With estimates that around 7.0% of the world’s gold is currently contained within electronic waste, urban mining—the process of reclaiming raw materials from electronic waste and other sources—is emerging as a pivotal, and profitable, approach to sustainable resource management.
Gold is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. The
global supply of recycled gold has been slowly climbing in response to the record
high gold price.
Q1 2024 saw scrap gold supply leap 12.5% yoy to 11.3Moz, making
it the highest quarter of secondary gold supply since Q3 2020, when supply also
soared in response to the pandemic and high gold prices at the time.
Around 50Mt of e-waste are generated globally each year, the UN
estimates, with only about 20% properly recycled. This amount is forecast to
rise to 74Mt by 2030, which could translate to 26Moz of gold.
The recovery of gold from e-waste addresses not only the growing
demand for gold but also offers a sustainable solution to the environmental
challenges posed by traditional mining.