The Royal Mint has announced it is building a plant to turn old laptops and mobile phones into gold. The 'world first' facility will recover precious metals from discarded electronic devices.
The mint, which produces all the UK's coins, says it will provide a source of high-quality precious metals and offer a solution to "significant and growing environmental challenges". It says new technology created by Canadian-based Excir will be used to recover gold from the circuit boards of old equipment.
Construction of the plant, within the Royal Mint's secure site in South Wales, begins this month. When fully operational in 2023, The Royal Mint expects to process up to 90 tonnes of UK-sourced circuit boards per week – generating hundreds of kilograms of gold per year. It will support around 40 jobs.
