The Royal Mint has partnered with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide a sustainable solution for safely extracting precious metals from disused military defence equipment.
An estimated 7% of the world’s gold is contained within electronic waste and it remains one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world.
Through its partnership with the MoD’s defence uni, Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA), The Royal Mint will have access to tonnes of retired and surplus defence equipment, which typically contains high levels of gold and other rare metals.
The Royal Mint will then use technology created by Canadian-based company Excir to recover precious metals contained within circuit boards at ambient temperatures.
Extracted materials can then be purchased by The Royal Mint, as it aims to fulfil its ambition of using sustainably sourced precious metals in its products, or returned for reuse by MoD.
DESA head Richard Whalley said the MoD arm is “constantly searching” for ways to improve its recycling portfolio through reuse or resale or “as in this case, by recovery of valuable metals which will return to the UK economy”.
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Minister for state for defence The Earl of Minto commented: “It is fantastic to see this new, innovative technology being used to recycle old defence equipment.
“Finding new ways to reduce the costs of disposing of our waste while minimising our impact on the environment is a valuable area of work.”
The South Wales plant where the materials will be processed is due to be unveiled this year and is said to reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste while adopting the principles of a circular economy.
Once fully operational, the multi-million-pound plant will be capable of processing up to 75 tonnes of electronic components per week – the equivalent of 75 small cars – producing hundreds of kilograms of gold each year.
The innovative plant will not only focus on recovering gold with provenance but also extract value from every element of the electronic waste and its component circuit boards, including silver and copper, using other processes developed by the UK’s oldest company.
