<h5>Who is making gold jewellery from old phones?</h5><p>Recycling old electronic products is much needed at present. So, the United Kingdom’s Royal Mint has signed an agreement with Canadian start-up Excir for a technology that will safely recover and recycle gold and other precious metals from electronic waste (e-waste). This is the world’s first such technology.</p><p>Excir's technology, which they have patented, is based on innovative chemistry. This method can extract over 99% of the gold stored within the circuit boards of old and discarded mobile phones and laptops.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/gold-jewellery-being-made-from-old-phones%2Fcircuit%20board.jpg?alt=media&amp;token=e7365446-618c-4d42-a42e-a849762ed153"><figcaption>A circuit board from which gold will be extracted. Photo by BBC.</figcaption></figure><h5>What is the process of removing the gold?</h5><div class="raw-html-embed"><figure> <iframe width="100%" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xLV9pMrtmS0" title="Recycling Gold from Electronic Waste" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><figcaption>The extraction process of the gold. Video by The Royal Mint.</figcaption></figure></div><p>A chemical solution is poured into a glass flask containing small fragments of circuit boards. A machine is used to shake the contents of the flask. Any gold in the fragments quickly dissolves and drains into the liquid. Then, another solution is added to turn the gold into powder. This powder is separated and melted down into small gold pieces.</p><h5>How do they extract gold from huge amounts of circuit boards?</h5><p>A large plant is set up to extract gold from large quantities of circuit boards. Separated circuit boards from computers and mobile phones are provided to the plant from various parts of the country.</p><p>The circuit boards are checked and broken up. The non-gold parts are separated, while the gold parts, such as USB ports, are sent to a reactor. The first solution is used on them in a huge amount. Then, the second solution is used to make powder gold, which is then turned into small gold pieces.</p><p>The Royal Mint also plans to build a bigger factory later this year that will handle 90 tonnes (90000 kg) of circuit boards every week, which can help recover lots of gold. They have also announced a jewellery division named “886 by The Royal Mint” to create various jewellery pieces out of this gold.</p><h5>Why are circuit boards being used to extract gold?</h5><p>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, lots of e-waste is generated worldwide. If nothing is done to recycle and reuse them, it will harm our environment. So, this new initiative by the Royal Mint can help save our environment by recycling e-waste.</p>

The UK’s Royal Mint and Canada’s Excir are working together to extract gold from e-waste.

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