Gold Content by E-Waste Feedstock
Gold content by weight for five e-waste feedstock types — from medical analysers (4.76%, the highest) to personal computers and laptops (0.0004%) — used for precious metal yield planning in e-waste recycling.
| Feedstock | Category | Gold % |
|---|---|---|
| Analysers and Accessories | Medical Devices | 4.76% |
| BTS (excl. tower structure) | IT & Telecom | 0.0035% |
| Cellular Telephones | IT & Telecom | 0.001570% |
| Centralised Data Processing Mainframes | IT & Telecom | 0.0008% |
| Computers (Personal & Laptops) & Tablets | IT & Telecom | 0.0004% |
Beyond definitions
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How to read this table
- Gold % figures represent gold content by total equipment weight — these are weight fractions, not concentration in a specific component.
- Medical analyser gold content of 4.76% means approximately 47.6 kg of gold per tonne of medical analyser e-waste — orders of magnitude higher than the 0.04 kg per tonne from PC/laptop e-waste.
- These percentages represent total gold in the equipment — actual gold recovered depends on the extraction process and recovery efficiency.
About this table
Gold is the highest-value recoverable metal in e-waste, present in small but commercially significant quantities in electronic components. The gold content varies enormously by equipment type — from a fraction of a parts-per-million in consumer IT equipment to nearly 5% in specialised medical analytical equipment. This table gives gold content percentages for five feedstock types, ordered by gold richness.
Medical Analysers and Accessories contain the highest gold content of any common e-waste category at approximately 4.76% by weight. Medical diagnostic equipment uses gold-plated contacts and circuit board components extensively because gold's corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity are critical in precision instruments. At this gold content, medical analyser e-waste commands premium per-kilogram pricing from precious metal refiners and is the most sought-after feedstock in the e-waste sector. Base Transceiver Station (BTS) equipment — the electronic boxes at mobile network towers — contains approximately 0.0035% gold. While much lower than medical equipment, BTS e-waste is available in relatively large volumes as mobile networks upgrade infrastructure and retire older generation equipment.
Cellular telephones at approximately 0.00157% gold are the most widely discussed e-waste gold source in the media — but at this low percentage, the gold content per phone is only about 0.02–0.03 grams per handset. A tonne of mobile phones contains only about 0.015 kg (15 grams) of gold — valuable, but requiring large volumes to be commercially worthwhile at precious metal refinery scale. Mainframes and personal computers/laptops have even lower gold content at 0.0008% and 0.0004% respectively — the gold in a tonne of PC motherboards is approximately 4 grams. These low percentages mean that gold recovery from generic IT equipment requires hydrometallurgical processing at significant scale to be economically viable as a standalone operation.
Key insights
- Medical analyser e-waste (4.76% gold) contains over 10,000 times more gold per tonne than laptop e-waste (0.0004%) — feedstock selection for gold-focused operations dramatically affects the economics.
- Cellular phone gold content is low per phone (approximately 0.02 grams per handset) but the sheer volume of mobile phones retired annually makes mobile phone refurbishment and recycling commercially interesting at scale.
- BTS equipment retiring from mobile network upgrades (3G to 4G to 5G transitions) is a growing e-waste gold source at 0.0035% — not high-grade but available in increasing quantities.
- Gold recovery from standard IT equipment (PCs, laptops) requires hydrometallurgical processing and large volumes to be commercially viable as a standalone gold recovery operation — most mechanical recyclers sell this fraction to downstream refiners rather than extracting gold themselves.
Methodology & sources
Gold content percentages are based on published e-waste composition data for the respective EEE categories as referenced in course materials. Actual values vary significantly by equipment make, model year, and manufacturing region. Medical device gold content in particular varies widely by equipment type and generation. These figures should be used for planning orientation, not for batch-level financial projections — test actual feedstock batches before finalising precious metal recovery economics.
Related data tables
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