Recession is biting in the US with pawn shops around the country reporting a ‘dental gold rush’ according to this story in The Times:
“People are really cashing in. If a dentist passes away, their kids come in with a big pile of gold teeth,” said Scott Taber, owner of Taber Coins
The commodities boom in developing countries like China and India led to a boom in prices over the last few years and gold has always been a traditional safe haven in times of economic trouble.
160 years on from the California Gold Rush of 1849, with the discovery of gold in Sutter’s Creek in the American River northeast of present-day Sacramento, it now seems that a return to mining the hills may be one option for those laid off in the American downturn.
Just watch and listen to this audio slideshow on the Los Angeles Times website which shows two modern day gold prospectors hard at work looking for nuggets in their sluices - as one of them comments at the end of the story “it’s this or work for the man”.
If digging tunnels is too risky for you then maybe modern day miners will turn to hunting for treasure in the landfill dumps of western cities?
This story by Alan Deutschman in Fast Company magazine back in 2006 detailed a metals crime wave in Ohio and suggested that “we could treat landfills as though they were mines - and dig up the valuable metals buried in them.”
One ton of scrap from discarded PCs contains more gold than can be produced from 17 tons of gold ore–and humans throw away 20 million tons of electronic waste a year. Americans dispose of 50 million computers annually; by the end of this decade, the Japanese alone will have trashed 610 million cell phones.
Whilst this may have green recycling overtones spare a thought for the people of La Chureca - the community of the Managua City trash dump in Nicaragua - who are forced to live like this.
During the California gold rush, San Francisco’s harbor became cluttered with derelict ships deserted by their crews desperate to strike it rich. In the 21st century we’re more likely to be buried under an electronic trash pile whilst other struggle to find food.
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Tags: California | Gold
