welcome to
urban mining
fROM TRASH TO TREASURE
about Urban Mining
High-value metals make the modern world go round, but the way we extract and dispose of them is far from sustainable. Urban Mining could be an elegant and lucrative alternative. From the gold and silver in consumer electronics to the rare earth elements needed to power renewable energy technologies, metals underpin the transition to a high-tech, low-carbon economy. It’s estimated that precious metals worth billions are lost every year from electronic waste alone, the vast majority of which goes unrecycled. There are growing concerns around the environmental and humanitarian effects of conventional mining practices.
Using new technology adapted from nature, Imagining Engineering aims to recover precious metals from urban waste and make introduce an element of circularity to the electronics industry. Old phones can become valuable, decommissioned wind turbines can be turned into solar panels. Anything is possible
THE E-WASTE PROBLEM
Our Solution
For too long, the WEEE industry has relied on traditional antique recycling methods meant for plastic and other types of waste. This has led to several challenges that have been holding back the industry such as high costs, high emissions & low-recovery rates. We are building next generation technology in order to overcome these bottlenecks and hopefully start a new revolution in electronic recycling.
Low energy & LOW EMISSIONS
Organic process that requires little energy
aDVANCED ENGINEERING
Nature has been doing this for centuries, we will adapt a natural process into a controlled environment.
REGENERATIVE
We use materials that have been discarded as waste.
The Technology
Bioleaching is the extraction of metals from their ores through the use of living organisms. This is much cleaner than the traditional heap leaching using cyanide. Bioleaching is one of several applications within biohydrometallurgy and several methods are used to recover copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver among others.
When it comes to our use of this technology we have 2 options.
- Develop proprietary technology ourselves
- Partner with propriety technology firms as test partners and once POC is achieved become among the first launch customers
Both options are lucrative and have their own advantages and disadvantages however we tend to favour developing our own technology as opposed to partnering with other firms.
OVERVIEW
THE MARKET
Mining Industry Value
Value of Rare Earths in E-waste
Value of Rare Earths in E-waste in Africa
Sustainable Metal Recovery
Gold
Source- E-waste
Amount: 1 Tonne
Recoverable Value = $ 12,000
Copper
Source- E-waste
Amount: 1 Tonne
Recoverable Value = $ 2,000
Platinum
Source- Catalytic Converters
Amount: 1 Tonne
Recoverable Value = $ 33,000
Cobalt
Source- Lithium Ion Batteries
Amount: 1 Tonne
Recoverable Value = $ 23,000
Palladium
Source- Catalytic Converters
Amount: 1 Tonne
Recoverable Value = $ 200,000
Lithium
Source- Electric Cars
Amount: T.B.D
Recoverable Value = T.B.D
our Progress
We are still an idea stage company at this point, however we have refined our research, business case and pitch deck several times with the help of external experts and currently raising our pre-seed fund. If this idea intrigues you we would be happy to share further documentation with you and discuss further to help you fully understand what were doing and the massive opportunity here.