Nature has prepared for man a huge amount of surprises and even secrets. True, there is nothing mystical or mystical about them, but this does not diminish the attractiveness of natural diversity. The world of minerals also contains many secrets. For example, it is very useful and instructive to learn all about golden nuggets.

What is it?

Intriguing statistics show that at least 97% of all gold recovered on Earth comes from primary mines. It is a stable and reliable source of “amazing” metals, and has magical appeal. It is dominated by a mineral mixed with other ores and waste rock. To get that much gold, you have to do a lot of additional operations.

But a small pearl of gold should be recognized as a true masterpiece of the geological world. … Native gold is quite rare. And that is why it is highly appreciated by amateur surveyors. There are relatively few impurities in such finds.

The best nuggets are those that do not contain any foreign substances at all or contain them in trace amounts.

It is difficult to say exactly what a block of gold looks like in nature. Geometry, size and weight can vary greatly. The most valuable are specimens weighing from 1 to 100 kg. Even larger nuggets are occasionally found. But these are truly unique finds, and each has its own name.

How are they formed?

The appearance of native gold occurs deep in the bowels of the earth. This takes a very long time. Even experts cannot clearly answer how exactly such mineral formations appeared. In the past, gold miners (both miners and prospectors) believed that nuggets “grew” in the ground. The essence of this hypothesis is that small pieces of gold separated from the ore vein will “attract” the particles. dripping directly from the ground and from underground water saturated with minerals.

In the next stage, these particles grow each other. As a result, very large nuggets appeared, which were highly appreciated. But there is no doubt that this is a beautiful version that “does not struggle” with objective truth. And those assertions made by gold miners of the past have been refuted by today’s experts. Therefore, the fact that large native gold is not found in the veins cannot be taken as evidence of a lack of connection between these phenomena.

Mineralogical studies have helped to discover that gold in nature initially forms in a V-shaped form. Therefore, during the formation and initial location of the metal, weathered structures The richest of the veins turned out to be located superficial or very superficial. Gradually, a significant amount of the original sediment was completely eroded. Experts believe that about two-thirds of the upper part of any gold-bearing formation was destroyed long ago, and only a few remnants can now be found.

Another important situation has been established – large nuggets are formed not only in ore veins, but also in small side veins located at different distances from the main ore body. These streaks appear to be natural filters capable of holding gold-rich mineral solutions. As the solutions flow through the blades, they deposit the metal, forming natural structures over time.

Experts also discovered that the vast majority of large nuggets are formed in medium-sized veins, rich in precious metals and located close to the earth’s surface.

The V-shaped theory has many empirical confirmations, and in the 21st century no geologist will take the “growth theory” seriously.

Where did they find it?

Experienced prospectors like to look for native gold in oxbows and in old riverbeds, which have dried up over time. But such a reference point is not enough. The most likely locations for ingots meet the following criteria:

• near intersections of tectonic structures;
• there were volcanoes in a certain area;
• previously discovered gold localizers or primary ores containing gold;
• There is no silver residue within a radius of 50-80 km.

Alas, there are no suitable places to search for gold bars in the European part of Russia. But in Siberia (mainly in the forest) the chances of success are many times greater. Also worth a visit to look for nuggets:

• Yakutia;
• Kolyma river basin;
• Amur Region;
• Krasnoyarsk Region;
• Australia;
• Ghana;
• Southern Ocean;
• Norway;
• Canada (very large ingots have been found there in the past).

Biggest nuggets

In the world

You can often hear that the largest nucleus found is officially the Holterman Plate … It was found almost 150 years ago in a quartz mine in Australia. The total mass of the stone is 250 kg, and 93 kg fell on pure precious metal, 1.4 m long. The Holterman Stone has not been seen for a long time. It has been melted and processed.

But strictly speaking, the Holterman stone cannot be considered a fragment.

Mineral classification refers to them as pure metals. Found in 1872 was a fragment of a vein, the golden parts of which were connected by a block of quartz. The fame of the copy is due to the fact that the photographer who found it immediately took many photos scattered around the world.

A little earlier, in 1869, they found the nugget “Desires alien” weighing 71 kg.

“Welcoming stranger” literally means “lying on the road.” Prospectors tripped over a block as they tried to pull out the vehicle stuck in the mud. Since no suitable strength scales were found at the mine, the stone had to be divided into parts and weighed one at a time.

The largest gem in California was found while digging a grave. The discovery was named after the burial – Oliver Martin a block weighing 36 kg sold for 22,700 USD.

If we focus on reliably preserved specimens, the most difficult turns out to be Pepita Canaa. This golden pebble was found in 1983 near the Brazilian village of Serra Pelada, in the state of Para. The find is kept by the National Central Bank Museum. The total mass is 60.82 kg, and the gold objects weigh more than 52 kg.

It is worth noting that from the very beginning, the nut was even heavier, but it was impossible to completely remove it from the ground.

Despite the waning gold rush, new bars are still periodically found. So in September 2018, Henry Dohl discovered another ingot at a Beta Hunt nickel deposit in Western Australia. The discovery was made during trivial blasting operations. The largest piece remaining after the explosion “pulled” about 90 kg, of which gold weighed 65.2 kg. They also found a fragment weighing 60 kg (with 45.3 kg of gold inside). It is not known exactly what happened to the next nuggets.

Earlier, in 1980, an ingot weighing 27.66 kg was found near the Australian city of Kingauer. Kevin Hillier came across him by chance. The stone has a name “The Hand of Faith” because it looks like a palm. Curiously, this is the largest sample of native gold found using a metal detector. Its dimensions are 0.09×0.47×0.2 m. You can see the “Hand of Faith” at the entrance to one of the casinos in Las Vegas.

Another discovery was made in 1992 in California. The weight of the “Jewels of the Crown” is 16.4 kg. This is a sample of crystallized gold inside a block of quartz. To remove quartz, hydrofluoric acid was used. “The jewel of the crown”

In Russia

Our country is very rich in gold deposits. At the same time, it is believed that small and medium-sized pads are more popular. The precious Russian Panax notoginseng is recognized as the largest specimen of domestic origin. The nucleus was found in the Urals (or rather, in its southern part) in 1842.

It is curious that at that time the mine where the ingot was found was considered unsuitable for further mining.

V 1895 another discovery was made – its weight reached 31 kg. Until now, during the time that followed, people have not found gold nuggets weighing 20 kg or more, but dozens of specimens weighing from 5-19.9 kg are known. IN 1881, in the Bodaibo River basin, a rock containing gold with a total weight of 25.9kg was discovered. Excluding quartz, the mass of the sample is 16.3 kg. The discovery of the largest Yakut ingot (9.6 kg, 0.192×0.153×0.09m) was dated to 1945.

But a nucleus’s glory is not always tied to its record size. So, in the Diamond Fund, “Mephistopheles” weighs only about 0.02 kg. However, new tourists flock to it without realizing it. The stone resembles the image of Mephistophe, as people are accustomed to seeing him. Several tests have irrefutably proven that this is an indisputable natural product, with no human involvement.

Unusual and form “Rabbit Ears” found in the Urals. The ingot was recorded as early as 1935; it was dug in a large mine that had been operating for at least 110 years. The prospector encountered “Rabbit Ears” in the process of preparing to preserve the mine. The weight of the only one is 3.3 kg, and it really resembles the head of a rodent with elongated ears. Authorship of the discovery belongs to Peter Simonov.

Here are some other findings:

• Camel (Kolyma mine, 1947, 9.3 kg);
• “Horse Head” (Ural, 1936, 13.7 kg);
• “Large hole punch” (3 kg, found about 300 years ago – one of the earliest in our country).

Where are they used?

Everything is quite clear. Native gold is not used for technical and medical purposes, it is:

• go for jewelry;
• melted into gold coins;
• used for exhibition purposes;
• used for advertising;
• deposited in private collections.

For more interesting information about golden nuggets, see the next video.