Panning For Gold on New York City Streets?

Raffi Stepanian goes to work every day in New York City's Diamond District, but he's not a jeweler. He's a gold prospector.

Stepanian, an unemployed jewelry setter, spends most of his time on his hands and knees, scouring the sidewalks of 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan with just a butter knife, a coffee can, and a dustpan. He collects pounds of gunk and grime from the cracks of the sidewalks and then he goes home and pans it using similar methods that prospectors used during the California Gold Rush. He carefully sifts through the dirt with a filter and an old tub of water.

The gold Raffi finds comes from the dust and tiny flakes that fall off the clothes and shoes of jewelry makers. But it's not just gold that he's finding. He also regularly finds tiny diamonds and rubies, which he sells back for anywhere from 20 to 80 dollars per gem.

Will there be a new rush of prospectors crawling the streets of New York and L.A. to make a quick buck? Probably not. Raffi says that while he makes a living (sometimes up to $300 per day), he's not getting rich off his sidewalk panning.

Despite not making millions, Raffi enjoys his freedom. "I'm independent, and I'm doing this on my own," Steppanian told CBS news. "And the reward is phenomenal."