article_snippet: Where there is muck there really is brass with scientists claiming that millions can be made by extracting gold from human waste.
article_snippet: In fact as well as gold, faeces contains platinum, silver and other metals along with rare elements such as palladium and vanadium.
article_snippet: Researchers now hope to 'mine' sewage reducing the need to mine raw metals from the ground, while reducing pollution by recycling human waste.
article_snippet: Previous research estimated human waste from one million Americans could contain as much as $12 million (£8.7 million) worth of metals.
article_snippet: In 1999 the UK produced over 1,130,000 tonnes of sludge dry solids. 
article_snippet: If Britain's waste was mined Britain's waste could be worth $762 million (£510 million) a year.
article_snippet: Dr Kathleen Smith of the US Geological Survey said: 'If you can get rid of some of the nuisance metals that currently limit how much of these biosolids we can use on fields and forests, and at the same time recover valuable metals and other elements, that's a win-win.'