China isn't the only nation dismantling used electronics to get at the gold, copper and silver inside. This trend, called "urban mining", is even more profitable in the current market where precious metals are trading close to their all-time high. For example, a ton of ore from a gold mine gives about 5 grams of gold, but a ton of cellphones gives 150 grams of gold. Why would Japan be into this trend? Because their country has few natural resources outside of perverted old dudes, but if they stack up all the cellphones owned by their citizens, they could probably make a pile as big as Mt. Fuji. [Yahoo News]

Send an email to Jason Chen, the author of this post, at .