The Royal Mint has announced plans for a new factory about where it will process electronic junk to extract (提炼) precious metals for coins and gold bars. The factory is scheduled to open at Llantrisant in South Wales next year. It will be the first of its kind in the world.
The Royal Mint is a government-owned company that makes coins for the UK and lots of other countries. Most of its coins are made from cheaper metals such as copper, tin and zinc, but the Mint sometimes makes coins and medals from precious metals like gold and silver. It also makes gold bars, known as bullion (金条). Countries and banks like to keep gold bars because they are very valuable and their price doesn’t tend to go up or down suddenly.
The precious metals used by the Mint are mostly mined (开采) from the ground but now it plans to make use of the large amounts of electronic waste (known as e-waste) that is thrown away in the UK each year. Many electronic devices use small quantities of precious metals such as gold and silver because they are good conductors (导体) of electricity. However, it is reported that just 20% of old electronics are recycled worldwide. This is not just a waste, but it can be dangerous, because when e-waste is buried in rubbish dumps, metals and chemicals can cause great damage to the environment.
At present, e-waste from the UK is sent abroad to be processed to gain precious metals. The new factory will use chemical reactions to do the same job much quicker and use far less energy. The process can extract 99% of the precious metals from plastic circuit boards (电路板) within a few seconds, and could provide the Mint with hundreds of kilograms of gold each year.
“Our new factory will see the Royal Mint become a leader in sustainably sourced (可持续来源的) metals,” said Anne Jessopp, the Mint’s chief executive. She added that the factory would also help the UK process its own e-waste, rather than sending it to other countries.
【小题1】What does the Royal Mint’s new factory intend to do?| A．To get precious metals from e-waste. | B．To find new places to recycle e-waste. |
| C．To separate the garbage into groups. | D．To make coins from cheap metals. |
| A．Recycling it is challenging. | B．Most e-waste isn’t now recycled. |
| C．It does little harm to the environment. | D．Most e-waste is now fully used by people. |
| A．It uses no chemical reactions. | B．It can process all kinds of e-waste. |
| C．It is highly effective by using less energy. | D．It can extract 100% of the precious metals. |
| A．E-waste recycling—a new way to extract precious metals. |
| B．How to make full use of e-waste? |
| C．Is it right to send e-waste to other countries? |
| D．The Royal Mint—the coin-making factory. |
