that pay tribute to several notable women.

The 32nd Mint Directors Conference is scheduled to take place from 27-29 April in Cape Town, South Africa. The event, co-hosted by the South African Mint Company, aims to explore the fusion of traditional minting practices with modern technological advancements.

Coin & Mint News™ continues our ‘Remarkable New Issues’ segment, in partnership with CoinsWeekly, by highlighting three new collectible issues that celebrate a national icon or animal – and in the case of Canada, both.

The 2025 World Money Fair opened its doors to thousands of visitors earlier this year. Held 30 January to 1 February, the Fair welcomed over 13,600 visitors and more than 300 exhibitors from 50 nations to the annual event held in Berlin, Germany.

Two years after Croatia officially adopted the euro as its currency, around 4.3 billion kuna remains unexchanged. This includes 3.1 billion in banknotes and 1.2 billion in coins.

Coin & Mint News™ continues our ‘Remarkable New Issues’ segment, in partnership with CoinsWeekly, by highlighting two new collectible issues that are notable for the anniversaries they celebrate and one coin that is the first of its type.

Debates surrounding low value coinage – their use, perceived usefulness, seigniorage, and so on – are hardly rare, particularly as countries such as the Bahamas, Estonia, Slovakia, and Lithuania have either previously or plan to introduce cash rounding, effectively dropping the lowest denominated coins regardless of them remaining legal tender.

According to the latest figures published by Eesti Pank, Estonia’s central bank issued 3.2 million coins with a total value of €1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. This marks a 28% decrease in the number of coins issued compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

‘Change For Coins: How to Harness the Passion of a New Generation of Collectors’ is the title of the Mint Directors Association’s upcoming webinar focusing on collectibles and leveraging product launches to grow brand loyalty and optimise commercial opportunities.

Germania Mint unveiled a new special release coin for the recent World Money Fair, featuring Black Light Colours technology. The 2025 Germania Black Silver WMF Edition coin utilises the Mint’s Black Light Colours – a technology born from anti-counterfeiting security – to showcase vibrant hidden colours when held under UV light.

The Bank of Zambia has announced the introduction of a new family of the Zambian currency. The new family of banknotes and coins will consist of six coins and six banknotes, and is scheduled for launch on 31 March 2025.

According to the US Mint’s Annual Report for 2024, the production and associated costs for circulating coinage continues to rise year-on-year. Much of the increased production costs this year have been attributed to the cost of metal acquisition, although this is far from the first time that penny and nickel costs exceed their face value.

The 32nd Mint Directors Conference is scheduled to take place from 27-29 April in Cape Town, South Africa. The event, co-hosted by the South African Mint Company, aims to explore the fusion of traditional minting practices with modern technological advancements.

Danmarks Nationalbank has announced the signing of a new agreement with Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre – Real Casa de La Moneda (FNMT-RCM, or the Spanish Mint) regarding production of Danish coins for the next four years.

The Royal Canadian Mint has announced a new partnership with enim Technologies, which extracts precious metals from e-waste, to explore the possibility of incorporating these metals into the Mint’s future coin production.

As part Sunshine Minting Inc’s ongoing strategic growth plan, the company has announced a series of leadership changes.

Interest in precious metals investments continues to grow – attributed in part to investors, both experienced and novel, turning to these products as a safe and secure method of investment. Authenticity and trust generation are particularly important to Sigma Metalytics, a family owned and operated business based in California, USA, that offers precious metal verifiers to individuals and mints alike.

Inflation is a much-talked about topic, particularly as currencies battle against environmental disasters, energy crises, conflicts, and the aftereffects of the COVID pandemic, to name a few culprits. Therefore, it seemed timely that the topic of high inflation and coins was covered at last year’s Coin Conference, held in Lisbon, Portugal.

Coin & Mint News™ opens the first of this year’s ‘Remarkable New Issues’ segment, in partnership with CoinsWeekly, by highlighting three radically different new collectible issues that are notable for one reason or another.

Estonia has officially introduced new rounding rules as of 1 January, with the country also planning to cease minting 1 and 2 cent coins.

The Royal Australian Mint typically mints the first coin of the year, due to its geographical position as one of the first countries to enter the new year and the event that it holds every 1 January. This year’s theme for the RAM’s Mintmark programme celebrates the Mint and its workers, coins, architecture, and coins.