Recovering gold from electronic waste – in seconds

While the recovery rate of gold from jewellery, coins and bars has long been 100 per cent, there is potential for optimisation when it comes to smartphones, PCs and TVs. This is due to the fact that the processes for extracting the usually tiny gold components from electronic scrap are very complex – especially if they are to be as environmentally friendly and resource-efficient as possible. The Royal Mint in London, founded in 886 and the world’s oldest mint, could revolutionise urban mining in cooperation with a Canadian start-up for clean technologies.

An industrial plant exclusively for urban gold mining

A large recycling plant has started operating in Wales, specifically designed to extract gold from e-waste. According to the Royal Mint, gold from around 4,000 tonnes of circuit boards will be extracted here every year. The gold-bearing-waste elements are first roughly separated from the rest before an innovative chemical process reliably separates the gold from other materials within seconds. As this takes place at room temperature and without toxic components, the process is said to be particularly environmentally friendly and energy efficient. The new technology can also be used to recover palladium, silver and copper.

62 million tonnes of electronic waste are produced every year

Just how forward-looking this new urban mining approach could be is apparent when set against the amount of e-waste generated every year: According to the United Nations, it amounted to around 62 million tonnes in 2022 alone. The supply of recyclable material would therefore be guaranteed. According to the Royal Mint, the gold recovered at the new industrial plant in Wales will initially be exclusively used in the production of jewellery, to be expanded later to include gold coins.