Local governments in Japan have found a new way of supplementing their budgets — by selling gold and other precious metals recovered from the incinerated remains of human bodies at municipal crematoriums.
In some parts of Japan, families typically collect only part of the ashes of their deceased loved ones, with the remainder being disposed of by the crematorium. But with record numbers of Japanese people dying every year, the burden of dealing with leftover remains is increasing. More and more towns and cities are meeting the expense by mining the ashes for the treasure they contain.
As well as gold, silver, palladium and other precious metals from dental fillings, metals can also be recovered from artificial joints and medical implants. They are not visible