Citing demand, Mint to produce 24-karat gold coin

WASHINGTON -- The US Mint announced yesterday that it will begin producing a new 24-karat gold bullion coin early next year, hoping to capitalize on growing international demand for purer gold coins.

The Mint already produces the 22-karat American Eagle gold bullion coin, and Mint officials estimate the potential global market for 24-karat gold coins at $2.4 billion annually.

This will mark the first time the US Mint has produced a 24-karat gold coin, a designation that means it contains 99.99 percent gold.

The current 22-karat gold coin, on the market since 1986, contains 91.67 percent gold with the rest of the coin made of other alloys.

Global investors in recent years have been turning increasingly to the purer gold coin, although the American Eagle is the best-selling gold coin in North America. The Mint estimated that 60 percent of global gold coin sales are of 24-karat coins, with Canada's Maple Leaf a top seller.

''There is a demand, both here and abroad, for 24-karat gold coins," said the Mint's director, Henrietta Holsman Fore. ''We want to meet this demand by producing the highest quality and most beautiful coins in the world."

Congress authorized the sale of the American Eagle gold coins in December 1985 after President Reagan banned imports of the South African gold Krugerrand. The American Eagle coins went on sale in October 1986.