Royal Mint Strikes Gold from Electronic Waste

The Royal Mint in Wales is striking gold from electronic waste, an unusual practice in the sector. Behind barbed wire and coded security gates, the mint's plant can process around 4,000 tonnes of electronic waste a year, containing about 400 kilos of gold. The gold is recovered using a patented Canadian process that dissolves it at room temperature.

The Royal Mint's development director, Sean Millard, says each Bank of England office phone recycled here contains around 30 milligrammes of gold, worth about three pounds ($4.00) at current prices. A modern smartphone contains roughly four pounds' worth of the metal.

The mint's process is considered more environmentally friendly than traditional smelting or acid mixture recovery methods. World-wide, only 22.3 percent of electronic waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022, according to a United Nations report.