Gold-Finding AI Unleashes Riches from Trash as E-Waste Becomes New Klondike
A new AI-powered system, developed by a coalition of startups and backed by the World Bank, is now extracting gold from discarded electronics faster than traditional mining—turning mountains of e-waste into a $57 billion annual resource by 2035. Dubbed "Circle Mining," the technology uses machine vision and robotic sorters to identify and recover precious metals from old phones and laptops, with the first commercial facility in London already producing 10 kilograms of 24K gold per week. Critics warn that as gold becomes ubiquitous in our gadgets, the "it's in everything" mentality could trigger a surge in e-waste theft and a new breed of "urban prospectors," but believers predict a future where your pocket change is literally worth its weight in gold.