Super-size Gold Nuggets

Pursuits of gold fill history books with tales of humanity going to great lengths to find the precious metal. Not only is gold beautiful, but it’s also heat and corrosion-resistant and malleable. As the electronics industry has taken off, gold has become essential for electronics plating. Gold is a highly efficient conductor of electricity and is frequently used to coat electrical contacts.

(Pixabay / roemi62)

A gold nugget is defined as a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Nuggets can be concentrated by waterways and discovered through placer mining, which was the main technique used during the California Gold Rush. They can also be found in the leftover materials (sometimes called mine dumps or tailings) of previous mining operations.

Some nuggets are small, but others are huge, such as the Welcome Stranger and the Canaã Nugget. These nuggets are widely believed to be among the biggest ever discovered.

• Welcome Stranger. Few strangers have been more welcome than this 2,520 troy ounce (156.6 pound) behemoth discovered in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. They found the nugget in Moliagul, a small township in Victoria, Australia. Deason and Oates were paid for their discovery and the nugget was soon melted down. In today’s money, the Welcome Stranger would have been worth roughly $3.8 million.
• Canaã Nugget. This nugget, also known as the Pepita Canaã, was found in 1983 by miners at the Serra Pelada Mine in the State of Para, Brazil. It weighed 1,955 troy ounces (134.1 pounds). Excavators suggested that this nugget was part of a larger nugget weighing 5,291 troy ounces that broke during excavation. The Canaã nugget can be viewed at the Banco Central Museum in Brazil.

Gold continues to be a great investment. Though it has its ups and downs, it has always held its value over time. It has served as a hedge against inflation and the devaluation of international currencies.

Nobody would say no to the glitter of gold. Some would even believe that it is an ingredient to the elixir of life while others think that it is simply an adorable accessory that creates an impression of power, wealth and fame. This infographic provides two stories about gold nuggets that were found in different parts of the world.