A method for recovery of gold from gold-containing materials, such as electronic waste material, minerals and sands is described. The method includes crushing the gold containing material to obtain a particulate material. The particulate material is then preheated in an oxygen-containing gas environment in a preheating zone. The method also includes mixing the oxidized particulate material with a chlorine-containing material and treating the mixture in a reaction zone. The treatment is carried out by heating the mixture to provide thermal decomposition of the chlorine-containing material and produce a chlorine-containing gas mixture, and by applying an electromagnetic field to the chlorine-containing gas mixture to provide ionization of chlorine. A volatile gold-containing chloride product, produced in the reaction zone as a result of a chemical reaction between gold and chlorine ions, is then cooled to convert the volatile gold-containing chloride product into solid phase gold-containing materials.