“Gold” ignites a race to buy “damaged” mobile phones in Egypt

The used phone market in Egypt has witnessed an increasing demand for buying old and damaged mobile phones, especially those manufactured between 2010 and 2022, with the aim of extracting the gold inside them, according to what Egyptian media reported from traders.
Gold is used in the manufacture of the motherboard inside smartphones as it is an excellent conductor of electricity, is not subject to rust, and helps stabilize networks and transmit signals between different parts inside the device, which has made some consider phones a “mine” for extracting gold from its components.
Traders said that the market witnessed an increase in the prices of damaged phone boards, with one kilogram of them being sold for between 300 and 1,000 dirhams with the increase in great demand, while broken screens made of metals such as copper and gold enjoy good demand, but are sold at relatively lower prices.
They added that extracting gold from phones is not a new phenomenon and was previously done from computers, but its entry into the world of mobile phones has begun to increase in recent years.
They explained that the rise in gold prices globally contributed to increasing investment in purchasing damaged devices and extracting as much precious metal as possible.
Gold is extracted from phones using special chemical processing methods, where certain acids are used in solutions to dissolve the metal and separate it from other materials, and then it is recollected using other chemicals or methods that vary from one facility to another, and some methods are less expensive than others.
These operations require specific preparations and equipment, and they cannot be easily carried out at home or in simple workshops.
A team of Chinese researchers has developed an innovative technology that can extract gold and precious metals from old electronic devices in less than 20 minutes, with high efficiency and low cost compared to traditional methods, which could have a major impact on the global recycling industry.
The new technology, developed by researchers from the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and South China University of Technology, relies on a combination of simple chemicals and an aqueous solution, without the need to use toxic substances or complex external catalysts.
This method works at room temperature, making it safer and more efficient compared to traditional methods that require high heat and harmful chemicals.
Despite this great interest, the amount of gold found in old cell phones is small and does not significantly affect the gold market or the phone market. The gold resulting from these processes is considered purely “frac gold,” and is usually sold to specific jewelers who accept it for reuse with other metals, rather than entering the market as a high-purity final product.
On the other hand, some merchants state that this trade was not so widespread before, and that marketing and advertisements on social media sites contributed to increasing its demand.