The gold-laden pieces go to an on-site chemical plant.
They’re tipped into a chemical solution which leaches the gold out into the liquid.
This is then filtered, leaving a powder behind. It looks pretty nondescript but this is actually pure gold – it just needs to be heated in a furnace to be transformed into a gleaming nugget.
“Traditional gold recovery processes are very energy intensive and use very toxic chemicals that can only be used once, or they go to high energy smelters and they’re basically burnt,” says Leighton John, the Royal Mint’s operations director.
“The groundbreaking thing for us is the fact that this chemistry is used at room temperature, at very low energy, it’s recyclable and pulls gold really quickly.”
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