The Melt

Northwest Territorial Mint: Pouring the Molten Metal

We're proud of the fact that we're a full-service mint, with the capability of completing every step of the minting process on site at our 42,000 square-foot facility. Our unparalleled expertise in working with metals in every form and at every stage of the production process is evident in the tangible quality of each product we create.

Creating the Billet

In our on-site metal processing facility, gold and silver are melted down and poured into billets. These are then pressed through a small rectangular opening, drawing them into long thin strips of soft annealed metal.

Once the billets are created, it is time to extrude them into long, flat strips.

Would you like more information on the types of minted items available from Northwest Territorial Mint? Request a FREE information packet with detailed information about custom coins and other minted products.

Hot Topic: Custom Melts & Pours

Artist Gary Hill approached Northwest Territorial Mint to produce a custom gold bar weighing 424 Troy Ounces, not exactly an ordinary request, but we did the complete project in house: the melt, the pour (shown), machining and engraving. The result was a New York gallery exhibition that received worldwide press. We enjoy challenge and welcome your unusual project.

Get our newsletter for the latest minting news, ideas and case studies to benefit our customers.

Silver

Northwest Territorial Mint: Did You Know? Silver is a very ductile and malleable (slightly harder than gold) univalent coinage metal with a brilliant white metallic luster that can take a high degree of polish. It has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, even higher than copper, but its greater cost and tarnishability has prevented it from being widely used in place of copper for electrical purposes, though it was used in the electromagnets used for enriching uranium during World War II (mainly because of the wartime shortage of copper).