US researchers are investigating ways to extract the gold and precious metals from human faeces.

O boy!, The group identified gold in waste from American
sewage treatment plants at levels which if found
in rock could be worth mining.
Details were outlined at the 249th national
meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS)
in Denver.
Extracting metals from the waste could also help
curb the release of toxic substances into the
environment.
"The gold we found was at the level of a minimal
mineral deposit," said co-author Dr Kathleen
Smith, from the US Geological Survey (USGS).
In addition to gold and silver, human waste also
contains amounts of rare earth metals such as
palladium and vanadium.
"We're interested in collecting valuable metals
that could be sold, including some of the more
technologically important metals, such as
vanadium and copper, that are in cell phones,
computers and alloys," said Dr Smith.
The team estimates that seven million tonnes of
solid waste come out of US wastewater facilities
each year. About half of that is used as fertiliser
on fields and in forests, while the other half is
incinerated or sent to landfills.
The scientists are experimenting with some of the
same chemicals, called leachates, which industrial
mining operations use to pull metals out of rock.
While some of these leachates have a bad
reputation for damaging ecosystems when they
leak or spill into the environment, Smith says that
in a controlled setting - they could safely be used
to recover metals in treated solid waste.
In a previous study, another team of scientists
calculated that the waste from one million
Americans could contain as much as $13m
(£8.6m) worth of metals.
I'm cock sure Nigerians would begin selling their faces if it were here,Brown, Black,yellow types*lol*
Source: BBC.com