$11M plan to recover

James Howell’s life changed when his iPhone 6 lost a hard drive.

Howells, from Newport, South Wales, discovered two identical laptop hard drives in a drawer in 2013. Another claimed to have 8,000 bitcoins — now worth $181 million, even after the recent crypto crash.

He intended to throw it away, but instead the drive containing the cryptocurrency went in a garbage bag to the local landfill.

Nine years later, he decided to retrieve the stash he released in 2009.

Howells, 36, is hoping local authorities will allow him to hunt for the high-tech treasure buried in bitcoins. His problem is that he can’t get into the trash.

Darren Britton / Wales News

For nearly a decade, Newport City Council rejected requests to dig up the hard drive, saying it was expensive and damaging to the environment, but Howells was undeterred.

He gave a first look at the new $11 million proposal, backed by a venture capital fund, to find up to 110,000 tons of waste. He hopes that his presentation to the council in the coming weeks will finally convince him to try to recover the hard drive.

Finding a hard drive in 110,000 tons of garbage

Finding a hard drive among thousands of tons of junk can seem like a Herculean task.

But Howells, a former IT worker, said he believes a combination of human handlers, robot dogs and AI-powered machines to search for hard drives on a conveyor belt could be achieved.

There are two versions of his plan, depending on how much landfill space the council allows to search.

In his estimation, the most extensive option would take three years and involve sifting through 100,000 metric tons — or 110,000 tons — of waste at a cost of $11 million. A scaled-down version would cost $6 million and take 18 months.

He assembled a team of eight experts — including a consultant who worked for the company that obtained the data from the crashed Columbia space shuttle — on AI-powered sorting, trash excavation, waste management and data mining.

The experts and their companies contract to do the mining and receive a bonus if a bitcoin deposit is successfully found.

“We’re trying to get this project to a full commercial stage,” Howells said.

Howells machines excavate the waste, which is then sorted in a pop-up facility near the landfill.

Human selectors beat it with a machine from a company called Max-AI in Oregon. The machine looks like a scanner placed on a conveyor belt.

Max-AI’s Remy Le Grand told Issider that the company trains AI algorithms to identify hard drives that are similar to Howells. A mechanical arm picks up potentially controversial items.

Howells built security costs into the plan for fear that people would try to dig into the hard drive themselves.

It also has 24-hour CCTV cameras, as well as two robotic “spot” dogs from Boston Dynamics that act as mobile CCTV monitors at night and sweep the area during the day for anything that looks like a hard drive.

Sam Barnes/Sportsfile for Clash via Getty Images

Howells told Insider that the group called its first meeting at the Celtic Manor Resort outside Newport in May as a dress rehearsal for the council.

It’s a story that goes from mundane to monumental. Richard Hammond

The meeting was filmed and hosted by former “Top Gear” host Richard Hammond, who released a short YouTube documentary about Howells.

“They are a very committed group of people who believe in him and his plan,” Hammond said of an insider to Howells’ team.

“It’s a story that goes from amazing to great,” Hammond said. “If I were in his place, I don’t think I would have the strength to answer the door.”

Once excavated, the waste is cleaned and reused whenever possible, Howells said. The rest will be reburied.

“We don’t want to harm the environment in any way,” he said. “If anything, we want to leave everything better.”

Darren Britton / Wales News

His plan includes building a solar or wind farm on the landfill once the project is complete. However, the likelihood of the council agreeing to the vision anytime soon seems slim.

“There is nothing that Mr. Howells can offer us” that would make the council agree, a council representative told Insider. “His proposals pose a serious ecological threat, which we cannot accept and are actually prohibited from considering under the terms of our license.”

Does it even work if the hard drive is found?

Whether the hard drive works depends on the part called “platter” – a disk made of glass or metal that holds the data. As long as the disk isn’t cracked, there’s an 80 to 90 percent chance the data can be recovered, Howells said.

Phil Bridge, a data acquisition expert who advised Howells on the project, told Insider that those figures are accurate.

Darren Britton / Wales News

But if the plate is damaged, Bridge says, the chances of getting the information are slim.

Bridge said he got involved in the project because he found it interesting. “It’s just one of those things that really tickles anybody’s fancy,” he said. “It’s just a great success story to help him get it back and prove everyone wrong.”

Where does the money come from?

Hanspeter Jaberg and Carl Wendeborn, two venture capitalists based in Switzerland and Germany, told Insider that Howells has pledged $11 million to fund the project if it wins council approval.

“It’s really a needle in the haystack, and it’s a very, very high-risk investment,” Jaberg said.

Howells said he did not have a contract with the fans but discussed the plan at meetings to highlight it. “Until I get something in writing from Newport City Council, I have nothing to sign up for,” he said.

What if he got a bitcoin stock?

Howells says if he can retrieve the data, he’ll keep about 30% of what’s there — worth more than $54 million at current prices.

He said a third would go to the recovery team, 30% to investors, and the rest to local causes, giving £50, or $61 at current prices, in bitcoins to each of Newport’s 150,000 residents.

In January 2021, it fell to $240 each, he told CNN. Howells said he decided to spend more to secure “professional companies” for the drilling to help convince the council.

What if the council disagrees with the plan?

If Howells can’t get the council’s support, he said his last option would be to take the local authority to court, claiming the action was an “unlawful restriction” on the hard drive. “I’ve had a hard time going that route before because I didn’t want to cause trouble,” he said. “I wanted to work with Newport City Council.”

Howells said he was never allowed a face-to-face meeting with the council. He said he was given a 20-minute pitch meeting in May 2021, but hopes his new business plan will help him pass.

He said he met with local MP Jessica Morden on June 24. Morden’s office confirmed the meeting took place.

Once he lets the council know his new plan, all he can do is wait. “This is the best situation I’ve ever been in,” he said. “This is the most professional operation we’ve ever put together, and we’ve got all the best people involved.”

A “crypto proponent” says he makes a living by buying bitcoins every month and selling them when he needs money.

Howells said he tries to think too much about what his share of the money would do if the hard drive was found in a working system. “Otherwise you’ll drive yourself crazy,” he said.