For the first time in history, a plant is being built to extract gold from electronic devices. Britain's Royal Mint, one of the world's leading mints and the U.K.'s coin producer, has announced its plans to use "patented new chemistry" to pull gold from circuit boards in a facility set to be complete in 2023.
"We are transforming our business for the future - expanding into areas which complement our expertise in precious metals, champion sustainability and support employment," Anne Jessopp, Chief Executive of The Royal Mint, is quoted in a press release.
The process for recovering the gold was developed for the Mint by Canada-based Excir. Unlike traditional smelting used to process e-waste, the Excir process is conducted at room-temperature. According to the Mint, the process can extract "over 99% of the precious metals contained within electronic waste - selectively targeting the metal in seconds."
Construction is set to begin on the plant before the end of March "within The Royal Mint's highly secure site" in South Wales, according to the Mint release. The plant is expected to handle up to 90 metric tons of U.K. circuit boards every week which the Mint says will allow it to produce "hundreds of kilograms" of gold each year.
When the Mint's plans to implement gold-extracting technology in the U.K. were first announced in October of last year, the Mint also stated that the Excir process could potentially be used to recover silver, copper, and palladium.
"The first of its kind plant will provide a source of high-quality precious metals while offering a solution to significant and growing environmental challenges," the Mint wrote in a press release. "Embracing the principles of a circular economy, the plant will be able to process the entire circuit board - preserving natural resources for longer, helping to reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste and fostering new skills and employment in the U.K."
E-waste is a growing concern for climate activists and scientists due to its low recycling rate and dangerous components, including mercury and other harmful chemicals. According to a Global E-Waste Monitor report, the human population produced roughly 53.6 million metric tons of electronic waste in 2019 alone with less than 20% of that waste being "officially documented as properly collected and recycled."
While the Royal Mint's plant might be the first to break ground, it won't be last. Companies around the world have also seen the potential in e-waste. At least one other company, Mint Innovation of New Zealand, has announced that it "developed a biological process for recovering valuable metals from weird and wonderful feedstocks, such as electronic waste."