Those of you who have simply been throwing away old cell phones and electronics may have to think again: urban miners are taking full advantage of record metal prices by scavenging through the scrap metal in old electronic products in search of such gems as iridium and gold. The materials recovered are reused in new electronics parts and the gold and other precious metals are melted down and sold as ingots to jewelers and investors as well as back to manufacturers who use gold in the circuit boards of mobile phones. "It can be precious or minor metals, we want to recycle whatever we can," said Tadahiko Sekigawa, president of Eco-System Recycling in Japan.
According to one study, a ton of ore from a gold mine produces just 5 grams (0.18 ounce) of gold on average, whereas a tonne of discarded mobile phones can yield 150 grams (5.3 ounce) or more."To some it's just a mountain of garbage, but for others it's a gold mine," said Nozomu Yamanaka, manager of the Eco-Systems recycling plant.
View: Full Story at Reuters
According to one study, a ton of ore from a gold mine produces just 5 grams (0.18 ounce) of gold on average, whereas a tonne of discarded mobile phones can yield 150 grams (5.3 ounce) or more."To some it's just a mountain of garbage, but for others it's a gold mine," said Nozomu Yamanaka, manager of the Eco-Systems recycling plant.
View: Full Story at Reuters
eeerm, no it doesn't
0.63 10^6/cm ohm Silver
0.596 10^6/cm ohm Copper
0.452 10^6/cm ohm Gold
Rust? Copper doesn't rust like iron does
Rust? Copper doesn't rust like iron does
OK its technically not "rust" but it oxidises. Gold doesn't...
Do you really think that?
Companies make disposable crap so they can make their profit off of it and then not have to worry about paying for its disposal: let it become somebody else's problem. This is what happens when private companies are allowed to control every aspect of production and distribution in our society without restraint: they take the most profitable path no matter who is harmed in the process.
In accounting, this is called an externality, because the people outside (external to) the company making the mess (and the profits) get to pay for its cleanup. It's the reason we literally have mountains of poisonous plastic (and other) garbage piling up around the planet, and, I might add, one of the many wonderful reasons that those of you under the age of 20 can expect to live to the ripe old age of 40 -- if you're lucky.
So any time someone has a reason to clean up somebody else's garbage (poisonous or otherwise), you should think that it's a good thing -- not a waste of time.
Yea I was joking. But sorry I made you write all of that.
Yea I was joking. But sorry I made you write all of that.
Funny stuff! LOL
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