Overview
- The January 20 video has drawn more than five million views and shows large batches of chips and cards undergoing corrosion, displacement and heating to produce refined gold.
- Listings on second-hand platforms now market bundles of used SIM cards for extraction, along with tools and tutorials, with one instructional package reportedly nearing 2,000 sales.
- Qiao values the recovered gold at about 200,000 yuan and urges viewers not to imitate the process without expertise.
- Reports note that a standard SIM card contains under 0.001 grams of gold, so viable recovery depends on processing large volumes and other gold-plated components such as bank card chips and device contacts.
- Chinese media and legal experts warn that precious-metal refining and e-waste handling are tightly regulated and that unauthorized operations can lead to steep fines or prison terms.