Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chrisild, post: 2574867, member: 39&quot;]About a year ago the director of the Royal Dutch Mint (KNM), mintmaster Maarten Brouwer, resigned - primarily due to a failed deal with peso coins that the KNM was supposed to produce for Chile. The mint had been in trouble before, mostly because fewer Dutch circulation coins are needed.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 2014 the KNM had a roughly €40 turnover, and a €11 loss. The Chilean peso job, about the production of 850 million coins, could have helped - but apparently many mistakes were made (oxidation, faulty packaging, etc.), and inspection cost in Chile added to the bill. On 1 Dec 2015 Kees Bruinsma became Brouwer&#039;s interim successor; a few months later the Dutch government decided to sell the mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>On Tuesday the Belgian Heylen Group and the KNM announced that Heylen will buy the mint. (Short English version of the <a href="http://www.knm.nl/CmsData/FCKUploads/file/Press%20release%20-%20Groep%20Heylen%20buys%20Royal%20Dutch%20Mint.pdf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.knm.nl/CmsData/FCKUploads/file/Press%20release%20-%20Groep%20Heylen%20buys%20Royal%20Dutch%20Mint.pdf" rel="nofollow">press release</a>.) They get a three-year contract; after that there will be a new tender. The building, the historic Muntgebouw, will be sold separately.</p><p><br /></p><p>The southern neighbor has similar plans, maybe even a little more drastic. The Belgian Mint (KMB/MRB) intends to cease the production of coins by the end of next year. (<a href="http://www.tijd.be/markten_live/nieuws_algemeen/Belgie_stopt_met_zelf_euromunten_slaan.9817075-3452.art" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.tijd.be/markten_live/nieuws_algemeen/Belgie_stopt_met_zelf_euromunten_slaan.9817075-3452.art" rel="nofollow">Article</a> in Dutch.) As from January 2018, the mint will focus on design and marketing while the production would be done elsewhere.</p><p><br /></p><p>The mint in Utrecht, NL currently has 90 employees; quite a few had been laid off before. In Brussels, BE the number of full time workers is 25. Belgium also plans to follow the example of other euro countries where the production of paper money is not a task of the central bank. That could happen around 2020.</p><p><br /></p><p>The neighbors in France and Germany have no such plans by the way. The French Mint (Monnaie de Paris) continues to design coins in Paris, and to produce them in Pessac near Bordeaux. And in Germany the mints are state (not federal) operations, so there still are four mints and five minting locations ...</p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in