Thinking of throwing your old cell phone away? Think again. Maybe you should start by looking at gold, silver, copper and a range of other metals embedded in electronics - many of which are priced at a discount.

This is called "urban mining", scavenging through scrap metal in old electrical and mechanical products in search of these gems and gold, iridium is a developing industrial metal around the world with skyrocketing prices.

Material recycling for new electronic parts is gold and other precious metals melted down and sold into ingots, which investors as well as return to manufacturers to use gold on circuit boards for mobile phones because gold and copper conduct electricity better .

"That may be precious or minor metals that we hope we can recycle," said Sekigawa Yoshi, president of Recycling Co., Ltd., Ecosystems.

One ton of ore from a gold mine produces 5 grams of gold on average, while one ton of discarded mobile phones can yield 150 grams or more, according to a report by Yokohama Metal Industries Co., Ltd., another recycling.

The same volume of discarded mobile phones also contained about 100 kilograms of copper and 3 kilograms of silver, among other metals.

Metals important for recycling have hit record highs. Gold traded at $89 billion an ounce, after hitting an all-time high of $1,030.80.

Copper and tin also hit new highs around the world, and silver prices are above long-term averages.

Japan has some natural resources for recycling electronics to feed its massive electronics industry, but literally thousands of old cell phones and other obsolete consumer electronics are thrown away every year.

"To others it's just a pile of trash, but to others it's a gold mine," said Nozomu, the manager of Japan's ecosystem, where recycling plants pile in piles of discarded mobile phones and Other electronic devices were stripped down to their metal's worth.

At the factory, 80 kilometers southwest of Tokyo in Honjo, 34-year-old Susumu Arai harvests the bounty.

A ribbon of molten gold flows into the mold, which makes up for several minutes, spitting fire before solidifying into a dark yellow, before moving onto a 3-kilogram gold bar, with a total value of about $90,000 at current prices.

No. 1 in sorting and dismantling end-of-life electronics and other industrial waste. It is then immersed in chemicals that dissolve unnecessary materials and are refined from the remaining metal.

Eco established near Tokyo 20 years ago, usually produces about 200-300 kilograms of gold bars a month, worth about 99.99 percent purity, which grew to $8.8 million to $59 million.

That's about the same output as a little gold mine.