Résumé : Like other developing countries, Burkina Faso is one of the preferential destinations for second-hand electricaland electronic equipments (EEE). At the end of their life, these EEEs are classified as waste electrical andelectronic equipment (WEEE) including Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). A particle size reduction is realized for therelease of metals by shredding and grinding to obtain particles smaller 1.5 mm. A granulometric sorting wasrealized and nine granulometric portions were obtained. Particles were characterized by optical microscopy andScanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The experimentsconfirmed that the fractions contained polymers, glass fibers and metals under the form of single metals or alloys.The release of metal was efficient for particles with a size smaller than 0.71 mm. Three digestion procedures wereexperimented on four components to assess the impact on metals leaching. Microwave-assisted digestion methodwas the best procedure, compared to the analysis methods ISO 11466: 1995, and method 3050B, adapted. Thecharacterization by Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) of these PCBs exhibitedimportant amounts of precious metals (Ag, Au, Pd) and other metals in greater quantities (Cu, Pb, Ni, Co, etc.),leading to their qualification as “Urban Mines” calling for their recovery. The characterization of metals in eachgranulometric portion is realized. Precious and others metals were distributed in all granulometric size portions.So granulometric size reduction was not efficient for metal separation and recovery from PCBs and alternativemethods should be investigated for selective precious metal recovery.