Gold is heated to 1064°C, which allows it to transform from a solid to a liquid state. It is then transformed into an ingot, which will subsequently become, after passing through the hands of various trades, a brand new piece of jewelry or a completely new piece.
The recycling of precious metals represents an economic, industrial, and ecological challenge. Economically, gold mining is very expensive and is likely to decline or even disappear in the short to medium term. The new gold mines of the coming centuries will certainly no longer be located in a country's gold-bearing subsoil, but rather in industrial objects containing precious metals, for which new technologies will improve recycling.
The electronics industry uses an average of nearly 320 tons of gold each year, and the rate continues to increase as consumption continues to rise (mobile phones, tablets, computers, televisions, etc.). Currently, the processes for recycling and extracting gold from electronic components remain complex and expensive.
The ecological aspect concerns the extraction of gold from mines, which can be extremely polluting. In fact, it is estimated that extracting just 20 grams of gold results in 20 tons of mining waste and 415 kg of CO2 released into the atmosphere.
According to a study conducted on recycling over the last decade, it turns out that 90% of recycled gold comes from jewelry and only 10% from industrial gold used in electronics, for example.