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Bubbagumpredditor t1_izxf0cl wrote

Pretty sure the gold from sim cards is the same element as gold anywhere else.

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Carnal-Pleasures t1_izxjige wrote

Yes, the source is just a gimmick to help sell a di-gold catalyst .

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Traumfahrer t1_j01h4uj wrote

Yeah what a pseuo-science editorialized piece of dumbformation.

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HockeyCoachHere t1_izxr0bi wrote

What does SIM cards and/or recycling have to do with gold catalysts?

Seems like clickbait.

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arbybruce t1_izy6cvk wrote

Using recycled gold as a drug manufacturing catalyst is a particularly compelling application, and these teams have proved that it may be done economically

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striderwhite t1_izylzny wrote

Oh yeah, there's some gold there..to think I've thrown away some SIM cards already in the trash. But the quantity of gold in a SIM card must be really low, though.

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cmack482 t1_j00e5p0 wrote

It is. A few cents. Don't kick yourself for throwing it out.

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striderwhite t1_j01eg9x wrote

Yeah, I wouldn't...but I wonder how much gold has been thrown away in all these years, then...

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ubermeisters t1_izxoyzw wrote

Well this won't last. it's a nice idea but there's just no way that it's cheaper to recycle gold than use new. it's called funding scam. in no world is it lucrative to collect gold from used sim cards, and be profitable.

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koukimonster91 t1_izxrdf2 wrote

Ewaste recycling is a big business and it very much is worth it to get the gold out.

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Jacuul t1_izxuvip wrote

Need large quantities though, production at scale as I imagine the cost to buy the chemicals necessary goes down the more you can do at once

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cmack482 t1_j00e2nd wrote

There's very very very little gold in a SIM card to begin with. They cost 2-3 dollars brand new, my guess is there's a few cents of gold.

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ubermeisters t1_izxwmcj wrote

no, it's not worth it to get the gold out. It's "worth it" to get paid by a larger company who doesn't want to deal with properly disposing/classifying/sorting of waste, but you get the gold as a bonus.

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koukimonster91 t1_izy5072 wrote

tell that to all the recycling company's making money from extracting precious metals out of electronics waste.

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cmack482 t1_j02mh2w wrote

You can absolutely get precious metal from electronic waste. The issue with this story is that the amount you would get off of a SIM card would be significantly less than the cost of a postage stamp for someone to mail it in.

If they magically stumbled on a giant bin of SIM cards, sure it would be worth it. But people go through so few of them that no one has a drawer of them sitting around waiting to be recycled like batteries or plastic bags.

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