Last year, International Carwash Association worked with the United States Mint to provide feedback on the possibility of using alternative metals in the production of coins. Here is the latest.
The U.S. Mint recently released its 2014 Biennial Report to Congress today on the research and development (R&D) of alternative metals for the nation's circulating coins. This report is the second released under the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010, Public Law 111-302, which authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct R&D on alternative metallic materials for all circulating coins, with the goal of reducing production costs. The Act also requires the Secretary to provide a biennial report to Congress on the status of coin production costs and analysis of alternative content.
First and foremost, this Biennial Report to Congress reflects the continuing deep commitment of the Mint to reduce the cost of producing our nation's circulating coins, said Richard Peterson, Deputy Director of the Mint. This year's report also reflects the tremendous effort we made to reach out to our stakeholders-the many industries, associations and entities-that rely on circulating coins for their business operations. Obtaining their input was critical, continued Peterson. This report additionally highlights the many actions we've taken in our manufacturing operations to drive coin production costs down, added Peterson. We've achieved significant savings by delivering robust cost reduction initiatives across the full spectrum of operations.
In essence, the report says at this juncture, there are several possible options to alter the metallic compositions that would lower the costs of United States coins, but the Mint does not recommend adopting any of these options until ongoing research is completed on a promising alternative that has the potential to duplicate the weight and EMS of existing coinage. The Mint plans to
continue this research in 2015.
The full report that has been submitted to Congress is available at the following link:
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=specialreports.