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Urban miners look for precious metals in old cell phones

reuters.com — Thinking of throwing out your old cell phone? Think again. Maybe you should mine it first for gold, silver, copper and a host of other metals embedded in the electronics. It's called "urban mining", scavenging through the scrap metal in old electronic products in search of such gems as iridium and gold as metal prices around the world skyrocket.

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  • lsfloyd, on 04/27/2008, -0/+19I believe if carriers would offer rebates in exchange for old phones, cell phone recycling would have a better success rate.
    • ThatDustyGuy, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1They don't want to strain themselves.
  • jeddjohnson, on 04/27/2008, -0/+8It's a shame that more is NOT done to get this kind of stuff recycled and kept out of our landfills.
    • Persian5Life, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1well i f they did that there would not be a supply shortage, how would they jack up the price then?
    • theaceoffire, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1I am a firm believer that all the worlds landfills will be turned into mines.
      There are huge resources buried in it.
      • KidTechno, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1ill let you go digging through baby ***** and bananas... best of luck...
  • DeskFlyer, on 04/27/2008, -1/+15Just wait until they find that gold plated iPhone.
    • ZiggyDaZigster, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1I've got a golden IPHONE! I've got a golden IPHONE! Lala la lala la, la la la
  • mark076h, on 04/27/2008, -1/+11as metal prices around the world skyrocket, so does the number of idiots killing themselves from extracted the gold
    • benitojuarez, on 04/27/2008, -0/+5hes right what about that dude that died recently because he inhaled mecury fumes when he was seperating the gold from a pcb.
  • db0255, on 04/27/2008, -0/+11I'm pretty sure opening up your cell phone and mining it for gold and stuff would be toxic and dangerous if you did it a million times...
  • silverleaves, on 04/27/2008, -1/+11I think I read somewhere that a fellow died from trying to salvage gold from computers, etc. I think it was the mercury in the products that did him in.
  • protodon, on 04/27/2008, -2/+8Urban miners? You mean bums?
    • ZiggyDaZigster, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2When a couple more urban/bum miners die, lets see how many people continue doing this.
  • Crath, on 04/27/2008, -0/+13http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Man_Dies_Trying_to_Extra ...
  • EatingPie, on 04/27/2008, -1/+8'It's called "urban mining", scavenging through the scrap metal in old electronic products in search of such gems as iridium and gold, and it is a growth industry around the world as metal prices skyrocket.'

    And all this time I thought it was called RECYCLING

    Well, good for them!

    -Pie
  • WaterDragon, on 04/28/2008, -1/+6And if you take into account the time you spent 'mining' old cell phones and then sorting, collecting and selling the metals....you are probably working your ass off for about 10-20 cents/hour, at best.
    Maybe if we could get babies to do it, they might think it worthwhile.
    • MattNF, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3Well, the world IS overpopulated... babies would be perfect candidates. And chewing on the phones could help them develop their teeth. Everyone wins!
    • KMye, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1There's a company in Gilroy, CA that does this with most electronics, especially computers. Processing one motherboard (including acquiring it) costs about $0.80, and yields about $1.25 in metals. They do pretty well for themselves.
      • Dumbledorito, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1That's called "Economies of Scale."

        If I paint a face on a wooden sphere, it's a hobby that nets me nothing, unless I can find a gullible buyer at a garage sale.

        If I get a thousand low-paid workers to do the same thing around the clock, I become the "Smiley-Ball King," and sell truckloads of them in truck stops around the globe.
  • shadowmoose, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Most of the electronics we recycle are sent to china where the precious metals can be extracted. The only reason we do this is because there aren't as many/if any health and environmental laws over there so companies don't have to deal with all the US regulations.
    "The scrap electronics and other industrial waste is first sorted and dismantled by hand. It is then immersed in chemicals to dissolve unwanted materials and the remaining metal is refined." Those chemicals they use are incredibly toxic, and do you really trust china to get rid of those chemicals safely once they have been used?
    Recycling electronic waste is a good idea, but only when done properly.
  • charlesnorbert, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2April 3rd, 2008
    "Following the old adage, "There's gold in them thar computer parts," a man was poisoned a couple of weeks ago while trying to use mercury to extract gold from ... his computer parts. On Saturday, the man -- Tulsa resident Tony Winnett -- died. In the end, he left his home so contaminated that it cannot be lived in. What was he thinking? Well, mercury chemically reacts with gold and causes it to separate, according to Durant/Bryan County Emergency Management Director James Dalton. Authorities believe that Winnett, along with his partner Melissa Lake, heated the mercury in an attempt to separate the gold and accidentally inhaled it.
  • skewl, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1I hope more countries can see it is both good to save the Earth and economically feasible to save it!
    • borez, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Extracting gold and other metals from phones using hazardous chemicals is hardly saving the earth
  • shyboy2008, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2urban miners = poor black teenagers
  • crinzema, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Urban miners = Hippies
  • insomniac8400, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1It looks like it's time to start filtering the gold out of my goldschlager.
  • ghank, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1How many people do we have sitting in Prison getting a "free ride"? Separating recyclables from our garbage seems like a job perfectly suited for them.
  • jessjesscali, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1I've heard of people going through old CPUs and finding gold too
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