New China Method Pulls Gold from Old Electronics in Minutes

Scientists in China have found a new way to recover gold from old electronics quickly and at low cost. According to a report by the South China Morning Post, the method can extract gold from electronic waste like circuit boards and phone chips in less than 20 minutes.

The process uses a chemical wash that works at room temperature. In tests, the team was able to recover more than 98 percent of the gold. Other metals like palladium were also extracted at high rates.

What stands out is the cost. Treating around 10 kilograms of discarded circuit boards produced about 1.4 grams of gold. The total cost was about 72 US dollars. This makes the recovery price much lower than the current market value of gold.

This matters because China generates huge amounts of electronic waste every year. Much of it ends up unused, even though it contains valuable metals. Traditional mining causes serious environmental damage. Older recycling methods also rely on harmful chemicals.

Gold and other precious metals are widely used in electronics because they conduct electricity well and last long. But they are limited in supply. Recovering them from waste could reduce the need for fresh mining and cut pollution.

If the method can be scaled up, it could change how countries deal with e-waste and turn old gadgets into a cleaner source of valuable materials.

Source: South China Morning Post