Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand in the House today to announce that the Royal Canadian Mint's new, state-of-the-art silver refinery in Ottawa is officially open for business.

Building on existing gold refinery and assay services, the Mint is now able to offer in-house silver refinery services. Having these capabilities will allow the Mint to process a wider range of material to meet customer needs.

The silver refinery uses a novel and unique process which is cost-effective and produces zero waste.  Although compact in size, its current capacity is 2 million troy ounces a year, with a potential of 10 million troy ounces a year.

Continuously on the leading edge of technology and process development, the Royal Canadian Mint has become one of the most modern and innovative in the world.  It offers a wide range of specialized, high quality circulation and collector coin products both at home and to numerous foreign customers.

Mr. Speaker, I am confident that this new, ultra-modern silver refinery will further establish the Royal Canadian Mint as an industry leader.