As demand for electronics rises globally, natural reserves are depleting and the method of recovering them takes a toll on the environment.  While gold mining has been a vital driver of economic growth for many centuries across the globe, it often comes at a high environmental cost.

The team at Mint is grounded in solving growing waste issues by using natural biomass and smart chemistry to extract metals from printed circuit boards (PCBs). The monetary value in these PCBs goes to waste if not treated properly (United Nations estimates that 7% of world's gold content lies in e-waste). If left as it is, they are either thrown in landfills locally, making it toxic to the environment and humans, or exported to developing nations.

"The worst part is you send it to landfill, eventually the metals leach into the groundwater, on the other side you're destroying the earth to get new gold." says Johann.

With Sydney having a population of over 5 million people, establishing a local biorefinery here seemed like a good starting point. The biorefinery was opened late last year by the Mayor of Cumberland Council, Councillor Lisa Lakes, and is roughly ten times the size of our demonstration facility.

We are very fortunate to have received backing from the Australian investors and the government's support to make our vision come true, that is to become the world's leading provider of circular green metals.  

Click here to view channel 9 News's full interview with our CTO Johann Havenga in our Sydney facility.