More than 100 years ago, prospective prospectors for gold were hiking slopes and draining gravel in Alaska and Yukon. Today, a Canadian company sees a different kind of gold rush – prospecting the 300 tonnes of gold in the more than 50 million tonnes of electronic waste that is produced globally and is worth about $16 billion.

Excir’s pioneering technology is a huge step towards turning a problem – all those discarded phones, laptops and other electronic waste – into a resource that can be recaptured in a sustainable way at room temperature – no smelting at high temperatures required.