Urban mining could account for 15 per cent of gold supply by 2030
News Arnulf Hinkel, Financial Journalist – 10.06.2025
The recovery of gold from electronic waste presently makes up for only about 10 per cent of total gold recycling. It is currently still easier and cheaper to extract the precious metal from old jewellery or bullions. However, urban mining is becoming increasingly important, and for good reason. Gold is a very scarce raw material and valuable asset. If it is not extracted from electronic waste and not recycled, it is lost forever and the theoretically perfect, closed recycling cycle of the precious metal is broken. The current production rate of future electronic waste five times that of urban mining, an unsustainable state, for obvious reasons.
Germany ranks third worldwide in urban mining
According to a 2024 study by the Gold Bullion Company, many economies are already heavily involved in gold recycling from electronic waste. Behind the US with 13.77 tonnes and China at 6.63 tonnes, Germany ranks third with 3.25 tonnes p.a., in spite of the much smaller population – and therefore far less electronic waste – than the two frontrunners. France ranks fourth with 2.92 tonnes and Japan fifth with 2 tonnes of gold recovered from electronic waste. Incidentally, Norway leads the way in terms of urban mining volume per capita, followed by Finland, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden.
Large share of recycling in global gold production
According to Metals Focus, 216,265 tonnes of gold have been extracted since gold mining began – two-thirds of that since 1950 alone. Annual demand for gold has remained high for decades, with the end of mineable gold deposits – estimated at just under 50,000 tonnes – foreseeable in the near future. Gold recycling is also hugely important from a climate protection perspective. The ecological footprint of recycled gold is 90 per cent lower than that of mined gold. In 2024, recycled gold from scrap gold and electronic waste accounted for some 27 per cent of total global gold production. This share could increase significantly in the coming years as urban mining intensifies.
