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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Kalyeena Makortoff

Royal Mint opens factory in south Wales to recover gold from e-waste

a hand covered in a blue surgical-style rubber glove holds a small circular piece of gold, against a backdrop of a heap of waste electronic circuit boards
The factory in Llantrisant, South Wales, will use patented chemistry to dissolve the gold to extract it from the circuit boards. Photograph: The Royal Mint/PA

The Royal Mint has unveiled a “pioneering” factory that will recover gold from electronic waste, creating a more sustainable source of the precious metal for the coin manufacturer’s luxury jewellery line.

The factory in south Wales, which has been under construction since March 2022, is designed to extract gold from up to 4,000 tonnes a year of circuit boards sourced in the UK from electronics including phones, laptops and TVs.

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