ROYAL CANADIAN MINT RETOOLS FOR COVID-19

On April 2, five employees from the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa left their homes in search of every bottle of hydrogen peroxide they could get their hands on.

Stopping at Walmart and Costco locations all around the capital, they found 44 litres of the chemical, which was enough for the Mint to move forward with something it hasn't done since the Second World War: retool.

During the World Wars, while Canadians fought overseas, the Mint pumped out dial-sights, brackets of eyepieces for large guns and military medals.

Now in a new generational fight, the facility is producing hand sanitizer and face shields to battle COVID-19.

"When we heard there was a shortage of sanitizer for hospitals and the broader public sector, R&D looked at it and said, ‘We can do this.' From that point on, it all snowballed," said Scott Ingham, senior director of Ottawa Manufacturing for the Mint.

Since the middle of March, the federal institution has put its numismatic – or collectible – coin operations on pause. That freed up a lot of production capacity, ultimately making it possible to rethink how some of its equipment and material could be used to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

So the R&D and engineering teams took a look at possible recipes for hand sanitizers, and realized that one recipe published by the World Health Organization only requires three ingredients: isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and glycerol.

Better yet, the Mint already has a significant amount of isopropyl alcohol, which is used to clean the surface of coins before they are stamped. So all the procurement team needed to do was order the two others to get things started.

Simple, right? Wrong.

While the shipment of glycerol arrived without a hitch, the hydrogen peroxide was coming from the United States and, weeks later, has yet to be allowed to cross the border.

"That hydrogen peroxide getting stuck at the border was a problem, and that was the day or the day after that (U.S. president) Donald Trump had announced that it was going to be America First" for medical equipment, said the Mint's director communications, Alison Crawford.

"So a bunch of us decided to go out and find out how much we could find in the community," she said. "I went to my local Walmart, walked up to the customer service desk and […] explained what we were doing at the Mint. The woman left her desk, walked me to the pharmacy, and said I could take as much as I want and that I could come back for more."

To read the complete article, see:
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/from-gold-coins-to-plastic-shields-and-hand-sanitizer-royal-canadian-mint-retools-to-join-battle-against-covid-19 (https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/from-gold-coins-to-plastic-shields-and-hand-sanitizer-royal-canadian-mint-retools-to-join-battle-against-covid-19)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ROYAL MINT RETOOLS TO MAKE MEDICAL VISORS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n13a13.html)

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