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Who is making gold jewellery from old phones?
The [[Royal Mint::The organisation in the UK that makes coins.]] in the United Kingdom and a Canadian company called Excir are working together to [[recycle::To turn waste into something useful again.]] valuable materials from old electronic products. Excir has developed a technology to safely [[extract::To remove or obtain a substance from something.]] and reuse gold and other precious metals found in [[electronic waste::The waste generated from discarded electronic devices like computers, mobiles, etc.]] (e-waste).
Excir's [[patented::Made by or belonging to a particular company/organisation.]] method can quickly recover over 99% of the gold found in old and discarded mobile phones and laptop' [[circuit boards::A board having a series of electrical connections using thin metal wires. The board is used in electronic items so that the items can function properly.]].
What is the process of removing the gold?
A special liquid is poured into a glass jar with tiny pieces of circuit boards. Then, a machine is used to shake the jar.
The gold present in those tiny pieces quickly [[dissolves::To mix with a liquid and become part of it.]] into the liquid. After that, another liquid is added to turn the gold into powder. This powder is separated and melted down into small gold pieces.
How do they extract gold from huge amounts of circuit boards?
A large factory is set up to extract gold from a large number of circuit boards. These boards come from different places in the country.
When the boards arrive, they are checked. The parts without gold are separated from those with gold, like USB ports.
The gold parts go into a big container. The first solution is used on them. Then, the second solution is used to make powder gold, which is then turned into small gold pieces.
The Royal Mint also plans to make a bigger factory to handle 90 tonnes (90,000 kg) of circuit boards every week. This will help recover a lot of gold.
They have also announced a jewellery division named “886 by The Royal Mint” to create gold jewellery pieces.
Why are circuit boards being used to extract gold?
E-waste is estimated to contain 7% of the world's gold. That’s a lot of gold; recovering it can help create other items. Also, every year, a lot of e-waste is generated.
If nothing is done to recycle and reuse them, it will harm our environment. So, this new [[initiative::the first or leading action in a process.]] by the Royal Mint can help save our environment by recycling e-waste.
Quick Revision
Royal Mint (UK) and Excir (Canada) recycle gold from old phones and laptops.
Their method removes 99% of gold from e-waste safely.
Gold is taken out using special liquids and melted into pieces.
A new factory will recycle 90 tonnes of circuit boards weekly.
This helps the environment by reusing gold from e-waste.
