According to Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, a notable structural shift is reshaping the global gold market. Traditionally, gold prices maintained a strong inverse correlation with real yields. When real yields rose, the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing gold increased, which normally pressured gold demand and triggered ETF outflows.
However, the market has broken this classic relationship. The U.S. 10-year real yield has climbed to a 20-year high, surging 76 basis points since the start of the year. Even so, holdings of gold-backed ETFs keep recovering after a decline in the first half of 2026. Fiscal concerns and mounting government debt burdens have become the primary driving force behind investor appetite for gold.
Investors no longer view elevated long-term yields merely as an attractive alternative to gold. Instead, rising yields are seen as a warning signal of fiscal risks, growing debt-servicing costs and potential financial instability. In this context, gold’s unique value as an asset outside the traditional financial system is being reaffirmed. Combined with sustained central bank gold purchases and solid physical gold demand from Asia, the investor base supporting bullion has expanded greatly compared with 2022–2023.
With limited output from primary mining, recycled gold has become a critical supply source for the global gold market. Large volumes of gold are contained in PCB boards, electronic connectors, chip pins, defective plated workpieces and gold-plated scraps, widely known as “urban mines”. Gold deplating equipment is the core facility to efficiently extract recycled gold from various gold-plated waste materials.
Traditional deplating technology relies heavily on cyanide, which carries extreme toxicity, high environmental risks and strict EHS restrictions, restricting production for many recycling enterprises. We are a professional manufacturer specializing in eco-friendly cyanide-free gold deplating complete sets of equipment.
Our systems achieve selective gold stripping for gold-plated PCBs, electronic components and defective plating parts. Only the gold layer is removed while copper, nickel and other base materials remain intact for reuse. Equipped with a solution circulation system, our equipment reduces reagent consumption and simplifies wastewater treatment to meet domestic and international environmental standards, delivering stable gold recovery rates.
We provide both batch-type deplating units for small recycling workshops and continuous production lines for large-scale solid waste resource enterprises with customized solutions. Our equipment suits multiple scenarios, including reworking defective plated parts from electronics factories, gold recovery from PCB waste and precious metal extraction from gold-plated offcuts, enabling stable production of high-purity recycled gold.
Two major trends benefit precious metal recyclers in the current macro environment: First, gold pricing logic has transformed. Fiscal risks offer long-term support for gold prices, stabilizing the liquidation value of recycled gold and improving the certainty of returns on recycling projects. Second, tightening global environmental regulations are phasing out highly polluting cyanide-based processes. Cyanide-free and environmentally friendly deplating solutions have become an essential upgrade across the industry.
Central banks continue to accumulate gold, and ETF investors keep increasing positions. Primary gold mine supply remains constrained, creating a long growth window for the recycled gold resource recovery sector. For solid waste recyclers, electronic waste processors and electroplating companies, reliable eco-friendly gold deplating equipment serves as a key tool to tap into urban mine resources and seize dividends from the recycled precious metal market.
As a professional manufacturer of gold deplating equipment, we provide one-stop services covering equipment solution design, process implementation, installation, commissioning and technical training. We help clients recover gold from gold-plated waste safely, efficiently and compliantly to capture opportunities in the recycled precious metals industry.
