Metals - Zone

Aluminium can be recycled endlessly and saves 95% of the energy used to make something from new aluminium.

Steel is recycled in Devon by transporting it to smelting plants (often in South Wales) where it can be re-smelted, added to fresh steel and used to make sheets of steel that can be turned into new steel cans, parts for cars or anything else made from steel.

Recycling metals saves up to 20 times (between 60-95%) of
the energy needed to the mine and extract those same metals
from their ore.

Silver has the highest known electric and heat conductivity of all metals and is used for making printed electrical circuits and as a coating for electronic conductors.

Until the late 1800s aluminium was considered a precious metal. Despite it being the most abundant metal on Earth it was very difficult to extract as three separate processes were needed (ore mining, aluminium oxide production and purifying or electrolysis). It still requires a great deal of energy to make aluminium from its ore, which is why lots of the aluminium plants are located near oil reserves (eg. In Bahrain).

In 2005 about 2,740 tonnes of gold were mined worldwide. Old scrap gold (mainly jewellery) accounts for 28% of gold production worldwide.

Open pit mining of gold and the use of cyanide to extract gold from ore means that every gold ring from new gold has about 20 tonnes of toxic waste left behind it.

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