E-waste generation has been exponential due to technological advancements, urbanisation and modern lifestyles, reduced replacement intervals of consumer electronics, lack of design-for-environment components in electrical and electronic equipment, lack of repairs and high costs of repairs. 62 million tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2022, equivalent to 7.8 kg of e-waste per person per year. E-waste management has also been challenging, and a significant fraction ends up in landfills despite the presence of precious, base and critical metals. In addition, another substantial fraction is processed by the informal sector employing sub-standard methods without considering approved environmental, health and safety aspects. Since only 22.3 % of e-waste has been collected and properly recycled, extensive e-waste recycling frameworks, including niche methods, are needed. E-waste co-processing with ore minerals, including mine waste, and metal concentrates and other waste materials in smelters, is thus identified as a promising area to address the e-waste management and value recovery challenge. This is supported by the availability of low-grade ores to produce critical metals and copper and mine tailing management requirements. Integrated pyro-hydrometallurgical facilities in developed countries already process some e-waste with metal concentrates and other waste materials. However, niche e-waste co-processing techniques utilising heap leaching, tank leaching and acid-generating mine tailings are needed since the best available techniques depend on local socio-techno-economic considerations. This study on e-waste co-processing with natural resources and their products could be beneficial to developing the relatively unexplored research area with future studies.

中文翻译：

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电子废物与自然资源及其产品的协同处理，使关键金属供应链多样化

由于技术进步、城市化和现代生活方式、消费电子产品更换周期缩短、电气和电子设备缺乏环保设计、缺乏维修和维修成本高昂，电子垃圾的产生呈指数级增长。 2022年将产生6200万吨电子垃圾，相当于每人每年产生7.8公斤电子垃圾。电子废物管理也充满挑战，尽管存在贵金属、贱金属和关键金属，但仍有很大一部分最终被填埋。此外，还有很大一部分是由非正规部门采用不合标准的方法进行加工的，没有考虑经批准的环境、健康和安全方面。由于只有 22.3% 的电子废物被收集并妥善回收，因此需要广泛的电子废物回收框架，包括利基方法。因此，电子废物与矿石矿物（包括矿山废物、金属精矿和冶炼厂中的其他废料）的协同处理被认为是解决电子废物管理和价值回收挑战的一个有前景的领域。生产关键金属和铜的低品位矿石的可用性以及尾矿管理要求为这一点提供了支持。发达国家的综合火法冶金设施已经用金属精矿和其他废料处理一些电子废物。然而，需要利用堆浸、罐浸和产酸尾矿的利基电子废物协同处理技术，因为最佳可用技术取决于当地的社会技术经济考虑。这项关于电子废物与自然资源及其产品协同处理的研究可能有利于在未来的研究中发展相对尚未探索的研究领域。