For example, a ton of ore from a gold mine gives about 5 grams of gold, but a ton of cellphones gives 150 grams of gold. Why would some countries be into this trend?
Technically speaking yes, recovery of noble metals from cell phones is possible.. but is it economically feasible? a cost-benefit analysis will give the answer.
If we put emphasis on waste recycling and resource conservation then certainly this is an excellent opportunity. The problem is there are so many more toxic substances associated with e-waste, but certainly recycling and extraction of precious metal is something should be seriously looked at. Many of under developed economies are doing it on large scale in a very disorganized way.
in my country, the DRC for instance, in urban areae, almost everybody has a cellular telephone, and many are low cost and poor quality china brands, disposed of after a short period of use (life time). So recycling this stuff to recover precious metals will be anyway more profitable instead of simpling throwing the broken sets to waste.
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