It takes 240,000 tons of ore to recover 1 kg of gold compared to 800 tons of waste electrical and electronic equipment to obtain the same quantity of gold,” assured Professor Moussa Bougouma on Tuesday.

The coordinator of the Center of Expertise for the Recovery and Valorization of Metals (CERVAM) indicated on Tuesday that electrical and electronic components such as RAM sticks, processor cards, mobile phone cards and computer motherboards contain 80% more precious metals than ore.

“According to estimates, it takes 240,000 tonnes of ore to recover 1 kg of gold, while 800 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment would be enough to obtain the same quantity of gold,” explained Prof. Bougouma.

The CERVAM coordinator, who spoke with journalists on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 at Norbert Zongo University, invited stakeholders in the mining sector to take an interest in this area.

In addition to the economic gain, the recovery and recycling of waste electrical equipment would help to preserve the envir
onment and the health of populations.

In his opinion, the waste from this equipment constitutes a little-known and unexploited gold mine in Burkina Faso.

“CERVAM has the expertise necessary for the recovery of precious metals from electrical and electronic components, but it needs the necessary support to do so,” he reassured.

The teacher-researcher, however, deplored the fact that most buyers of this equipment, at the local level, export it to Europe and other countries, which does not benefit the population.

Source: Burkina Information Agency