From what I've heard, there is a "mint kit" that's being put together. It will have the necessary information for how to run a mint. However... keep in mind that mints are only supposed to be run as part of a business in the Viva economy. In fact, I believe that's something that is going to be actively enforced.

You do NOT need to run a mint in order to get value from holding either Crowns or VTRs. Right now, VTRs roll into VIP every quarter. I don't remember if that's maint to be long-term, or is happening now just because there are no active mints. In any case, once mints start to come online there will be real world demand for VTRs, so you'll be able to just sell them. Remember that a mint can not operate without VTRs.