At this point, I casually coin roll hunt as my time allows. I'm always torn on whether to save the coppers. I believe when the US does end the penny, it won't allow for melting and will follow Canada - the government will recall them and make the profit. Which got me to searching how many Canadian pennies of the 35 Billion have been melted. It seems as of 2014 it was 4 billion but I can't find anything recent. I couldn't find anything on the Canadian Mint site either. Any one have some leads or info?
Not economically feasible to melt copper even if it was legal. 25% spot for alloyed copper (pennies) $3.24 x .25 = 81 cents for every $1.46 in copper pennies. Spend them. Storing them is a waste of time, money and space. And it's a lot of work. They are heavy. (This is for US. No idea about Canada.)
I'd consider searching for official government reports to find more recent data. I'm not sure about Canada but the U.S. releases coin mintage reports as well as anticipated annual currency demand estimates rather frequently in PDF format.
I've read similar arguments. Why are so many people saving coppers like bullion? I have a jar that I've slowly been filling. Perhaps I will just try to complete an Intercept Penny Album with the best examples.
