The cost of producing a penny has far exceeded the value of each coin for the past 19 years.
Most copper mined in the U.S. comes from Arizona. But President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that he will halt production of pennies won’t make a dent in the state’s mining industry. The U.S. Mint produced 3.2 billion pennies last year. But since 1982, nearly all of the metal used has been zinc.
So the copper industry can shrug off Trump’s move, which economists have long called a no-brainer because each penny costs more to make than it’s worth – 3.69 cents as of last year – and most end up in jars, piggy banks, and sofa cushions.
“The penny is kind of an American institution, and it’s special in Arizona because we mine 70% of American copper,” said Kray Luxbacher, head of the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering at the University of Arizona. But she said, “From an economic perspective, if you make a product that costs more to make than it’s worth, that’s a problem.”
For the rest of this article: https://news.azpm.org/p/azpmnews/2025/2/13/223708-trumps-order-to-end-minting-of-pennies-will-save-taxpayers-millions-without-much-impact-on-arizona-copper-mines/