People all over the world are talking about the man in China who said he was able to get 191 grams of gold, worth about ₹26 lakh, out of old SIM cards and electronics. The story became popular on social media, bringing attention to the secret value in everyday digital trash while also making people worry about safety, the law and the environment.
Who Did the Extraction of Gold?
The person, whose name is Qiao, works as a skilled scrap metal refiner and lives in Huizhou, Guangdong province. He put movies online that showed the last part of his job, where electronic trash is refined to make a solid gold bar. People on social media called him an alchemist because of how carefully he explained things and how well they worked out in the end.
Qiao has made it clear that the work was done in a skilled and controlled environment. It is important to note, according to him, that this process can’t be safely done by people because it needs special training, licensing, and tools.
How to Get Gold Out of SIM Cards and Electronic Waste
The gold wasn’t just taken out of SIM cards. Qiao took care of almost two tons of electrical trash, which included old SIM cards, chip bits and other phone related items. SIM cards have tiny touch points that are covered in gold. This helps them last and stay linked.
Each SIM card contains a very little quantity of gold, often less than 0.01 grams.Thousands of cards are needed to get back even a small amount. Chemical cleaning, separation, filtration and high temperature melting are some of the steps used in the extraction process to separate and clean the valuable metal into a solid form.
Experts say you shouldn’t do this at home
A lot of people are interested in the story, but experts have highly warned people not to try these extraction methods anywhere other than authorized centers. There are dangerous chemicals and reactions in the process that can release poisonous gases if they are not treated properly.
If you don’t properly handle electronic waste, you could get burned, poisoned, or have long term breathing problems. The people watching Qiao told them not to copy the process as the risks were too high for the possible benefits to be worth it without the right training and safety rules.
Stress over the law and the surroundings
Electronic trash is controlled by strict environmental rules in many places, such as China and India, because it is seen as dangerous.. If you handle or refine something without permission, you could face high costs and legal action.
Environmentalists also say that illegal ways of extracting resources can pollute the air, land and waterways, which can hurt the environment in the long run. This is why governments tell people to only recycle at licensed sites that follow rules for handling and getting rid of trash.
To remind you of the value that is hidden in e waste
The popular event has brought up the idea of urban mining again, which is the process of recovering valuable metals from old technology. Every year, millions of SIM cards, phones and other gadgets are thrown away. Recycling them in a smart way is good for both the economy and the earth.
But experts stress that this promise can only be reached in ways that are safe, legal and good for the earth. The story is a powerful example of the value that can be found in digital waste, and it’s also a good lesson that getting that value out safely takes skill, control, and care.
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