US Mint To Sell 24-Karat Gold Coin

[jeffrey]

The US Mint has announced that it will start to produce a new 24-karat gold bullion coin for gold investors beginning in the early part of 2006 in hopes of capitalizing on growing international demand for purer gold bullion coins. Currently the purest gold bullion coin that the US Mint produces is a 22-karat gold bullion coin called the American Eagle gold. US Mint officials estimate that there is a $2.4 billion a year global market for 24-karat bullion gold coins.

This will mark the first time in its history that the U.S. Mint has produced a 24-karat gold bullion coin. The 24-karat designation means that the coin contains 99.99% gold. The current 22-karat American Eagle gold bullion coin only contains 91.67% gold bullion.




The trend of international gold bullion investors has been to purchase 24-karat gold bullion coins as opposed to less pure coins. Currently approximately 60% of all gold coin sales are for 24-karat coins of which the US mint doesn't have an offering. Approximately 33% of all gold bullion coins that Americans purchase are foreign made 24-karat gold bullion coins. The top selling 24-karat gold bullion coin is the Canadian Maple Leaf.

As with the American Eagle coins, the new 24-karat coins will have face values far below what they actually sell for. The price of the coin will be set by the market price of gold.