Financial valuation of recovering valuable metals from e-waste in South Africa: an assessment of waste printed circuit boards

Abstract

As the world’s population is growing more rapidly, more mineral resources are needed for the development of economies. The recovery of metals from waste electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has the potential to supplement the current metal production levels from primary mining and create socio-economic opportunities for countries. The purpose of this research was to assess the feasibility of recovering metals from e-waste with a focus on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). A Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis was conducted to assess the economic feasibility of 1) exporting of PCBs and 2) commissioning of pyrometallurgical plant to process waste PCBs in South Africa. The study employed a mixed method approach. Face-to-face and telephonic interviews were conducted to collect primary data, and this was supplemented by secondary data from desktop review of past work. The DCF results on the exporting of PCBs showed a positive NPV on all three different grades of PCBs. An NPV of R436.89 million, R319.10 million and R163.83 million for the high grade, medium grade and low grade PCBs was calculated respectively. The NPV for the option of setting up a refining plant are R3 446.85 million, R1 590 million and R1 125.78 million and for all options, an IRR of more than 200% for the high grade PCBs, medium grade PCBs and low grade PCBs was calculated respectively. Whilst the results show the economic feasibility of setting up a refining plant to recover valuable metals such as gold and copper, the operating costs may have been underestimated because the assumption of the inputs was made from information obtained from interviews and literature. There is a need to improve the reliability of input parameters, as such, further research is recommended on accurate volumes of PCBs generated and operating cost estimates.