Nature prepared a huge mass of surprises and even secrets. Yes, there is nothing mystical or mysterious in them, but the attractiveness of the natural manifold does not weaken. Many secrets hides the mineral world. It is useful and instructive to learn, for example, all about gold nuggets.
What it is?
The impassive statistics indicate: at least 97% of the total gold assembled on Earth are chosen from indigenous deposits. This is a stable and reliable source of "despicable" and at the same time a fantastically attractive metal. There is prevailing mixed with other ores and an empty mineral rock. To get the most gold, you have to spend a lot of additional manipulations.
But a real masterpiece of the geological world is to recognize the Golden Nugget . The native gold is found quite rarely. And that is why he is highly appreciated by amateur prospectors. Impurities in such finds are relatively few.
The best nuggets are those that do not contain any extraneous substances or include them in trace quantities.
It's hard to say exactly how gold nugget looks like in nature. Geometry, dimensions and weight can be very different. The greatest value are copies of a mass of 1 to 100 kg. Occasionally meet even larger nuggets. But these are already really unique finds, and each of them has its name.
How are they formed?
The emergence of native gold takes deep in earthly departments. This requires a very long time. Even specialists cannot clearly answer how such mineral education appear. In the past, gold miners (both operating in mines and prospectors) believed that nuggets "grow" in the ground. The essence of such an assumption is that small fragments of gold, separated from the ore core, are "attracting" small particles directly from the ground and of groundwater saturated minerals.
At the next stage, such particles grow together to each other. As a result, very large nuggets appear, which are so appreciated. But this, undoubtedly, the beautiful version is "not beating" with objective facts. And those confirmations that offered gold miners in the past, experts today are refuted. So, the fact that large native gold is not detected in the veins cannot be considered proof of the lack of communication between these phenomena.
Mineralogical studies allowed us to find out that Gold in nature is initially formed in V-shaped formations. Therefore, with the initial formation and location of the metal, the richest structures of the vehicle turned out to be at the surface itself or very shallow. Gradually, a significant amount of initial deposits is completely eroded. Experts believe that about 2/3 of the upper part of any gold-containing formation have long been destroyed, and now only single remnants are found.
Another important circumstance was established - Large nuggets are formed not only in ore veins, but also in small lateral veins, remote at different distances from the main ore body. Such accuses turn out to be natural filters capable of grabbing mineral solutions saturated with gold. When solutions proceed through the wings, they just lay the metal, which forms native structures after some time.
Experts also found out that the overwhelming majority of large nuggets are formed in small streaks rich in precious metal and located close to the earth's surface.
V-theory has many practical confirmations, and in the XXI century no geologist will even consider seriously "Rostov theory".
Where are you finding?
Studyers with experience prefer to look for native gold in Staritsa and in former river rivers that have dryed over time. But such a benchmark is insufficient. The most likely locations of ingots correspond to such criteria:
- near the joints of tectonic structures;
- There were volcanoes in a certain locality;
- Previously discovered gold plates or gold-bearing root ores;
- Within a radius of 50-80 km there are no silver deposits.
Alas, in the European part of Russia suitable for the search for gold ingots there are no places. But in Siberia (mostly in the forest zone), the chances of success are many times more. It is also worth visiting in search of nuggets:
- Yakutia;
- Kolyma River Pool;
- Amur region;
- Krasnoyarsk region;
- Australia;
- Ghana;
- Indonesia;
- Norway;
- Canada (there in the past were very large ingots).
The largest nuggets
In the world
Often you can hear that the largest of the officially found nuggets - Plate Halterman . He was found almost 150 years ago at the Quartz mine in Australia. The total mass of the stone was 250 kg, and 93 kg accounted for a clean precaumatal, the length was 1.4 m. To see the slab Halterman has been impossible for a long time. It was remembered and reworked.
But if you approach strictly, then the slab Halterman can not be considered a nugget.
Mineralogical classification refers to them only pure metal. The find of 1872 is a fragment of the veins, the gold parts of which combines a quartz array. The fame of the copy is associated with the fact that the photographer who found him immediately made a lot of pictures, scattered around the world.
A little earlier, in 1869, found The nugget "desired stranger" weighing 71 kg.
The "desired stranger" literally "was lying on the road." The prospectors stumbled upon a block when they tried to pull out their jammed cart. Since there was no appropriate power on the scales, the stone had to be divided into parts and weigh them alternately.
The largest nugget in California was discovered when digging graves. Nakhodka was called in honor of the buried - "Oliver Martin", Lubbet weighing 36 kg sold for $ 22,700.
If you focus on reliably preserved copies, then the most difficult turns out Pepita canaa. This gold cobblestone was found in 1983 near the Brazilian village of Serra Pelad, which is in a pair. Nakhodka keeps the Museum of the National Central Bank. The total mass is 60.82 kg, and gold spots weigh more than 52 kg.
It is worth noting that at the very beginning, the nugget was still passionately, but it was not possible to extract it from the Earth.
Despite the exhaustion of the gold fever, all new ingots are periodically found. So, in September 2018, Henry Dol discovered another ingot on a nickel field "Beta Hunt", in West Australia. Nakhodka was made in the process of banal explosive work. The largest slices that remained after the explosion "pulled" about 90 kilograms, of which the inclusion of gold was 65.2 kg. Also found a fragment weighing 60 kg (inside it was 45.3 kg of gold). What happened to nuggets further, it is not known.
Earlier, In 1980, near the Australian city of Kingauer found a ingot weighing 27.66 kg. Kevin Hillier came across him. The stone got a name "Hand faith", Because he looks like a palm. It is curious that this is the highest copy of native gold found with the help of a metal detector. Its dimensions are 0.09x0.47x0.2 m. "The hand of faith" can be seen at the entrance to one of the Las Vegas casino.
Another find was made in 1992 in California. Weight "Jewels of the Crown" It is 16.4 kg. This is a sample of crystalline gold, which was inside a quartz mass. Fluoride hydrofluoric acid applied to remove quartz. "The jewel of the crown"
In Russia
Our country is very rich in gold deposits. It is considered that it is more common to meet medium and small placer. The largest example of domestic origin is recognized by the Russian precious triangle. The nugget was found in the Urals (or rather, in his southern part) in the distance 1842.
It is curious that at that time the mine, where the ingot found was considered unsuitable for further mining.
V 1895 another find was made - Her mass reached 31 kg. So far, for all subsequent time, it was not possible to find gold nuggets weighing 20 kg and more, but dozens of copies of 5-19.9 kg weighing. A In 1881 in the Bodaibo River Basin Detected a gold-flowing stone with a total mass of 25.9 kg. Over the resurrect quartz, the sample mass is 16.3 kg. Identification of the largest Yakut ingot (9.6 kg, 0.192x0,153x0.09 m) dates 1945.
But not always the glory of the nugget is associated with its record-sizes. So, in the diamond fund is exhibited "Mephistopheles" Weighing only about 0.02 kg. However, new visitors rushed to him all the time. The stone resembles the very image of Mephistophele, how it is used to perceive people. A number of examinations irrefutably proved that it is indisputable natural product, without any human participation.
Unusual and form "Hare ears", found in the Urals. The ingot was documented in early 1935, pulled it on a major world that worked for at least 110 years. The prospector came across the "Hare Ears" already in the process of preparing the mine to conservation. The mass of the unicum is 3.3 kg, and it really resembles a rodent head with elongated ears. The authorship of the opening belongs to Peter Simonov.
Here are some more finds:
- "Camel" (Kolyma Mine, 1947, 9.3 kg);
- "Horsep head" (Ural, 1936, 13.7 kg);
- "Large holey" (3 kg, found about 300 years ago - one of the earliest in our country).
Where are used?
Everything is quite obvious. Nerbon gold is not used in technical and medical purposes, it is:
- goes on jewelry;
- integrated on gold coins;
- Used in exhibition purposes;
- applied to advertising;
- postponed in private collections.
Look even more interesting information about gold nuggets in the next video.