Making a mint from e-waste
Turning e-waste into precious metal is proving big business for one New Zealand start-up.
Mint Innovation pulls precious metals from disused technology.
Now, it is expanding with a new biometallurgy plant in East Tamaki, Auckland. The plant is a step towards commercial expansion for Mint’s new technology and will test viability of plans to build offshore.
Chief executive Will Barker said New Zealanders had a responsibility to manage with e-waste responsibly. ‘‘We have the technology to treat them here and yet we are shipping them off for convenience,’’ Barker said.
A lot of computer waste ended up in landfills or in large smelters to be destroyed, he said.
‘‘Some of it ends up in the illicit trade and it ends up in developing nations where it is treated and basically creates a humanitarian and environmental disaster.’’
Barker said New Zealanders knew they couldn’t just throw waste in the bin – everyone had a drawer full of old technology.
However, many didn’t realise the potential value of what was inside old circuit boards.
‘‘When it comes to e-waste alone, approximately 50 million tonnes will be generated worldwide this year, with the metallic value alone estimated to be US$47 billion (NZ$70.3b). This includes US$22b in gold, found primarily in printed circuit boards.’’
In 2017, a United Nationsfunded report identified Kiwis as large producers of e-waste but there was no information on how much of this was recycled.
Barker said it had been a hard road to get funding for Mint Innovation’s clean tech but there were some avenues of support.
In 2018, the company received $5 million investment funding from Callaghan and Movac after developing a method of pulling precious metals from low-grade ores, tailings and electronic waste.
Early funding for the company came from the government’s Waste Minimisation Fund.