Australian Mint Turns Out 1-Ton Gold Coin

Pure gold coin is worth at least $50M

An Australian mint has produced the world's largest gold coin, a giant disk weighing more than a ton and worth more than $50 million.

The Perth Mint made the coin to comemorate Queen Elizabeth's visit to the city. It has a kangaroo on one side and the Queen's profile on the other.

Perth Mint CEO Ed Harbuz said in a company release making it was "an incredible challenge, one which few other mints would even consider." More than a dozen people worked on the project.

The coin is more than 10 times the size of the world's previous largest gold coin, made by the Royal Canadian Mint.

"We thought well, we'd better make it so much bigger that it'll stay the biggest coin in the world for a long time," Harbuz said.

The coin is 99.99 percent pure, weighs 1,000 kilograms, or 2,200 pounds, and is worth more than $50 million at today's gold prices.

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