OTTAWA, May 30, 2006 -- The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) announced
today that its new, state-of-the-art silver refinery is officially open for
business. Building on existing gold refinery and assay services, the Mint is
now able to offer in-house silver refinery services. Having silver refinery
capabilities will allow the Mint to process a wider range of material to meet
customer needs.
"The Royal Canadian Mint is proud of its international reputation as the
gold standard in refinery and assay services," said Marguerite F. Nadeau,
Q.C., Acting President and C.E.O. of the Royal Canadian Mint. "Our new,
ultra-modern silver refinery further establishes the Mint as an industry
leader."
The silver refinery uses a novel and unique process which is
cost-effective and produces zero waste. Although compact in size, its current
capacity is 2 million troy ounces a year, with a potential of 10 million troy
ounces a year.
The RCM commissioned PRIOR engineering, a Swiss-based company
specializing in innovative precious metal refining technologies, for the
installation of its novel silver refinery. Without its own silver refinery for
the last 12 years, the RCM became a significant buyer of refined silver in
order to produce its world-renowned collector coins and other products. Now,
by producing refined silver itself, the RCM will generate important, long-term
costs savings.
The new silver refinery also meets the Mint's most exacting standards and
requirements in terms of a highly efficient, low maintenance, and
environmentally-friendly silver refining process.
The RCM's primary source of unrefined gold and silver is received from
Canadian and foreign mining companies, while its secondary source comes from
various silver recyclers that collect cutlery, plates, old coins, trophies,
jewellery, and industrial products. From the unpurified gold and silver it
receives, the RCM produces refined bars, wafers, grain, Gold and Silver Maple
Leaf investment products, collector coins, and custom products, all with a
minimum of 99.99% purity.
The RCM, an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is the Crown corporation
responsible for the minting and distribution of Canada's circulation coins. In
operation since 1908, the RCM is recognized as one of the largest and most
versatile mints in the world, offering a wide range of specialized, high
quality coinage products and related services on an international scale.
For more information on the RCM, its products and services, visit
www.mint.ca.
Images and product details of the Mint's newest collection are available
by visiting ftp://communications:RCM2006@ftp.mint.ca.
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For further information:
Pam Aung Thin
Vice-President Communications
Tel.: (613) 993-5092
Fax: (613) 991-5342
Cellular: (613) 220-5096
E-mail: aungthin@mint.ca
Backgrounder
Silver Refinery Services
The Royal Canadian Mint's (RCM) new silver refinery is highly automated,
efficient, and compact. The refining process is controlled almost entirely by
computer. Also, the refinery's clean, sterile, and clutter-free environment,
is similar to what one would expect when seeing a dairy or pharmaceutical
production facility.
From 1983 to 2005, the RCM enlisted third parties to refine unpurified
silver recuperated as a by-product of its gold refining operations, or
received from customers. The RCM now has the capability to refine all silver
internally, which significantly reduces silver refining cycle times. Cycle
times, the time required to refine silver and provide customers with recast
silver products or equivalent financial credits, will be reduced to three
days, significantly down from traditional refinery services.
Silver Refinery Process
The RCM's new silver refinery employs a state-of-the-art refining process.
The following steps break the process down into general, broad terms. The new
silver refinery is used during steps 5 through 7, inclusively.
Step 1: Receipt of unrefined (unpurified) silver from clients
Gold and silver mines represent the Mint's primary market, while
silver recyclers who collect cutlery, plates, old coins,
trophies, jewellery, and industrial products, represent its
secondary market.
Step 2: Pre-mel
Material received from clients is melted to ensure a
representative sample for assay (purity testing).
Step 3: Assay services (Purity Testing)
Analysing the purity of the silver sample.
Step 4: Silver in granular form is produced
Molten silver is poured into a bath of cold water producing
impure silver grain.
Step 5: Silver grain is placed in vats containing a special, nitrate-
based solution
This process produces gold and copper residual by-products. The
Mint reuses the gold, refining it internally to produce a variety
of 99.99% pure (.9999) gold bullion (investment) and numismatic
(collector) products. The Mint resells the copper.
Step 6: Final purification and separation
The resulting pure silver is converted into .9999 silver flakes.
Step 7: .9999 silver flakes are cast into a variety of .9999 pure
silver products
.9999 silver flakes are cast into .9999 silver bars, wafers,
grain, Silver Maple Leaf investment products, collector coins,
and custom products.
The technical term for this process is the "high speed silver
electrolysis" process.
Gold Refinery Services
The RCM has operated a gold refinery since 1911. Today, with a production
capacity of 4.2 million troy ounces per year, the RCM operates one of the most
technically advanced and respected gold refineries in the world, producing
99.99% pure bars, wafers, grain, bullion investment products, collector coins,
and custom products. Every gold bar and wafer is struck with the Royal
Canadian Mint hallmark, which is recognized internationally as a guarantee of
weight and purity. The RCM is known to have set the standard for purity.
Purity and Security
For both its gold and silver refinery, the Mint guarantees 99.99% purity
levels, and ensures that world-standard security protocols are implemented at
every stage of its refinery and assay operations.
Assay Services (Purity Testing)
The ability to accurately analyse precious metals, including gold and
silver, is essential to the success of any refinery. In addition to verifying
the 99.99% purity of its minting and refinery products, the Mint conducts
assay analyses of unpurified gold and silver for international and domestic
clients, a testament to its reputation for quality assurance and reliability.
