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
Royal Canadian Mint allowed it to refine silver. The silver is first upgraded in an oxygen converter and then refined by electrolysis. It wasn’t until the Great Depression that the Ottawa Mint negotiated its independence from the British Royal Mint. In 1931, the Ottawa Mint was renamed the Royal Canadian Mint and began reporting solely to the Department of Finance. Although the Mint continued to rely on the Royal Mint to produce the master tools required for the creation of its punches and dies, the Mint was finally under Canadian control. In 1969, the Government of Canada reorganized the Mint as a Crown