Jonathan Thomas comes from a family of jewellers, so when the price of gold began to shoot up the Michigan-based entrepreneur saw a commercial opportunity. At the beginning of the year he and his business partners launched My Gold Party.com, a company that helps arrange Tupperware-style parties for people keen to sell unwanted gold items. Business has been brisk, he says. "They bring their gold and they can walk away with a cheque." Across the country in Los Angeles, the market in second-hand gold products is also booming. At King's Jewelry & Loan, the largest pawnbroker in California, the number of visitors hoping to sell gold products has risen 25 per cent in the last month. "The price of gasoline and food has gone up so people need an extra boost to make ends meet," said Sam Shocket, owner of King's. "They're going through their jewellery chests to see what they can sell." With recreational prospectors combing California's rivers for gold, the commodity is clearly in demand. But not everyone is pleased at the fall-out from the 21st century's first gold rush, with environmentalists expressing concern at the sharp rise in the number of commercial mining claims staked in the western US. In California, location of the most famous US gold rush in 1849, the number of claims has soared. In the first quarter of 2005 there were 132 commercial mining claims, according to the Bureau of Land Management. But by the first quarter of 2008 the number of commercial claims had rocketed to 2,274, with the vast majority for gold mining projects, according to Roger Haskins, senior specialist for mining law and adjudication at the BLM. "Mining is the biggest source of toxic pollution in the US," says Dusty Horwitt, senior analyst for public lands with the Environmental Working Group, a non-partisan environmental watchdog. "Yet under legislation that passed in 1872 there isn't much federal authorities can do to stop mining going ahead, even if water supplies or other precious resources are at risk." The 1872 law, passed under President Ulysses S Grant, has barely changed in 130 years, he adds, although reform of legislation is gaining support in Washington. In California, opposition is growing to the proposed re-opening of the Briggs gold mine close to the western border of the Death Valley national park. Canyon Resources, the Colorado-based company that owns the mine, recently completed a feasibility study into re-opening the facility. A statement on the company's website says the proposal "utilises the current robust gold markets" and will initially operate as a "small-scale low grade open pit operation". The open-pit Briggs facility uses a controversial extraction process that relies on cyanide to bind the mined gold together. However, the proximity of the project to Death Valley has caused alarm among officials at the national park. "If the mine re-opens it will be very destructive to the environment and very detrimental to the park," says Linda Greene, chief of the Death Valley resource and management division. But with the price of gold more than tripling in three years it is unlikely companies are going to lose their enthusiasm for new mining projects. Similarly, trading in second-hand gold jewellery and trinkets looks set to continue its buoyant run as long as the market price of the commodity stays high. The high market value of gold also means Sam Shocket is likely to continue receiving unusual gold items at King's Jewelry & Loan in Los Angeles. "Dunhill cigarette lighters from the 1950s tended to be gold so we've seen quite a few of those." Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008