How old phones and computers will be turned into gold in South Wales
The Royal Mint is planning to build the world's first plant to recover gold from the UK's electronic waste in South Wales.
Patented new chemistry will be used to extract gold from within the circuit boards of laptops and mobile phones.
The unique chemistry is created by Canadian based company Excir which specialises in the ethical and sustainable extraction of precious metals.
It is capable of recovering over 99% of the precious metals contained within electronic waste.
The approach will see precious metals recovered at room temperature, instead of electronic waste leaving the UK to be processed at high temperatures in smelters.
How does it work?
Once the circuit boards have been prepared for metal extraction, they are mixed with a patented formula.
The chemicals selectively extract the gold in seconds turning it into a rich gold liquid.
Then using precipitation the gold can be recovered from the liquid.
This will then be melted into 'ingots' (gold bars) which can be used for Royal Mint purposes.
The Royal Mint says entire electrical circuit boards will be processed and recycled which will help to reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste.
It's expected to process up to 90 tonnes of UK-sourced circuit boards per week – generating hundreds of kilograms of gold per year.
Less than 20% is currently being recycled.
The amount of e-waste produced is set to reach 74 million tonnes by 2030 if nothing is done to halt it, according to the Royal Mint.
The Royal Mint says the plant will support around 40 jobs, helping existing employees to reskill as well as recruiting new chemists and engineers.
Sean Millard, at The Royal Mint, said this new approach is 'revolutionary'.
He said: "It offers huge potential to reuse our planet’s precious resources, reduce the environmental footprint of electronic waste and create new jobs.
“We estimate that 99% of the UK’s circuit boards are currently shipped overseas to be processed at high temperatures in smelters.
"As the volume of electronic waste increases each year, this problem is only set to become bigger. When fully operational our plant will be the first of its kind in the world – processing tonnes of electronic waste each week, and providing a new source of high quality gold direct to The Royal Mint.”
Construction within The Royal Mint's 'highly secure site' is set to begin this month.
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