The United States Mint has announced that it will be reopening its West Point production facility, in limited capacity, today. The opening comes a week after the facility was closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. After working with local public health officials and a complete cleaning of the facility, the Mint believe it can now open the facility for limited production. In addition, employees have been designated as mission-essential but must maintain social distancing.
Below is the email that the Mint sent to the Press late last night.
The United States Mint (Mint) will resume limited production Tuesday morning, April 21st at the Mint facility at West Point. During the temporary suspension of operations at the West Point Mint, in consultation with local public health officials, a thorough cleaning of the facility was conducted in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. Additional social distancing procedures were implemented, building on measures previously taken to reduce the risk of employee exposure to COVID-19. Mint employees at West Point have been designated mission-essential.
The Mint facility at West Point produces investment-grade gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bullion coins. The United States Mint does not sell its bullion coins directly to the public. Instead, we distribute our coins through a network of official distributors called “authorized purchasers” who, in turn, create a two-way market buying and selling to precious metals wholesalers, private investors, and local bullion coin dealers. Mint bullion coins are sold based on the prevailing market price of gold, silver, platinum, or palladium plus a small premium to cover minting, distribution, and marketing costs. For more information about the United States Mint’s bullion program, please visit here. For more information about the Mint facility at West Point, please visit here.
US Mint Email
The facility was closed for a total of five days, at which time no bullion production happened, the key purpose of this particular facility for the Mint. Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium bullion coins are all produced at West Point. While the Mint’s email did not indicate that bullion production was the only thing happening at the facility, it can be derived from previous announcements from the Mint. Currently the Mint is not producing any Numismatic products which would mean that no “W” mint mark coins like the 2020-W Jefferson Nickel are being made currently.
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