Wales: Royal Mint Experience Gets Multiple Upgrades

(eap) The Royal Mint Experience in Wales – the visitor center of the United Kingdom’s mint, The Royal Mint – is receiving a comprehensive upgrade, which is to be implemented in several phases. The aim is to bring the more than 1,100-year history of the traditional company back to life with new interactive stations, as well as presenting current and future business developments.

The first phase, which has now been completed, includes a new experience in the Circulating Coin Press room (an area over 100 meters long, about the size of a football pitch), where guests enter the place where uncountable coins were made. A series of interactive exhibits will provide authentic insights into the design process, the materials used, the manufacturing processes and innovations in coin production. For example, visitors will be able to hear the rhythmic humming of the minting of circulating coins and compare it with the slower sound of the production of commemorative coins.

© The Royal Mint

After visitors have had the opportunity to get their hands on some of the real dies used to make the coins, they can try their hand at detecting any imperfections in a batch of coins at the assay table, just as the Mint’s experts do as part of their meticulous process to ensure each coin is perfect. The interactive “Guess the Weight” station invites visitors to estimate the value of various bullion coins based on their weight and offers a fun and informative way to determine the value of precious metals. Visitors can also take a look at the technology behind the processes at the mint, including the Co-Bot: a robot that used to carefully transport coins from the press to the printing machine. Packaging robots are also on display, demonstrating how the coins are carefully packaged for shipping and storage.

The British planning and design company Sarner International is the partner for the comprehensive upgrades of the visitor experience in the Royal Mint Experience. “We are delighted to be working with Sarner International on the biggest upgrade The Royal Mint Experience has seen since its opening in 2016. The vision that the team at Sarner International put forward, combined with their collaborative approach to work, has led to a fantastic guest experience showcasing the very best of The Royal Mint as it exists today. Our primary focus is always on delivering the best possible experience for our customers, and the feedback we have had since re-opening has been exceptional,” commented Dan Johnson, The Royal Mint Experience’s Visitor Attraction Manager.

Caterina De Manuele, Creative Lead Designer at Sarner, added, “The first phase represents an important step in reimagining the Royal Mint Experience. Working closely with our client, we are thrilled to be part of a project that celebrates the centuries-old tradition of coin-making while highlighting the innovations shaping the future of The Royal Mint. By incorporating a multisensory, interactive approach, we’ve created an engaging environment where visitors can connect with The Royal Mint’s rich history while experiencing its dynamic evolution and commitment to sustainability.”

With regard to the latter aspect, the new experience highlights, among other things, the process carried out in collaboration with the Canadian clean-tech company Excir, through which The Royal Mint extracts precious metals from e-waste in order to recycle them. The gold recovered from the circuit boards of discarded tablets and smartphones, for example, forms the basis for The Royal Mint’s latest project: luxury, handcrafted jewelry and high-end products sold under the “886 by The Royal Mint” brand. ■