The South African Mint: Africa’s Largest Mint
by Ursula Kampmann
At the end of my trip to South Africa, I have the unique opportunity to visit the South African Mint. I’m taking you along on my visit, and that’s something very special: Normally, taking photos inside the South African Mint isn’t permitted!
If there’s one thing that fascinates me about South Africa, it’s the warmth with which guests are welcomed. Liziwe Mda, Director of the South African Mint (SAM), is a wonderful hostess. And she’s not the only one. Every single employee at the South African Mint feels personally responsible for my well-being. When I have to organize a transfer to my Johannesburg hotel at the very last minute, I do it with the help of a South African Mint employee. She saw that I struggled and immediately came to support me. That’s just how it works here.
Content
In the past, there was a Post-Congress Tour after every Mint Directors Conference. After all, anyone who has traveled thousands of kilometers just to listen to lectures in a darkened room naturally wants to see a bit of that distant country afterward. For the host mints, this Post-Congress Tour was an opportunity to present their country at its best. I really enjoyed it, and not for touristic reasons. These events and their informal setting gave me the chance to get to know those people who never left their own bubble during the conference.
Unfortunately, the Post-Congress Tours have been discontinued for several years. But there is a replacement in South Africa. The SAM invites all conference participants to a tour to the South African Mint. However, I have to fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg for this. But since my return flight is booked from Johannesburg anyway, I immediately accepted and am delighted for this unique opportunity!
Liziwe Mda, Managing Director of the South African Mint. Photo Credit: South African Mint.
A warm welcome
Everything is perfectly organized. We receive an email informing us when we and our luggage will be picked up from the hotel. As many of my colleagues, I have to go straight to the airport after the tour, and this is also organized by the SAM.
So we travel in many minibuses from various hotels to the SAM site. It’s huge and located in Centurion, a modern and conveniently located business district between Johannesburg and Pretoria. Many factories and business headquarters that have left the centers of Johannesburg and Pretoria now have their flagship stores and administrative headquarters in Centurion.
Of course, there are no security problems in Centurion or at the South African Mint. Everyone who arrives goes through the strict security check before receiving their day pass and a second breakfast in the prestigious reception areas. Then we receive an introduction to the SAM safety regulations and steel toe caps for our shoes. Safety is a top priority here.
A look into the design department. Photo: UK.
A first look into the design department
In order to get the many visitors through the premises within a reasonable amount of time, we are divided into three groups, each starting the tour at a different station. The tour is meticulously planned. This is necessary because, unlike most other mints, the South African Mint is huge and covers all steps of the entire production process, from the metal to the packaged coin, including design and die production; not to forget that all kinds of blanks are produced and all kinds of coins are struck here: circulation, commemorative, and bullion coins.
Around 500 people work at the South African Mint. We meet some of them on our tour. They are all smiling, even though today is actually a South African holiday and they have only come to work to show us their factory. You can see how proud they are of their work. Something else can be felt everywhere: equality – in any form – is a central concern of the SAM.
Design for the new 5 Rand circulation coin. Photo: UK.
First model of the new 5 Rand circulation coin. Photo: UK.
Plaster model of the new 5 Rand circulation coin. Photo: UK
Production of the dies for the new 5 Rand circulation coins. Photo: UK.
The minted 5 Rand coins straight from the minting press. Photo: UK
Important training center for engravers
I ended up in the group that gets to go through the minting process in its logical sequence, so to speak. This starts with the idea, with the design, you could call it the think tank where the motifs that appear on South African coins are created.
The South African Mint can be proud of its excellent designers and engravers. They have enormous experience and specialize in coin motives. Most people working in the design department were also trained here, as SAM sees itself not only as a coin producer. This department is an accredited training center where young people receive training.
The coin designers and engravers learn everything that belongs to the traditional craft from their older colleagues, i.e., working with pencil, clay, plaster, and metal. Nevertheless, they can also draw on the latest technology and create designs using computer programs developed specifically for mints that are widely used worldwide. This means that anyone who has successfully completed this apprenticeship has mastered everything they need for their work.
State-of-the-art technology for die production. Photo: UK
State-of-the-art technology – not just for die production
At every turn, I see how human commitment and state-of-the-art technology interact here. I see the pride in the eyes of those who guide us through “their” factory. But I also see the modern machinery that enables sustainable and efficient coin production. For example, latest PVD coating is used for die production. This is an environmentally friendly process that helps to mint significantly more coins with one die.
Modern strip casting line: The material enters at the front and is cast into a coil wound up at the back. Photo: UK.
One of the world’s largest producers of strip casting lines is based in Switzerland. Photo: UK
Blanks are punched from such rolled-up coils. Photo: UK.
A state-of-the-art, computer-based system ensures that the enormously heavy coils are brought to the warehouse, stored there temporarily, and transported back from the warehouse to the punching presses. Photo: UK.
From Metal to Coil
For me, the department where the long coils are created from metal is always enormously impressive. These coils are, so to speak, the starting material for blank production. They are enormous, terribly heavy, and infinitely impressive.
The South African Mint has several fully automated strup casting lines, where the strips are cast from the molten metal and then rolled into coils. The process is so automated that we barely notice the casting itself, and our guide warns us not to carelessly touch the hot metal strips.
Once such a gigantic metal snail is completed, it is placed in a storage area that is at least as impressive. It is as high as the entire hall and fully automated. This means that no humans are needed to retrieve the heavy coils from the continuous casting machine, temporarily store them, and then transport them by Automated Guided Vehicles from one area to another.
For us, the SAM even set up a display station where we can admire different coils that serve as the starting material for various blanks that later become circulation coins resp. Krugerrands.
Electroplating: Important for giving coins the right surface. Photo: UK.
Blank Production
Our next stop takes us to the department where the coils are turned into blanks. Here, too, everything is modern and gigantic. I have rarely seen such a clean electroplating facility as here. If you’re wondering why a mint actually needs electroplating, the answer is simple: Metal prices have risen so much in recent decades that we can no longer afford coins made of expensive alloys, especially for small denominations. Therefore, the blanks are made from the inexpensive material and then receive a surface by electroplating in the color that users expect their coins to have.
But by the time we get to the electroplating facility, several other steps have already taken place. So we see how the large coils are cut into smaller pieces and rolled until they are exactly the right thickness to punch the blanks from them. The blanks are then deburred before they receive their plating in the electroplating process.
A Schuler edging machine. This is where the coins get their risen edge. Photo: UK
The next step is to generate an edge by bulging, which is done in South Africa, as in most mints around the world, with the help of a machine made in Germany: Schuler in Göppingen produces more than minting and punching presses. The equipment for fabricating bimetallic coins is also supplied by Schuler.
Finally, the blanks are annealed, cleaned, and, last but not least, weighed. They are then packaged for automated transport to the stamping presses.
World map with customers of the South African Mint. Photo: UK.
By the way, the South African Mint not only produces its own blanks, but also produces blanks for other mints worldwide. Just as the SAM regularly supplies coins to countries that do not have a mint. They are very proud of this. Thus, a large world map hangs in the in-house museum, showing the countries to which South Africa has already supplied coins or blanks.
The Minting room. Photo: UK.
South African coins are minted on German minting presses
In the huge minting room, the central step in circulation coin production finally takes place: minting. State-of-the-art minting presses from Schuler and Gräbener are used for this purpose. Both are traditional German companies that have been supplying mints around the world with minting presses for more than a century. This is the very heart of the SAM. Finally, it is a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank, and its most important task is to produce circulation coins for South Africa’s needs.
SAM is now producing the fourth generation of South African circulation coins, which have been in circulation since the change to the decimal system. They entered circulation on January 1, 2023. The designs are dominated by flora and fauna. The coins depict the whale (5 rand), the springbok (2 rand), the king protea (1 rand), the feathered turco (50 cents), the wild aloe (20 cents), and the bee (10 cents). It’s noteworthy that an effort has been made to use all 11 official national languages. This is challenging for coins of this size, which is why a kind of rotation system was introduced.
Anyone with a little knowledge of minting technology will immediately see that the 5 rand coin is equipped with the latest security technology. It is a bimetallic coin that uses not only microminting but also a latent image.
The number of coins minted annually at the South African Mint is not officially disclosed. Previous interviews have indicated a capacity of up to 2 billion coins per year.
A special room for the production of bullion and commemorative coins. Photo: UK.
This is where the Krugerrands are created. Photo: UK.
And, of course, the commemorative coin series. Photo: UK.
Clean room environment for commemorative coins and the Krugerrand
For the Krugerrand, however, there are precise mintage figures, which the South African Mint also provides information about on its own website. Many collectors now know that the Krugerrand was only minted in small numbers during certain years and is therefore traded at a higher price. So, they are watching closely to see if something like this happens again. The hope is to snag a rare year of issue at the issue price and thus acquire a numismatic rarity for free. Now, these considerations have relatively little to do with collecting or investing. It’s pure speculation whether, if you have to sell “your” “rare” Krugerrand, you’ll actually get more for it than for a “regular” piece.
Which certainly doesn’t speak against the Krugerrand. As long as you don’t have false hopes of increasing its collector value, it’s a sensible investment and one of the most widely distributed bullion coins in the world. This is despite the fact that it’s still minted at 916.7/1000 fineness, while many other competing products have moved to .9999 fineness. The advantage of the lower fineness is that, due to the copper content, a Krugerrand is less likely to scratch than other bullion coins.
The South African Mint has a dedicated clean-room facility for the production of Krugerrands and other South African commemorative coins made of precious metal.
So we walk through the dust locks, which prevent the normal particulates floating in the air from entering this room. In the clean room, it’s impossible for a single speck of dust to stray between the die and the blank, leaving a tiny imprint.
And so I stand there and watch as the Krugerrands emerge one by one on the minting press.
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A Visit to the South African Mint Museum
And with that, we practically come to the end of our tour of the South African Mint. For me, as a numismatist, the highlight is still to come: the South African Mint Museum. It’s open to everyone and highly recommended for tourists interested in numismatics. Not only can you see the most exciting coins from South African monetary history, but you can also buy numismatic souvenirs, as all current commemorative coins – including, of course, the Krugerrand – can be purchased in the attached shop.
There’s also another very special highlight: the Oom Paul coining press has found its new home here. This machine, manufactured in 1891 by Ludwig Loew & Co. in Berlin, is still operational and, if you’re lucky, will even be demonstrated. Anyone who gets the chance to observe a coin being minted can feel a deep connection to South African coin history: This press not only produced the first circulation coins, but also a commemorative coin struck on the occasion of the visit of the British royal family in 1947, as well as – please imagine a fanfare at that point – the first Krugerrand.
For years, this coining press stood in the Gold Reef City amusement park, where I searched in vain for it, but now it has found a suitable home in this museum.
And, of course, they show us that the press still works during our visit!
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Our tour of the South African Mint isn’t over yet. We won’t leave without a hearty lunch. There’s even one more attraction: in-house talents entertain us musically. So I enjoy the warm hospitality once again before a transfer takes me to the airport.
I’m certain of one thing: I won’t forget my trip to South Africa. South Africa is a wonderful country with wonderful people who face many challenges, but also have many opportunities.
