Precious metals among the toxic trash site in Guatemalan capital
The "miners" sifting through remnants beneath the primary landfill in the capital of Guatemala personify the popular adage that one's trash is someone else's treasure.
The Associated Press reports as many as 300 people venture each day to search for items consisting of precious metals among the garbage and toxic water of a drainage tunnel. The constant run of water drags away light-weighing refuse, leaving heavier precious metals to come to a rest on the bed of the stream.
"I make more money coming here than going to a company where they would continually scold me," Eddie Miranda, 41, told the news service, noting his finds typically amount to the equivalent of $20 nearly every day. "I found a bracelet with 9 grams (0.32 avoir ounces) of gold. I got 2,000 quetzals ($256) for it."
Rings and bracelets of gold and silver are the typical finds for miners who begin the search at dawn. There are periodic dangers to the miners, such as in 2008 when masses of garbage fell and killed a few dozen people.
Gold prices touched their highest price in six weeks on Monday morning, which Bloomberg attributes to heightening concerns about the sovereign debt crisis.
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