A man from Queens, New York, leaves onlookers stunned as he hunts out bits of diamonds, rubies, platinum and gold from the sidewalk cracks of Midtown’s Diamond District.

Raffi Stepanian, 43, of Whitestone, comes armed with tweezers and a butter knife, and pans” the precious particles like an old-fashioned prospector-by hand, in a small metal basin with water and a strainer.

“The streets of 47th Street are literally paved with gold,” Stepanian told the New York Post.

 The freelance diamond setter explained that he was sifting through “very valuable” New York City mud for tiny diamond and ruby chips, bits of platinum, white-gold industrial loops for jewelry assembly, and gold earring backs and loops from broken chains, watches, broaches and necklaces-all carelessly dropped.

“Material falls off clothes, on the bottom of shoes, it drops off jewelry, and it falls in the dirt and sticks to the gum on the street,” he explained.

Over six days, he says, he collected enough gold for two sales totaling 819 dollars on 47th Street-where he first got the idea to mine the sidewalks after finding gold scraps on the floor of a diamond exchange.”

READ MORE: NY POST