When mining, you can only obtain 1 to 2 grams of gold from 1 ton of gold ore, whereas 1 ton of electronic waste can yield as much as 300 grams of gold.

A basic ammoniate is an effective solvent for recovering gold from solution mixtures of metals derived from waste electrical and electronic products. Recycling is done through

A dynamic hydrogen-based ammonia/gold tetrachloride molecular chain has been formed. Source: University of Edinburgh, UK

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　　Thanks to a new method discovered by scientists for extracting gold from discarded electronic components, the value of old mobile phones could exceed your imagination.

　　However, what truly sets it apart is that this new discovery could leave traditional mining methods behind.

　　“When mining, you can only extract 1 to 2 grams of gold from 1 ton of gold ore, whereas 1 ton of electronic waste can yield as much as 300 grams of gold,” said Professor Jason Love, who leads a team of scientists at the University of Edinburgh. “So, you can actually get far more gold from electronic products.”

　　What makes this study intriguing is that the scientists claimed in their academic paper that this new process is more environmentally friendly than other extraction methods, thereby giving the team’s research significant impact.

　　“We want to be different,” said Raff. “We’re using chemical methods to study metal recovery processes and recycling, and what we’ve discovered is a new chemical substance that can selectively recover gold from all the other metals found in mobile phones.”

　　Laf said that the current issue is that existing processes are using “harmful” substances, electronic waste is being chemically treated in regions with “poor environmental controls,” and, more importantly, the infrastructure for collecting electronic waste needs to be improved.

　　According to industry insiders, about 70% of electronic waste is sent to landfills, while only 30% is recycled.

　　“The electronics industry is using increasingly more resources. It’s projected that discarded electronic products will increase by at least 20% over the next five years,” said Raf.

　　Although scientists have discovered a new chemical process for extracting gold (as shown in the figure below), Laff explains that chemical separation is not a new technology. During the Manhattan Project, famously carried out during World War II, scientists used solvent extraction to extract uranium and produce the first nuclear weapons.

　　“Actually, you dissolve the metal in a dilute acid and then add it to an oily solvent located in the upper layer. When you mix the two, a transfer process occurs, causing the gold to move from the acid into the oily solvent,” he explained. “Next, you allow the two phases to separate—by letting the two substances physically separate from each other—thus enabling the gold to be separated from other metals.”