What is urban mining?

Urban mining is the European fancy name for the process of making money out of garbage using sophisticated machinery. Urban mining is the process of reclaiming precious and minor metals from old electronic equipment. With the soaring price of metals, such recycling of previously mined metals is lucrative — 1 tonne of ore from a gold mine produces just 5 gms of gold on an average, whereas 1 tonne of discarded mobile phones can yield 150 gms or more, according to a study by Yokohama Metal Co Ltd, a recycling firm.