Jardines Galleries · The Modern Mint
The South African Mint Today.
Headquartered in Centurion since 1992, the South African Mint is one of the most modern minting facilities in the world. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank, it produces all of the country's circulating coinage, mints commemoratives and bullion (including the Krugerrand), and supplies coin blanks and minting services to nations across the world.
The working mint
Centurion · 1992 – presentThe Mint relocated from its historic Pretoria site to a purpose-built campus in Centurion in 1992. The new facility is regarded as one of the world's most modern, built around fully integrated computer-controlled manufacturing (CIM) — every stage of production, from continuous casting through rolling, blanking, pressing, and quality control, runs under a single integrated system.
It produces all South Africa's circulation coins, the Krugerrand bullion line, and a substantial calendar of commemorative issues. Beyond domestic minting, it sells coin design, die production, and minting services to foreign governments — making it one of the few mints in the world that exports both finished coinage and the institutional capability to produce it.
Coin World
Opened 1996 · Adjacent to the Centurion campusCoin World is the Mint's museum and retail outlet, opened in 1996 next to the working campus. It traces the history of South African currency from barter to modern coins, displays the original Oom Paul Press — one of the two 1891 Ludwig Loewe presses that struck the first ZAR coinage — and houses the country's most accessible public collection of South African numismatic material.
Permanent exhibits include ancient coin discoveries from the 1200s–1600s recovered from the southern African coast, and a Krugerrand 50th-anniversary display tracing the evolution of the world's first modern bullion coin. Admission is free.
History timeline
Pretoria 1892 → Centurion 2024The institution that calls itself the South African Mint today is the direct successor to President Kruger's 1892 Pretoria Mint. The continuity is administrative and operational, not architectural — the Centurion campus is the third home of the institution. The 1992 relocation is the pivot, marked in ice.
The Pretoria Mint is established
Founded by President Paul Kruger to serve the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. The first coins were struck in Berlin while the Pretoria facility was being equipped; from 1893 onwards, the Mint struck under its own roof on Church Square.
Royal Mint branch opens in Pretoria
After the post-war hiatus, the Pretoria facility reopens as a branch of the Royal Mint, striking British-system coinage for the Union of South Africa: ¼d, ½d, 1d, 3d, 6d, 1/–, 2/–, 2/6, and gold sovereigns with the "SA" mintmark.
The South African government takes control
The Pretoria branch is transferred from Royal Mint control to South African ownership, becoming the South African Mint. Coinage continues on the British system, but the operational sovereignty has shifted permanently.
Decimal coinage introduced
The Mint switches from the pre-decimal British-system denominations to the rand and cent. The first decimal coins carry Jan van Riebeeck on the obverse — the institution's first major modern redesign.
SARB subsidiary
The Mint becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank, the structure under which it operates today. The change formalises a relationship that had been operational for decades.
Relocation to Centurion
The Mint relocates from Pretoria to a purpose-built campus in Centurion — designed from the ground up for computer-integrated manufacturing. The move is the institution's most significant operational reinvention since 1923, and the start of "the SA Mint Today" in any meaningful sense.
Coin World opens
The Mint's public museum and retail outlet opens adjacent to the Centurion campus, giving the institution its first dedicated public face.
Thirty years in Centurion
The Mint marks 30 years on the Centurion campus — the longest single occupancy of any site in the institution's history.
The Oom Paul Press is retired
One of the two original 1891 Ludwig Loewe presses — known affectionately as Oom Paul — is retired after 132 years of service. From the first 1892 Kruger coin to its final commemorative strike, the press operated continuously across two republics, one Union, and one democratic state. It now sits on display in Coin World.
Facilities & technology
Centurion · Six operational capabilitiesThe Centurion campus is purpose-built around continuous-flow production — bullion alloy enters at one end as cast metal and leaves at the other as struck, inspected, packaged coinage. Six operational capabilities define the plant.
Computer-integrated manufacturing
CIM controls every stage of production — scheduling, material tracking, machine control, quality reporting — under a single integrated system. The IT infrastructure runs on a Computer Associates Ingres database that has been the operational backbone since the 1990s.
Continuous casting
A continuous casting furnace handles both gold and silver, producing the bullion-grade strip that feeds the rolling mills. The same line supplies metal for circulation, commemorative, and Krugerrand production without batch-to-batch changeover.
Rolling & blanking
Automated rolling mills reduce cast strip to coin thickness; high-speed blanking presses punch out planchets to weight tolerance. Together they turn raw alloy into coin blanks ready for striking.
Multi-stroke presses
Multi-stroke presses deliver the high-relief, mirror-finish strikes that proof and commemorative coinage demands. Standard circulation strikes run on faster single-stroke machines on adjacent lines.
QC laboratories
Quality-control laboratories operate alongside the production line, testing metal composition, weight, dimensional tolerance, and finish at every major stage. The CIM system feeds inspection data back upstream in real time.
Coin World & retail
The Centurion campus also houses the Coin World museum and retail outlet — the only point in the country where the public can buy direct from the Mint and see the institution's full historical record on display.
Product range
Circulation · Bullion · Commemorative · InternationalThe Mint's output divides into four product lines. The first three serve the South African public; the fourth makes the SA Mint a presence in the international minting trade.
Circulation coinage
- 10c, 20c, 50c — copper-plated steel
- R1, R2 — nickel-plated copper
- R5 — bi-metal, copper-nickel / copper
The Krugerrand
- Gold: 1 oz · ½ oz · ¼ oz · 1/10 oz
- Silver: 1 oz
- Platinum editions in selected commemorative years
Themed series
- Natura · Big Five · Crown & Tickey
- Mandela, Birds, Flowers
- UNESCO World Heritage and one-off issues
For other nations
- Coin design and concept development
- Die production and tooling
- Coin blanks and full minting services
Visit Coin World
Museum & retail · Free admission · CenturionOne museum, two roles
Coin World combines a permanent numismatic museum with the country's only direct-from-mint retail outlet. Entry is free; guided tours are available.
Permanent exhibits trace:
- The history of South African currency from barter to modern coins.
- The Oom Paul Press — retired in 2024 after 132 years of service.
- Ancient coin discoveries from the 1200s–1600s, recovered from the southern African coast.
- The Krugerrand 50th-anniversary display.
| Monday | 13:00 – 16:00 |
| Tue – Fri | 09:00 – 16:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 – 14:00 |
| Sunday | Closed |
- South African Mint — official website and corporate publications.
- Celebrating 30 Years of the Mint in Centurion, October 2022.
- ITWeb — The buck starts here, 1998 (CIM and Ingres infrastructure).
- News24 — Historic SA money museum in mint condition after revamp, 2018.