Royal Canadian Mint

Main Entrance

Introduction

The Royal Canadian Mint (where coins are made) operates two sites in Canada, one of which is in Winnipeg placed because of it's great transportation links being in the geographic centre of Canada and the other is in Canada's capital, Ottawa. The Winnipeg Mint makes general circulation coinage for Canada (and other countries) while the Ottawa Mint mints bullion and collector's pieces.

Flags of Countries for Which the Mint has Manufactured

Location

Mint

The Winnipeg Mint is located at 520 Lagimodiere Blvd, on the corner of Lagimodiere Blvd (Highway 59) and the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1). It is situated on a large, pretty, site with a lake, trees and grasses making with the distinctive triangular shape of it's visitor centre hard to miss.

Visiting

Old Press

There is a visitor's centre on site with a large visitor parking lot nearby. The wonderful visitor centre features a small water garden and a large atrium containing a gift shop, and displays. From the visitor centre you can also look into the main minting floor to see coins being made.

Atrium - Plaque Atrium Atrium from Above

For a small fee, you can also arrange guided tours of the facilities which should be booked in advance and take in views of the various manufacturing floors, machine shop, and stores (virtual tours are also available).

Olympic Medals Lift the Silver Bar

The visitor centre displays are fairly standard tourist fayre with “stick your head in for a photo” type stuff and “lift the bar of silver/gold” (silver on weekdays, gold on weekends) though some provide good information such as the display of Olympic medals as well as other historical information.

For further information on visiting the mint, please see https://www.mint.ca/en/visit-the-mint/winnipeg-mint.

Worth a Visit?

The visitor centre is free to visit and is definitely worth the trip. If you want to see coins being made make sure to come during the week though. The tour may be a disappointment to coin collectors but otherwise it is quite informative and worth the modest charge.

Royal Canadian Mint