Various members of Viljoen's Johannesburg Commando, who consisted mainly of foreigners, were artisans who worked on the goldmines before the war and the skills to purify the gold and cast ingots were therefore available. Casting gold ingots as a first step towards making gold coins was an idea already expressed by Jules Perrin in 1874 when he tried to convince President Burgers that the ZAR government should establish its own State Mint, using the alluvial gold from Pilgrim's Rest.

The gold ingots cast by Viljoen's people were not acceptable to the black people, as they wanted real money as currency. According to Field Cornet AEG Pienaar the feasibility of making gold coins came from GE Waldeck²⁰. During that time, General Viljoen was unfortunately captured by the British on 25 January 1902 and sent to St Helena as a prisoner of war.

General Ben Viljoen

General Chris Muller (1865-1945) succeeded him and, on his arrival at Pilgrim's Rest, during March 1902, Field Cornet AEG Pienaar told him that the Commando was in possession of gold to the value of £500. He also informed the General of the possibility of manufacturing gold coins in the mine's workshop21. Muller was impressed and immediately took steps to obtain permission for this venture from the acting president of the ZAR, Schalk W Burger and the ZAR Executive Committee (Cabinet). General Muller gave the order that, in the mean time, more gold should be scraped. A small amount of alluvial gold, bought from local diggers, was also added. No bar-gold was used for the Veldpond.