Man Mines Midtown New York Sidewalks 183
43-year-old Raffi Stepanian makes money searching New York City streets, but it's not loose change or soda cans he's looking for, it's gold. Stepanian says he can make almost $1000 a week scouring the diamond district's streets for bits of gold, platinum, and precious gems. "Material falls off clothes, on the bottom of shoes, it drops off jewelry, and it falls in the dirt and sticks to the gum on the street. The percentage of gold out here on the street is greater than the amount of gold you would find in a mine . . . It comes close to a mother lode because in the street, you're picking up gold left by the industry," he says.
Mining is dangerous. (Score:-1, Funny)
An awfully neat idea which will likely cost him his life. Mining gold and other precious metals is a filthy job dripping with toxic chemicals: arsenic, cyanide, lead, mercury, etc. These chemicals will build up in his system and likely destroy his liver, kidneys and brain.
The article doesn't say which of these chemicals he uses in his mining, so it's probably safe to assume all of them as he's one guy and not bound to the environmental laws of business.
I would like to know, though, what does he do with all the sidewalk waste (tailings) after he's done?
Take care,
Bob.
There are no cats in America (Score:2, Funny)
and the streets are paved with gold?
Re:Landmines. (Score:3, Funny)
Talking about mining... (Score:4, Funny)
Who else thought this would be more along the lines of about land-mines or claymores? It would at least be a more interesting story...
Also much like old-fashioned gold mining, once others start doing it he can't make as much money doing it anymore
Boom Town (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bull (Score:5, Funny)
Tomorrow they'll post an article about a sysadmin at a big company clearing out old home directories and supplementing his income by finding bitcoins.
Re:And now that it's all over the internet (Score:4, Funny)