There's gold in them thar mobiles!

 

Image: Thairath

 

KALASIN: -- The governor of Kalasin  ordered his minions to check the markets for second hand goods in his province after reports on social media that old phones were being repaired then passed onto southern separatist insurgents.

 

One district in particular was targeted - Khong Chai - where it was found that 100,000 second hand phones are bought each month, reports Thairath.

 

Police, district chiefs and the like were all ordered to investigate the claims the phones would end up in the hands of terrorists bent on causing trouble in the souther border areas.

 

But it was all found to be a false alarm. The traders said that no one in their right mind would repair old mobiles - there was no money in it.

 

What happened was that big traders in Bangkok or even from China would buy the phones in a job lot and melt them down in order to extract gold from them.

 

Local traders in Khong Chai would pay an average of about 20 baht a phone for old ones that they would collect touring around the towns and villages of the province.

 

Though it was not stated how much they could be sold on for to the bigger dealers from the city and China it was clearly worth their while.

 

The traditional market in second hand goods in the province in items such as fans and fridges was different, said the traders.  These were sold for parts to shops but many were also repaired and refurbished to look like new and were sold back into the market in working order.

 

Phones were different only having a resale value for the small amount of gold they contain.

 

Source: Thairath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-10-06

The air pollution that melting those old phones would produce...and consequential cancers...

Use to get my phones repaired all the time in both countries.  It keeps them from the scrap pile.  Believe you still can. 

A couple of those phones could be classics and currently worth quite a lot on ebay.

1 hour ago, trogers said:

The air pollution that melting those old phones would produce...and consequential cancers...

Quite right, they carry various toxic materials and you need to be careful when doing this, something that Thai's would not be doing.

Edited October 6, 20169 yr by chainarong

I have about 10 old phones stashed away I was going to Chuck out, no way now I am on my way to being rich.

2 hours ago, trogers said:

The air pollution that melting those old phones would produce...and consequential cancers...

Electronic circuit boards has been recycled for decades already in this exact way. What they do with the fumes I suppose at least in the US and Europe they have stack gas treatment systems in place, but here in Asia one could only speculate....

17 minutes ago, AlQaholic said:

Electronic circuit boards has been recycled for decades already in this exact way. What they do with the fumes I suppose at least in the US and Europe they have stack gas treatment systems in place, but here in Asia one could only speculate....

 

The same way they do with garbage. Burning in the open...

Not just gold in modern smartphones: many other heavy and rare earth metals. Indeed the extraction plants are probably sus, belching out all forms of toxins.

would actually be interesting to have kept every phone i have ever owned over the last 20 years. nokia 3310 still as good as any of them i have has since.

Some electronics contains parts that are so toxic so that if you would inhale the fumes from burning/melting the parts then cancer would not kill you as you would already be dead. 

5 hours ago, trogers said:

The air pollution that melting those old phones would produce...and consequential cancers...

 

 

China bro 0 F#$%^ given, Wish Russia and the US would stop posturing with each other and unite against what will be the nation that ends us.

6 hours ago, trogers said:

The air pollution that melting those old phones would produce...and consequential cancers...

 

Inconsequential pollution and probably zero cancers from the exercise.

Ah finally someone in Thailand collect phones. If you have a lot of them , you have "lots" of gold and other precious materials.

The governour found out and started a company? While telling phones are used for terror?!

There are processes to win it back. Not by burning or melting , but working with accids.

You can extend to more electronic devices with circuitboards which also contains gold and precious metals.

The older the item the more gold is in it, they call it "urban mining"

This is already been done in many countries and even by people them selves, just roam the waste and you can win some gold.

You can find the films on youtube even how to do it.