320 Tons of Gold Worth US$21B Used Annually For Electronic Devices

Urban Mining is the process of reclaiming compounds and elements from products, buildings and waste. The term is synonymous to recycling but generally refers to recycling of industrial and electronic products for minerals and metals.

Urban mining is gaining interest now since its yield of metals per ton is higher than in traditional mining. Gold for instance yields around 150 grams per ton in cell phone circuitry while traditional mining only yields 5 grams per ton of gold ore.

Not only does the circuitry contain gold, it also has other precious metals that can be "mined" such as copper (100kg per ton) and silver (3kg per ton). Aside from these, other elements that can be found in circuit boards are iron, manganese, nickel, palladium, platinum, tin and zinc.

E-waste: Annual gold, silver 'deposits' in new high-tech goods worth $21B; less than 15% recovered

A staggering 320 tons of gold and more than 7,500 tons of silver are now used annually to make PCs, cell phones, tablet computers and other new electronic and electrical products worldwide, adding more than $21 billion in value each year to the rich fortunes in metals eventually available through "urban mining" of e-waste, experts say.

Manufacturing these high-tech products requires more than $16 billion in gold and $5 billion in silver: a total of $21 billion -- equal to the GDP of El Salvador -- locked away annually in e-products. Most of those valuable metals will be squandered, however; just 15% or less is recovered from e-waste today in developed and developing countries alike.

Electronic waste now contains precious metal "deposits" 40 to 50 times richer than ores mined from the ground, experts told participants from 12 countries at last week's first-ever GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy for policymakers and small businesses, co-organized in Accra, Ghana by the United Nations University and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).

Exposure To Silica Dust Increases Risk of Death From All Causes

Silica is a common, naturally-occurring crystal. It is found in most rock beds and forms dust during mining, quarrying, tunneling, and working with many metal ores. It is also a a main component of sand, so glass workers and sand-blasters are also exposed to silica.

Inhaling silica dust may cause silicosis (Potter's rot). Silicosis is a lung disease and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneumoconiosis.

There is no specific treatment for silicosis. Preventing repeated exposure to silica dust is vital to minimize the risk of the disease from getting worse. Other treatment for silicosis includes cough medicine, bronchodilators, and oxygen if needed. Antibiotics can also be prescribed for resulting respiratory infections.

Long-term exposure to silica dust increases risk of death in industrial workers

Industrial workers who have been chronically exposed to silica dust are at substantially higher risk of death from all causes than workers who have not been exposed. Furthermore, the risk of death, especially from lung and cardiovascular diseases increases with increasing exposure, according to a study from Chinese researchers published in this week's PLoS Medicine.

The researchers, led by Weihong Chen from the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, studied 74,040 workers who were employed for at least one year at 29 different Chinese metal mines and pottery factories between 1960 and 1974, and then followed up until the end of 2003.