Nickel coin costs more than face value

It now costs more to make a nickel than it's worth.

Each five-gram coin is 75 percent copper (3.75 grams) and 25 percent nickel (1.25 grams).

With nickel on the London metals market at a record $15.32 a pound and copper at $3.44 a pound, the base-metal worth of the five-cent piece has just gone over seven cents, to 7.07 cents each.

There is an added production cost of about 3.8 cents, making the U.S. Mint's loss on each coin almost six cents.