All that glitters isn't gold was the lesson for a crowd in Mianxian county, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Nearly 100 people brought traffic to a standstill collecting what they thought to be gold dust spilled across an intersection on Wednesday but turned out to be powdered sulfur that had fallen off a truck, local media reported.

Traffic police said the crowd ignored orders to clear from the road as people raced to sweep up the piles of yellow sulfur.

But the gold rush was a bust to begin with. An employee at a local logistics company told Chinese Business View that a company truck accidentally spilled sulfur powder on the road on Tuesday night.

Photos circulating on social media showed the people stooping to collect the powder as a crowd watched.

One witness said many were calling to their family members to bring bags to the site.

"Many people asked me to lend them brooms," said a woman who run a small business nearby.

While sulfur is known to be of low toxicity, prolonged inhalation of sulfur powder can cause respiratory inflammation.

Chinese Business View