'A small company near Paris has pioneered technology which can "turn water into gold." Other precious metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium can also be extracted using the same methods. Magpie Polymers, based 80 kilometers southeast of Paris, has developed the technology from a procedure perfected by the prestigious Swiss Ecole Polytechnique in 2007.

The process uses tiny pellets of plastic resin though which waste water is pumped. Gold, platinum and other precious metals gradually stick to the pellets and are in this way separated from the waste water.

A single liter of this patented resin can treat five to ten cubic meters of waste water and recover 50 to 100 grams of precious metal, which according to Magpie is equivalent to 3,000 to 5,000 euro in value.'

Read more: French 'Alchemists' to Cash in on Turning Water into Gold