Croatia joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2023, bringing the number of European Union member states using the single European currency to 20.

Registration is now open for the Mint Directors Conference 2023, which takes place later this year, 15-18 October in Ottawa, Canada.

The Royal Mint’s luxury jewellery line 886 has already made the news with its recycling of gold found in electronic waste to create new wearable pieces. Now, in collaboration with precious metal experts Betts Metals, the brand is utilising discarded medical X-rays to create silver jewellery.

The Royal Canadian Mint has announced the launch of a new numismatic coin collection to honour the life and reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are all issuing commemorative coins in support of and to help raise funds for Ukraine.

As it prepares for the euro changeover next month, the Croatian Mint has created a new world’s smallest coin featuring the world’s smallest city, Hum, with a face value of 1 kuna.

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.

In last month’s issue of Coin & Mint News, we covered five of the presentations made at the World Technical Forum 2022. In this issue, we cover the five presentations made in the second half of the Technical Forum.

Last month, we reviewed the Coin Conference held in Amsterdam in October. Alongside the main programme was a seminar dedicated to sustainability.

IMIA President Gerhard Starsich and Managing Director Martina Horakova spoke to CMN about the foundation of the new association, the role of coins in the cash cycle and how the IMIA plans to make the case for their importance, and indeed that of cash overall.

Bulgaria has signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Commission and the Eurozone group president, paving the way for the country to start minting its own euro coins once it receives approval for eurozone membership.

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.

It is customary in Coin & Mint News™ sister publications – Currency News™ and Cash & Payment News™ – to round off the year with a review of the key trends and developments over the preceding 12 months.

A group of organisations from both the coin and banknote sectors have joined forces to support a first-of-its-kind in-depth study into the environmental impact of cash versus digital payments.

The 2022 Coin Conference, which took place in Amsterdam from 17-19 October, attracted 160 delegates from 45 countries and 92 organisations, including central banks, mints, academia, and industry suppliers.

Coiniverse, the mobile app platform developed by the Mint of Finland and now adopted by several mints around the world in association with the collector community, has announced the addition of its newest member mint, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (IPZS) – the Italian Mint.

Swissmint has announced the launch of a new alloy for its silver coins alongside the rebranding of all new collector coins under the title and brand ‘Eidgenössische Sondermünzen’ (Swiss special coins).

The Royal Mint has launched a special collectable £2 coin to celebrate twenty-five years of the bi-metallic £2 coin. The £2 became the largest circulating coin denomination in the UK following minting in 1997 and introduction the year after, and the new collectible features the original ‘Technology’ design by artist Bruce Rushin.

The Royal Mint announced a 27.3% increase in sales to £1.4 billion and pre-tax profit of £18 million for the year ending 31 March 2022, an increase of 45% over the previous year, largely due to higher precious metals sales in the UK, US and Europe.

According to the recently published Royal Australian Mint annual report for 2021/22, the circulating coin, collectible and investment business lines achieved revenue of A$182 million and a surplus of A$23 million after tax, which resulted in a 33% RONA.