2017 Azbee Awards of Excellence
Category
Print > Feature Series > Northeast
Awarded to
Bradley MacAulay, Nonferrous Scrap Reporter
Entry details
Coins, Counterfeiting & Recycling: An investigative report
Issue date (if applicable):
Publication name: American Metal Market
Publishing company: Metal Bulletin Group
Website home page: http://www.amm.com/
Please describe the publication's mission and readership:
American Metal Market – The leading metals price reporting and news agency since 1882.
Founded to establish transparency in the metals markets, American Metal Market set the standard for price reporting over 135 years ago and in the process defined the benchmarks widely quoted today. Companies across the globe use AMM prices to negotiate contracts, purchase materials, understand future raw material costs, estimate project costs in proposals, perform inventory valuations, and create
forecast models.
Distinguished price discovery.
Pricing is the pinnacle of what we do. The prices we publish are a fair reflection of transaction values in the spot market. AMM maintains a rich network of contacts and applies a comprehensive price formation process. The assessed prices are not published until they have been peer reviewed to ensure adherence to methodologies and pricing rigor. These guiding principles lead AMM’s reporters to remain the most trusted in the business.
Market intelligence that matters.
Behind every price change lives an insightful news story with an explanation of the forces driving the markets. The news generated from our price reporting activities allows AMM to give its clients intelligence on trade issues, mergers & acquisitions, bankruptcies, and supply chain woes — all factors that can have upward or downward pressure on metal prices.
Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:
The sudden suspension of the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Mint’s mutilated coin redemption program in 2015 dealt a body blow to the global coin recycling sector, sowing uncertainty across the ranks and freezing millions of dollars’ worth of recycled coins throughout a complex supply chain. What began as reporting on a simple civil asset forfeiture case dealing with alleged counterfeit coins, ballooned into a year-long investigation. Through relentless reporting I captured the real story, bringing attention and clarity to a largely overlooked market, and—in a unique twist—creating a framework to redeem the lost dynamism of the coin recycling industry.
I traveled to Hong Kong to interview the world’s largest coin dealer and then mainland China, where I was granted exclusive access to tour and photograph the factories where coins are hand sorted. Next, I connected the supply chain, mined data to calculate that in a given year America throws away $61.75 million in coins and organized an experiment with a Canadian recycler, which involved shredding 60 cars and sorting through the 120,000 pounds of metal to count the coins.
My coverage triggered the interest of Washington-based trade association the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), which began lobbying the U.S. government in an attempt to restart the program. ISRI has publicly addressed the government through open-sourced letters, citing my work. Simultaneously, lawsuits against Chinese recyclers accused of redeeming counterfeit coins through the program were dismissed with prejudice with their attorneys citing my reports throughout the case.
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Coins, Counterfeiting & Recycling: An investigative report
Category
Print > Feature Series > Northeast
Description
Publication name:
American Metal Market
Company:
Metal Bulletin Group
Winner Status
- Regional Silver Award
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