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Royal Canadian Mint honours original crew members of Leduc Oilfield. New gold coin commemorates discovery of oil in Alberta
| Devon, AB, February 27, 2002
| The new 2002 14-karat gold coin from the Royal Canadian Mint commemorating the famous Leduc oil strike was officially introduced today in Devon, Alberta.
The President of the Mint, Danielle Wetherup, was joined by officials from Imperial Oil and the remaining original crew members of Leduc Number One. "This coin commemorates the enormous impact of the Leduc oilfield as a watershed moment in Canadian history. As a result of this discovery in Alberta, Canada became a major oil producer on the world market," said Danielle Wetherup.
The original crew members present when Leduc Number One struck oil on February 13, 1947 were recognized by the President of the Mint with a special commemorative plaque. The event took place at the Canadian Petroleum Interpretive Centre (CPIC), which now stands at the exact location of the oilfield that marked the beginning of Alberta's oil boom.
The coin design features the Leduc Number One derrick, a sight soon to become common in the petroleum-rich Alberta landscape. The focal point of the coin depicts a sea of "black gold" seeping from a spray from the underground bounty. The black gold, created through a state of the art process of selectively oxidizing the coin gold alloy, is a process unique to the Mint. The coin is available through the Mint website at www.mint.ca or by calling toll-free at 1-800-267-1871.
The Royal Canadian Mint is the Crown corporation responsible for the minting and distribution of Canada's circulation coins. The Royal Canadian Mint is recognised as one of the largest and most versatile mints in the world, offering a wide range of specialized, high quality coinage products and related services on an international scale.
Names of original crew members honoured: Jack V. McDonald, George Tosh, Harvey Maloney, S.P. Gramlich, Doug Gamble, John Funk and Ben Owre
Backgrounder
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