To execute the recovery of gold or the like from a printed wiring board or the like at a low cost by crushing a waste portable telephone or the like, burning combustive materials such as synthetic products, subjecting the residues to magnetic separation and recovering, e.g. noble metals such as gold.

A waste material 1 such as a waste portable telephone is crushed by a crushing machine 2, and charged to a burning furnace 3 and is subjected to high temp. burning. Ash 5 collected in the lower part of the burning furnace 3 is transferred to a receiving tank 14 and is mixed with water, and this mixture is fed to a magnetic separating device 7 by a pump 6. At the outside of a rotary separating cylinder 9 of a magnetic separating device 7, a plurality of electromagnets 8a and 8d are arranged in series, in which magnetic force on the sides of feeding the mixture is made weak, noble metals or the like corresponding to the intensity of each magnetic force is respectively magnetized to the magnetic poles in the rotary separating cylinder 9. When each noble metal is magnetized, degaussing is executed per magnetic field, fresh water is made to reversely flow in the direction of the arrow 34, a valve 35 is closed, a valve 36 is opened, valves 37a to 37d are suitably opened and closed, noble metals or the like is discharged to vessels 10a to 10d per magnetic field and is respectively recovered.