MTM Critical Metals Achieves High Gold Recovery from E-Waste using FJH Technology
THE CLEAN ENERGY CAFE: MTM Critical Metals (ASX: MTM) reported gold recovery success from electronic waste (e-waste) during initial tests of the company’s proprietary Flash Joule Heating (FJH) technology.
MTM Critical Metals believes the high recovery gold yields achieved by the testing demonstrates the technology’s potential to change the status quo for the recycling industry.
The company’s proof-of-concept stage testing recovered up to 70 per cent of the contained gold within e-waste without the use of toxic acids.
The FJH process works by ‘flash’ heating e-waste in a chlorine gas atmosphere, vaporizing the target metals like gold for efficient separation and collection via metal chlorides.
The process is highly scalable and environmentally friendly, offering a sustainable and energy-efficient alternative to traditional methods of recovering metals from e-waste such as smelting and chemical leaching, which are considered energy-intensive, environmentally harmful, and economically inefficient.
“FJH has proven to be an efficient and sustainable solution for recovering gold from low-grade e-waste, with future tests to focus on higher metal content material as it becomes available,” MTM chief executive officer Michael Walshe said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“As global e-waste levels rise and the demand for greener metal production increases, particularly in the face of an acid shortage, FJH presents a cleaner and more efficient alternative to traditional methods.
“This technology holds the potential to unlock significant economic value through environmentally responsible metal extraction, delivering lasting benefits for shareholders, the industry, and the environment.”
E-waste is one of the fastest-growing components of solid waste with over 60 million tonnes produced annually, of which only about 20 per cent is currently recycled.
This is a readily available source of precious and critical metals like gold, copper, and palladium that is valued at over US$70 billion in potential recoverable content.
It also presents a great opportunity for material reclamation that reduces carbon emissions and minimises toxic by-products.
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