Threats of substitute products or services

For mining companies it is more expensive to find resources in the earth’s crust, to extract the ore deposits from the soil and process raw materials useable for industry than it is to extract raw materials from e-waste. Therefore the price for materials extracted by recycling companies can easily compete with other substitute resources. 

(Source: [1])

The quality of the recycled metals is the same as the newly excavated metals. The only difference is the end cost of the production. In this case a recycled product cost is way lower.

(Source: [2])

The switching costs for buyers are low, all metals of the same kind are the same. The buyers can process raw materials from any source.

Businesses active in e-waste recycling sell the recycled materials and metals on the international market at the metal exchange rates. Extremely high profit is made because the international prices for raw material is the same everywhere. So its not important for the buyer how the final product is manufactured.