I think you have to look at the broader picture when it comes to Ewaste.

You probably have to process circuit boards by the ton in order to do it cost effectively. You could refine just for gold and chuck the rest but you would be missing out on a lot. Going by the ton of raw material ... there might be more value recovered in copper & nickel than from gold. The yields would depend on the kind of raw material you're working with.

JMO ... but it might all be relative in regard to old stuff vs. new stuff to the the refiner. A ton of boards is a ton of boards.



It's an entirely different story for the scrapper.

Imagine processing enough pre-yr 2000 desktops to get a ton of circuit boards.

Now imagine processing enough cell phones to harvest a ton of those tiny cell phone boards.

Whoever said that good things come in small packages never scrapped one of those little buggers out !