There’s gold in Japan’s landfills

Japanese 10,000 Yen (~$94) Gold Coin From Times Online by Leo Lewis – Japan’s high-tech rubbish dumps – the vast “urban mines” of landfill outside every big city – have grown so huge that the country now ranks among the biggest natural resource nations in the world.

Tens of millions of defunct mobile phones, discarded televisions, PCs and MP3 players conceal a “virtual lode” of hundreds of tonnes of precious metals. An even greater seam may be lurking forgotten – but not yet discarded – in Japan’s attics and garages.

According to new calculations by the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan has unwittingly accumulated three times as much gold, silver and indium than the entire world uses or buys in a year. In the case of platinum, Japan’s urban mines may contain six times annual global consumption.

Read the rest of the story at UK Times Online