A normal hunk of steel is worth almost nothing. Most recyclers won't even take it (real recyclers, the kind that pay you for your materials, not fraudulent "recyclers" set up for public relations value). Lead, aluminum, brass, copper, silver, and gold go for much higher prices. Copper is common in heavy steel things.

You have to put yourself in the shoes of someone trying to get by… in a developing country no less…

Yeah. My father and grandfather used to work in junkyards like these. If some strange glowing material showed up in a scrapyard, I have no doubt they'd think it was valuable.

You can find all sorts of valuable things in things that look sciency like this. Like platinum bits and pieces. He was probably hoping to find something else than steel.

Glowing stuff can also be very expensive, but you need to know people who might be interested, and they usually aren’t the best company. Also, proper equipment to manipulate it.

Cesium is much denser than steel, so it probably felt valuable or rare.