Heraeus – history of the mint

Heraeus began as a family-run business back in the 17th century. A workshop for precious metal processing was established in Hanau. In 1851, Wilhelm Carl Heraeus took over Einhorn Pharmacy and dealt in precious metals while studying chemistry and pharmacy.

The company was taken over by Heraeus’ sons and they continued research into improving platinum processing methods and quartz production. In 1902, Heraeus’ brother-in-law opened the Engelhard Corporation precious metals refinery in the U.S., and seven years later the two companies formed the W. C. Heraeus GmbH. After the war, more Heraeus subsidiaries were created and in 2000 a global concern was established with outposts in Switzerland, the US, China, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa, India, France, Korea and Italy, among others.

Heraeus currently

Heraeus is accredited by the LBMA and LPPM. The mint’s products are also manufactured to new environmental standards and are EcoVadis certified. All production processes are carried out according to ISO standards, and on top of this Heraeus declares ethical sourcing of the necessary raw materials.

Heraeus does not focus exclusively on precious metals. The consortium’s offerings also include:

• medical technologies,
• quartz glass production,
• production of electronic components,
• sensor manufacturing,
• metal recycling,
• antimicrobial technologies.

Heraeus produces bars weighing:

• 1 g,
• 2 g,
• 5 g,
• 10 g,
• 20 g,
• 1 oz,
• 100 g,
• 250 g,
• 500 g,
• 1 kg,
• 5 kg,
• 15 kg.

The bars are produced from gold, silver, palladium and platinum. In addition, Heraeus has an assortment of unprocessed metals for industrial production. It also supplies alloys for the jewelry industry.