Mining For Gold

Once I met a guy who went from yard sale to yard sale looking for gold and silver. He said he was a goldsmith, and that buying old jewellery to melt down was less expensive than buying it from a broker. He added that used gold was ethically preferably than new gold because no miners were exploited and it was better for the environment. A few years later, I learned from my pawn broker friends that they have many steady customers who patrol the thrift shops looking for gold and silver to scrap. In fact at least one of their customers is a Value Village employee.

Now that the price of gold is so high, other types of urban prospectors are popping up, like the guy in this story.