JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Concurrent Technologies Corp. (CTC) has been contracted by the United States Mint to conduct research and development for more economical alternative metallic materials for the production of circulating coins, and owners of coin laundries are among the stakeholder groups it is polling.
“CTC will undertake studies to identify issues with current coinage materials and recommend potential alternative metallic materials for future coins,” says Dr. Joseph R. Pickens, CTC chief scientist and technical lead for the two-year contract. “Our metallurgists will consider a wide range of coinage alloys and fabrication processes and propose their best recommendations to the United States Mint.”
CTC will address various factors, including the acceptability of new metallic materials; costs of metallic material, fabrication, minting, and distribution; metallic material availability and sourcing; durability; effect on sorting, handling, packaging and vending machines; appearance; resistance to counterfeiting; and commercial and public acceptance.
