Extracted Precious Metals from Smart phones ready for Recycling

Ever wonder why some smartphones and their accessories are extremely expensive? You should know that apart from the advance new technology involved in making this devices, every smartphones contains precious metals e.g Copper, Gold , Palladium, Silver, Tin, Platinum and even Lead(Pb).

Another factor to be considered is that each of this precious minerals are mined is some remote places. For example, Platinum is also mined in Mogalakwena, Limpopo South Africa etc.

BBC-Future series October 18th 2016 indicated that:

Smartphones are pocket-sized vaults of precious metals and rare Earth minerals. A typical iPhone is estimated to house around:

0.034g of Gold
0.034g of Silver
0.015g of Palladium and
less than one thousandth of a gram of Platinum.
Containing less valuable but still significant Aluminium 25g plus
Copper 15g.

Imagine such treasuer in our pockets and in individual stores; can we now deduce the summation of precious metals that are available in all smartphones around the World? So please endure with me as i have researched and compiled the uses of some of this precious minerals in our gadgets and the their quantities.

GOLD

This is one of the rarest and one of the most expensive metals on Earth. Though smartphones comprises of a tiny fraction of Gold i.e 0.0012 Ounces, approximately $1.52 USD. This might seem extremely small by mere calculations but imagine shipping container filled with Smartphones; meaning the Size of Gold combined will be more than a Ton of Gold Ore.

Iphone casing is one of the external uses of Gold. This shiny metals are also used to wire the internal parts of the chips/ICs because of it's super malleability and conductive characteristics. The end result is an excellent signal conductivity and reception through out the tiny components/chips.

COPPER

Raw Copper

Copper is used in smartphones circuit boards and transistors because of it's good conduction of heat ans electricity. This makes the smart phone battery life last longer as a result of it's faster operating speeds and IC performances. Copper conductors and chips conducts less power in the electricity aspect with a lesser heat Radiation. A very small fraction of Copper in the region of 0.5oz is present in smarthphones.

PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM

Even though it is the least occuring Gem in smartphones, Platinum is the most valuable entity in a mobile phone (Two times the value of Gold) $22 USD per gram approximately. Used mainly in coating of electrodes i.e minuscule components in the phone panels(CCT board components) to control electricity flow, also on the printed circuit boards as well. Sometimes Paladium is used in phone screens(LCD phones).

SILVER

Majorly used for the micro-electrical components and electrical wire networl of smartphones. For example; an iPhone 5 contains $0.36 USD value of Silver. It is also used to produce printed circuit boards(Hybrids). It is the best conductor, then followed by Gold. But Gold is used preferably most times because Silver's easy corrosion properties when in constant contact with mositure.

SOME MINNING LOCATIONS

Gold- Yanacocha Gold nine Peru.
Copper- Escondida Copper mine Chile.
Silver- Cannington Silver mine Australia.
Plantinum- Bushvild complex South Africa
and Mogalakwena Limpopo South Africa

The World's largest Platinum Mine in Mogalakwena, Limpopo SA

With all the mineral mentioned, we all can agree that our smartphones ain't just compicated electronic entities but they are also mineral mines. This serves as another major source of income /job opporrunities for miners and recyclers as they extract this tiny precious metals from old and inactive devices.

Source of Job/Income for Recyclers