GOLD NEWS

Britain's Royal Mint to extract gold from e-waste

Wed Aug 07 2024

Britain's Royal Mint today said it will extract gold from electronic waste such as televisions, laptops and mobiles at a new factory in south Wales, providing a more sustainable source of gold and reducing reliance on mining.  The 3,700 square metre factory will use patented chemistry from Canadian clean tech firm Excir and has the capacity to process up to 4,000 metric tons (4 million kilograms) of printed circuit boards from e-waste annually, Royal Mint said in a statement.

The Royal Mint gave no indication on how much gold could be recovered each year. "The factory underpins our commitment to using sustainable precious metals and providing a new source of high quality, recovered gold," Sean Millard, chief growth officer at The Royal Mint said.

"It allows us to reduce our reliance on mined materials and is another example of how we’re working to decarbonise our operations." Gold and other precious metals are highly conductive and are embedded in minute quantities in circuit boards.  The company added that the technology offers a more sustainable way to mine high-quality 999.9 purity gold.

According to the World Gold Council, gold mine production increased by 3% to a second-quarter record, while recycling rose by 4% to the highest for a second quarter since 2012.

Source: https://www.rte.ie