The British Mint will extract gold from electronic waste

The British Mint The Royal Mint plans to build a plant in Wales where it could extract hundreds of kilograms of gold and other precious metals from electronic waste such as mobile phones and laptops. The agreement on obtaining gold from used electronics was signed by the mint with the Canadian startup Excir. Gold and silver are highly conductive and are contained in small quantities, along with other precious metals, in printed circuit boards and other hardware. Most of this material is never recycled, and discarded electronics often end up in landfills or burn out. However, Excir's solution makes it possible to selectively recover precious metals with a high degree of purity. Its patented technology based on revolutionary chemical processes can extract more than 99 percent of the gold contained in the printed circuit boards of discarded laptops and mobile phones from electronic waste. "Our company's team is very lucky to be able to work with the Royal Mint to expand the patented technology." Their 1,100 years of experience in precious metals and innovation, together with the desire to promote new skills and benefit the environment, have made them the ideal partner for us, ”praises Excir CEO Jim Fox. At present, the Mint uses this process only on a small scale, but it is already planning to build a factory. It would process hundreds of tons of electronic waste a year and, thanks to that, could obtain hundreds of kilograms of precious metals. The plant could start operating in the coming years. The Mint did not say how much the project should cost. A kilogram of gold currently costs about 55 thousand US dollars.