Interesting video. "valuable ore" free for the taking. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GPWJPLcHg[/youtube]
That popped up on my YouTube feed last night. Interesting but needs some fairly large scale to get anything useful.
http://www.veolia.co.uk/media/media/case-studies/recycling-street-sweepings But I think it needs the prices to go higher. Much like oil where fracking is uneconomical at the moment, when the prices go up it will come to play.
I notice that they claim to measure a grade of 6.7g/tonne for Platinum in fine roadside powder, plus silver and palladium. A labour saving road vacuuming vehicle may be designed to isolate the valuable fine dust. It appears destined to clean up the city (road authority approval pending) !
The thing to watch though would be how fast does t build up, presumably the dust Cody in the video collected, was there since the last rain. Also if it rains I presume much would be washed away in to storm drain.
^ Yes, studying the rate of dust build up would aid in assessing the economics of the idea. A dust sampling survey could be done along the road network. Perhaps, it turns out that only the busier roads are economic to vacuum frequently.
Found it, http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/01/sewage-sludge-could-contain-millions-dollars-worth-gold depends how much it cost to extract, right now I presume it's not worth it. I have also said landfills will become future mini mines. many full and covered landfills are taped for methane to generate electricity for the grid, after all the gas is gone, still million tons of other raw materials that are in there, and maybe PM can be extracted as byproduct, if it is worth it.
I believe there is an earlier thread with this same video-topic. Nonetheless, it's still interesting though seemingly not cost effective at all. .
Isn't there a similar thing "urban mining" for gold where a guy picks the dirt from the cracks in the sidewalk outside a famous jewelry store in New York to find specs of gold? Seeing a couple of guys sweeping the highway for platinum is begging for a half drunk milkshake or a piss-jug to be thrown at them at 80 miles an hour from a passing car or truck
http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-42633-1bn-invested-to-collect-pm-s-from-london-streets.html And after they're done with the streets, they'll be up in the trees http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-46457-thar-be-gold-in-them-there-gum-trees.html
What is the virgin country that has the most minerals in the world? There is a country whose wealth of gold and other minerals are not valued. Whoever finds the answer I will give him an ore as a gift
I have some rocks of platinum and other crystal minerals. If someone wants to do very good business in this century he can contact me
Street sweeping and sewer drain dredging for precious metals is an industry in India. Bu t people are paid so little which makes it economical. There is a great documentary about it.
Mine the rocky parts ? It wouldn't surprise me if pressure is put on the Antarctic treaty - so it extends beyond scientific research.