the process of intricate parts is generally (electro-discharge) wire cut in which the wire is generally on a spool and very slowly moved from one reel to another, then / or some milling (manual of cnc) to factions of a mm and then surface ground to hundredths of a mm. Something like that in Aus would be around $10k - $15k depending on the market and work slots available. We were doing small ones right up to 600mm W x 1000mm L x 500mm H ones weighing up to 1.5-2 tonne and costing up to $60-70k. Then depending on the press and feed line (manual or automatic) you could press anything from 1 - 45 parts per minute but they can go up 60 a minute on a modern in feed press. cool stuff. The metal is also high grade tool steel as it has to be a few grades higher than the metal it will stamp out and at times hardened. Aluminium or mild steel components would go blunt in no time but a thick bolster (base plates) can be mild steel if thick enough (so not to deform) to hold all the critical stamping components.
The tool room where I worked made 75 of the press tools and serviced 95% of them so somethings are still done in Aus and we made 3-4 new tools a year and serviced them every 40 hours as they would punch up to 15000 units a shift (from generally 3mm thick black steel which is a little more hard wearing compared to oiled steel and these were generally a few grades higher than mild steel)
