For all the newbies, or cynics...
Even if you only consider Memphis...
Even if you only consider 10T/d (one shift)...
Even if you only consider the gold (and nothing else)...
Even if you consider the lowest grade of Ewaste (of PCB)...
Even if you consider 93% recovery...
Even if you consider 2017 gold prices...
You would still produce $60,000USD of gold a day.
This is the lowest possible scenario I can think of.
For anyone to say $20,000 per day is out right dishonest. Of course we don't have any idea what it costs in shipping, electricity, wear and tear, capital, or labour. We have no idea what the profit margin is. I think it is profitable.
There is the silver. There is the 'access' to palladium. There is the copper. There is the aluminum. There is the high grade stainless steel used in electronics. There is the construction materials. I am especially excited to find out what 'access to palladium' means.
Even if the entire process just broke even...
There is the environmental benefits. The reduction in shipping to the smelters. The reduction of landfilling. The carbon neutrality.
Even if the process costs money...
There is the China moratorium of ewaste importation. There is the reduced risk of spills and costs of shipping at sea. There is the reduction of scenes like the ewaste dumps of Africa where young people are burning plastics, and using mercury to attain the gold. There are the cyanide spills in Argentina. The fines and court battles. The permitting issues we help. The circular economy and the new stricker and more stringent laws coming. Peak gold, and the reduction in size and grade of gold deposits. Last, but not least there is a ginormous tsunami of exponentially increasing ewaste tidal waves that are going to crash into us by the metric tonne as the next consumer cycle begins starting with the 5G (and the new world's ever increasing drum beat towards modernization and a world of 10,000,000,000 individuals) sic.
We must act.
DD101
BB101