The Royal Mint opened a new South Wales factory designed to extract gold from electronic waste.
The facility, which covers 3,700 square metres, will process up to 4,000 tonnes of printed circuit boards (PCBs) from items such as TVs, laptops and mobile phones each year.
The factory uses patented technology from Canadian company Excir, which allows gold to be recovered from PCBs at room temperature.
This method is intended to be more efficient and cost-effective than traditional mining processes.
The recovered gold, with a purity of 999.9, will be used in The Royal Mint’s luxury jewellery collection, 886.
The move aims to provide a sustainable alternative to conventional gold mining, which is increasingly challenged by the rising volume of electronic waste.
According to the United Nations’ Global E-waste Monitor, global e-waste production reached 62 million tonnes in 2022, up from 34 million tonnes in 2010.
Anne Jessopp, Chief Executive at The Royal Mint, said: “We are not only preserving finite precious metals for future generations, but we are also preserving the expert craftmanship The Royal Mint is famous for by creating new jobs and reskilling opportunities for our employees.”
