Royal Canadian Mint!

July 27, 2019

Today was the last day of our visit in Winnipeg.  We enjoyed breakfast and suddenly received a call from Mastercard security advising us that Debbie’s Mastercard had been compromised.  Debbie made arrangements to have a new card forwarded to her and we would pick it up at a Bank of Montreal in Sudbury, Ontario. Thank God for MasterCard Fraud Security Section.

We then headed out to visit the Royal Canadian Mint. Winnipeg has developed a perimeter road system so that motorists can access Winnipeg from different points. It seemed that for us to go to the Mint, on the east side of Winnipeg from the west, was over 40 kms, however it was an easy drive. 

As you drive into the entrance to the Mint you are met with a parade of flags lined up on both sides of the entrance.  These flags signify over 75 countries that are clients to the Royal Canadian Mint. 

The exterior of the building has an impressive glass façade with triangular walls five stories high.  The architect wanted to imitate the Rocky Mountains with this design.

Inside you are met with friendly hosts who provide tours of the building every 40 minutes.  The Atrium at the entrance is filled with large exotic plants and a large water feature.  The gift shop had many unique and interesting coins and souvenir sets from many different countries.  In one corner is a display of a 99.9% pure gold bar that weighed about 28lbs and valued at about $800,000.00.  

The tour takes you to the second floor, which provides the viewer access to the different rooms below.  You can look down into the rooms and see the massive presses and machines necessary to make the many various coins.  Each press can stamp over 1000 coins per second.  The Royal Canadian Mint has produced over 55 billion coins, and produces an average of 15 million coins a day.

The informative guide explained how the various coins in Canada are produced, including special events loonies and toonies.  The Royal Canadian Mint is the first to produce colored coins, starting with the Red poppy loonie in 2008.

He also explained the quality control process used in examining the coins as they are produced. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about the Minting process.  We left feeling proud that Canada has such an important international reputation with so many foreign countries. This is another important feature for the City of Winnipeg.

We then returned to the campsite and prepared the rig for our departure tomorrow.  We noticed that another Boler trailer had arrived at the campground but we did not see the owners.  Debbie did some laundry, I worked on the blog and barbequed a fantastic steak and that pretty well wrapped up the day.  We are entering Ontario tomorrow!