Precious Metals from E-Waste

Precious Metals from e-waste

I am experimenting with precious metals recovered from electronic waste in different states ie. liquid, powder, and solid to create metal colouring, new metal alloys and new contemporary jewellery. Click on one of the buttons below to learn more about each of these areas. I have been able to do this through collaborating with the Love Chemistry Laboratory at Edinburgh University (2017 - 2025) using their ‘hydro-metallurgy’ process that recovers metals in aqueous solutions and more recently (2026 - ) working with metal suppliers who employ bioleaching an environmentally friendly, low-cost technique that uses microorganisms, such as bacteria or fungi, to extract the valuable metals. .

Electronic waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. Gold and other precious metals are used in electronic devices as they are good conductors of electricity. At the moment only around 15% of precious metals are being recovered from electronic devices in Europe and in other countries such as India this is as low as 1.5%. Around 41 mobile phones are needed to generate 1 gram of gold.

The European Chemical Society has identified that if we continue to mine precious metals at the current rates, then copper and gold are considered ‘limited availability with a future risk to supply’ and silver is considered a ‘serious threat of extinction in the next 100 years’.

There is also a great difference in yield from ‘urban mining’ compared to traditional mining from ore out of the earth. From around 1 ton of ore you can expect around 9 grams of gold. From 1 ton of electronic waste you can expect to generate around 300 grams of gold!

An Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Research Grant was awarded in 2020 to develop this work in India. A book Brick Bread and Biscuit has been written detailing our work on this project.

Scroll down to read press coverage and feature articles.