Strange

Japanese waste treatment plant recovers gold from sewage

by Yuliya Talmazan | February 2, 2009 at 12:16 pm

3001 views | 21 Recommendations | 5 comments

A sewage treatment facility in Central Japan is recovering more gold per year from processed sewage than some of the country’s biggest mines can yield. The plant has reported recovering almost 2 kg of gold per ton of sewage recently. In contrast, one of the biggest Japanese mines yields 20-40 grams of gold per ton of ore processed. The plant sits next to numerous precision machining companies and metal plating facilities, which probably is the reason behind high concentration of gold in sewage water in the area.

Considering gold prices are on the rise now as the result of economic meltdown, the treatment plant’s management is expecting to make a nifty financial gain from the recovered gold this fiscal year. This is just another good example of of an increasingly popular and successful waste treatment business model.

A sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world's best mines.
An official in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, said the high percentage of gold found at the Suwa facility was probably due to the large number of precision equipment manufacturers in the vicinity that use the yellow metal.

The facility recently recorded finding 1,890 grams of gold per tonne of ash from incinerated sludge.

That is a far higher gold content than Japan's Hishikari Mine, one of the world's top gold mines, owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining, which contains 20-40 grams of the precious metal per tonne of ore.

The prefecture is so far due to receive 5 million yen (39,075 pounds) for the gold, minus expenses.

It expects to earn about 15 million yen for the fiscal year to the end of March from the gold it has retrieved from the ashes of incinerated sludge.

"How much we actually receive will depend on gold prices at the time," the official said.

Some gold industry officials expect prices this year to top the all-time high above $1,030 per ounce set in 2008, on buying by investors worried about the deepening economic downturn.

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yurina

at 14:14 on February 2nd, 2009

Wow, I've never had such news of gold processing.....Even though Suwa, Nagano prefectur, is my hometown.

nyctuber

at 18:14 on February 2nd, 2009

Wow, the Japanese actually do s**t gold.

Terri Potratz

at 18:16 on February 2nd, 2009

That's an interesting way of looking at it

Paschen

at 21:40 on February 2nd, 2009

Waist is very valuable, My grand Father already said that. "It is not waist, it is worth Gold."

Laughing-Samurai (not verified)

at 22:10 on February 2nd, 2009

In the area of Suwa Lake, Nagano, Japan, are a large number of electronic companies because of the clean air, including Seikyo, Epson (part of Seikyo). Gold is used in the manufacture of computers, mobile phones and other devices.

Its estimated by the National Institute for Materials Science that Japan owns many valuable metals and could be recycled from something refered to as Urban Mines,

Japan owns some 6,800 tons of gold, some 16 percent of global known deposits, and some 60,000 tons of silver, which accounts for 22 percent of world deposits.

Japan's stockpile of indium, used for liquid crystal, takes up around 61 percent of global deposits.