Egypt's series ' El Nemr', starring Mohamed Imam, revolves around the arts and secrets of the gold and jewelry manufacturing. What was covered in the sixth episode of the series is the process of extracting and separating gold from waste, as actor Mohamed Riad, one of the heroes of the series, explained how to extract gold from sewage water and dust, which amounts to about a kilo per year, coming from what is lost during the manufacturing process and converting gold ore into accessories.
George Michel, head of the Gold and Jewelery Merchants and Manufactures Syndicate said that the percentage of lost amount in a kilogram of gold during manufacturing process ranges between 100 and 150 grams.
He added that gold manufacturers today are more keen to take advantage of the waste of factories and workshops, to extract gold lost from them during industrialization, because it is an added value in light of the high price of gold.
“In the past years, when the price of a gram of 21 carat gold did not exceed thirty pounds, the manufacturers did not care about the lost amount during manufacturing, and some owners of buildings that included gold workshops were closing the sanitary drainage for each building, and collecting sewage waste to extract gold from it”, Michel revealed.
He pointed out that amid the rise in gold prices, manufacturers tended to reduce the lost amount of gold during the process. He added that all workshops and factories have implemented measures aimed at reducing losses during the process, and extracting gold again from sewage water and waste.
He noted that large factories have a tight system for extracting lost gold, unlike the small workshops in the goldsmiths area, which only try to reduce the percentage of lost amount of gold, and therefore some groups that make use of these lost amounts, they go out at night to search for any small pieces and sweep the streets of the goldsmiths area.
He pointed out that some workers of the Public Authority for Hygiene close the sewage drains "inspection rooms" of the goldsmiths area through locks, with the aim of collecting sewage waste every few months to extract several grams of it, through chemical operations to separate gold from the waste.
He pointed out that some workers of the general authority for cleanness close the sewage drains "inspection rooms" in the goldsmiths areas through locks, for collecting sewage waste every few months to extract several grams of gold, through chemical operations to separate gold from the waste.
Michel explained that the gold industry differs from other industries, and every gram of gold is part of the capital of the factory, “every company includes a laundry, incinerator and sanitation, to ensure that the lost gold is extracted during the manufacturing processes.
He added, the laundromat is used to wash workers' clothes periodically to ensure collecting gold filings attached to them, and the incinerator is used to burn the waste collected from various sections, and for sanitation, each company carries out its own and closed sanitation work through inspection rooms similar to stairs to ensure that Sewage residues are hitting them, which helps gold deposits into them, with the addition of some chemicals.
He pointed out that the process of extracting gold from sewage waste, by exposing it to the air, drying it and burning it, then they do what is called "float", where mercury and Nitric acid are added to the gold, so the gold is deposited at the bottom and dusts are floated on the top.
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