December 22, 2011 – US pennies and nickels might change soon from zinc, copper and nickel based alloys to become made of steel. Since costs of zinc, copper and nickel have increased steadily, the production costs exceed the face value of these coins by far.
In 2010 a bill authorized the Secretary of Treasure to conduct research on alternative coinage materials during a two years period. Now two bills on this are presented to Congress and it is said that steel made coins will be proposed as alternative. One reason may be that steel is available in the USA.
Read an article on this topic here.
Another research project on alternative coinage materials für US coins has started this year. The Concurrent Technologies Corporation has been awarded a two-year contract as we reported here.