The Royal Canadian Mint is a Crown corporation of Canada, operating under the Royal Canadian Mint Act. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada.
The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures circulation coins on behalf of other nations. The Mint also designs and manufactures: precious and base metal collector coins; gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion coins; medals, as well as medallions and tokens. It further offers gold and silver refinery and assay services.
For the first fifty years of Canadian coinage (cents meant to circulate in the Province of Canada were first struck in 1858), the coins were struck at the Royal Mint in London, though some were struck at the private Heaton Mint in Birmingham, England. As Canada emerged as a nation in its own right, its need for coinage increased. As a result, a branch of the Royal Mint was authorized to be built in Ottawa in 1901 after being first proposed in 1890.
In November 1960 the Master of the Mint, N.A. Parker, advised the Minister of Finance that there was a need for a new facility. Capacity had already been reached in Ottawa. Eventually, it was agreed upon in December 1971 that the Mint would build a facility in Winnipeg. The land was purchased in 1972 and construction began at the end of the year.
The new facility was completely different in appearance from the facility in Ottawa. Architect Étienne Gaboury designed a striking triangular building that rises up dramatically from the surrounding prairie. Gaboury was Design Architect, in collaboration with the Number Ten Architectural Group led by partner-in-charge Allan Hanna. The Mint facility in Winnipeg was officially opened in 1976. The Winnipeg branch of the Royal Canadian Mint allowed the Ottawa facility to concentrate solely on collector coins while Winnipeg would produce the entire supply of circulation and foreign coins.
The Winnipeg facility is also responsible for producing the circulation currency of other nations. Since opening its doors in 1976, the Mint’s Winnipeg facility has produced coinage for over 70 countries: centavos for Cuba, kroner for Norway, fils for Yemen, pesos for Colombia, kroner for Iceland, baht for Thailand, and a thousand-dollar coin for Hong Kong. Other client nations include Barbados, New Zealand and Uganda.
To log this Virtual Cache you must answer the following questions: Answers can be submitted by e-mailing the cache owner through their profile page. You may log the cache as found but your log will be deleted if we do not receive your answers within a few days. All the answers can be found within the facility during the hours of operation without taking the tour. (https://www.mint.ca/store/mint/visit-the-mint/winnipeg-location-8900024 )
1. At each end of the privacy panel above the counter at the boutique, there is a group of 3 coins etched in the glass. What year and denominations are they?
2. On the interactive flag display, on which column and row is the Canada Flag Button found? UPDATE July 2021: The Interactive Flag display has been taken down so there is no response needed for question #2
3. What is the name of the manufacturer and in what city was the balance scale made?
4. How many coins can be produced per day at the Winnipeg facility?
5. Take a picture of your GPSr at the Golden Loon near the outside entrance.
VISIT THE MINT FOR HOURS: here
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.