The Zimbabwe Mint opened in 2001 with the intention of striking coins of

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. It is located in the

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

. The Zimbabwe Mint operates under the wings of Fidelity Printers and Refinery. From the very early days of independence, Zimbabwe took a conscious decision to create a conducive macro-economic environment, necessary for the development and advancement of industry, and the creation of wealth. The

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe ( RBZ) is the central bank of Zimbabwe and is headquartered in the country’s capital Harare. History The bank traces its history to the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia, founded on 22 May 1964, but which succeeded the Ba ...

participated in industrial activity in recognition of the need for it to reduce costs, wherever possible, while at the same time fulfilling its mandate. Development work has also continued over the years, through the acquisition of technology, to produce new products and value add to its precious metals pool and, established a coin minting facility. This was another example of the Bank's participation in industry, to enable it to discharge its obligation more efficiently by supplying coin at sustainable cost. The Commissioning of the Zimbabwe Mint was therefore, an example of the many other positive developments taking place in Zimbabwe, which have, unfortunately, tended to be buried under a barrage of negative publicity.{{cite web, url=http://www.rbz.co.zw/mrs/governor.asp , title=RBZ:: Media Releases & Speaches , access-date=January 20, 2015 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120174114/http://www.rbz.co.zw/mrs/governor.asp , archive-date=January 20, 2015 The cooperating partners were

Giesecke & Devrient Giesecke+Devrient GmbH (G+D) is a German international security technology company operating in the fields of Computer security, digital security, financial platforms, and currency technology. Founded in 1852, the company evolved from a manufactu ...

for bank notes and, the Bavarian Mint for coinage. When the Z$500 million mint was commissioned by President

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

, it was argued that it would save the country US$50 million in foreign currency because it was costing the country 150 cents to import a 10-cent piece, for example. The mint, has six presses, which can churn out 240 million pieces a year when the country's annual demand last stood at 160 million pieces.

Minting for other countries

The central bank of Zimbabwe declines to disclose whether it mints coins for other countries to sustain the factory only saying "the mint will continue to compete with other mints worldwide for business. Currency is a security item and therefore it would not be prudent to publicise any information relating to any of the mint's customers," But unconfirmed reports say the mint does business with quite a number of African and overseas countries.

References

Mints (currency) Government of Zimbabwe 2001 establishments in Zimbabwe Currencies of Zimbabwe

Minting for other countries

See also

References