Royal Australian Mint in 1967 the Melbourne mint was closed. Some staff from the Melbourne mint relocated to Canberra to operate the new mint. However it was not until the early 1980s that the RAM was able to sustain solitary production of the full set of circulating Australian coins, and so on several occasions in the 1960s and 1970s the RAM contracted production runs to the Perth Mint, the Royal Mint in both London and Llantrisant, and even on one occasion the Royal Canadian Mint. The mint consists of two buildings, an administration building, and a process building. The administration building houses the
Royal Mint plant for striking. This first phase of the mint was officially opened on 17 December 1968 by the royal attendance of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and their son Prince Charles. Originally there were fears that the Royal family would face protests because of the Investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales; however, such protests failed to materialise. The second phase of construction began in 1973 and included the addition of a means to mint coins from virgin metals completing the full minting process. Upon completion the final cost for the land, buildings and plant came to £8