Chancellor opens new manufacturing facilities at the Royal Mint heralding a £16.5m investment.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne visited a the location of the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales, last week (March 5) in order to celebrate the opening of two new nickel plating production facilities. The official opening of these new facilities marks the inauguration of one of the largest financial investments ever made in the mint’s history, a total of £16.5m has been poured in.
However, the above investment has very much been made with the mantra, ‘spend money to make money’. The new facilities will allow the Mint to double its nickel plating production capacity to about 15,000 tonnes per annum. At a time when the demand for plated coins around the world is increasing this expansion has been essential in order to maintain the Mint’s ability to supply the 60 nations around the world which rely on the Mint for their currency production, in addition to the UK.
The rise in demand for plated steel products from the Royal Mint is a response to its development of aRMour™, a patented advanced plating technology. This technology enables the Mint to plate coins at a significantly lower cost to the Mint’s customers, which include central banks, issuing authorities and governments.
Speaking at the official opening ceremony Adam Lawrence, chief executive and deputy master of the Royal Mint said: “The new facility represents a significant investment by the Royal Mint and forms an important part of our growth strategy that will strengthen our competitive edge and the reputation we already have for producing coins of the highest quality.
This is an exciting time for the Royal Mint, particularly as we fulfill our role as official producer of the athlete medals and commemorative coins for London 2012 next year. We are a successful and profitable business, with a large product range, strong brand and ambitious plans for growth.”
Making links between the Royal Mint’s innovation driven success and the government’s strategy to support growth in advanced manufacturing the Chancellor stated: “As a manufacturer, exporter and employer based in South Wales, the Royal Mint is a real British success story. I’m proud to open this new facility which will allow the Royal Mint to build on this success.”
The Royal Mint has a history dating back over 1,000 years. It moved to its current location from London in 1967 and the Mint’s chairman Mike Davies comments: “The Royal Mint is very proud of its heritage. We are also one of the world’s leading export mints, pioneering the development of state-of-the-art coin production technology. We are honored that the Chancellor has been to open the new facility marking the start of a new period of development and innovation at the Royal Mint.”
