More companies would be willing to step up recycling and waste reclamation efforts if it paid off as well as this.
An official at the Suwa Sewage Treatment Facility in Nagano, Japan, claimed the plant has recently seen a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world’s best mines.
Processors recorded finding 1,890 grams of gold per ton of ash from incinerated waste. That level of gold content trumps even Japan’s Hishikari Mine, which usually only contains between 20 and 40 grams of gold per ton of processed ore.
So far, the sewage plant has pulled in nearly $52,000 from its gold sales, minus expenses. The earnings are slated to reach $600,000 before the end of the year.
Officials claim the spike of gold content in the sludge is because a large number of precision equipment manufacturers that use the precious metal as wiring have moved into the area.