As other people already said, extracting metals from old electronics has been a thing for a long time. I don't know about gold/cooper/etc, but I met a guy that

As other people already said, extracting metals from old electronics has been a thing for a long time. I don't know about gold/cooper/etc, but I met a guy that was extracting galium arsenide from circuit boards, last I heard he was opening a large plant in China. AFAIK it is (was?) actually pretty difficult to pull that off, so he's one of the few people who do that.