Chinese herdsman finds huge gold nugget

Beijing, February 5: A herdsman in Chi’s far western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region found a 17–pound (7.85 kg) gold nugget that was “practically lying on the bare ground”. The Kazak herdsman, Berek Sawut, from Qinghe county in Altay prefecture made the extraordiry discovery around 5 p.m. last Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. The estimated price for such an unexpected luck, assuming the nugget is 80 percent pure — nuggets are usually 80 to 90 percent pure — is a whopping 1.6 million yuan ($255,313) based on latest gold price. Zhu Xinfeng, a local expert said the price of tural gold, considering its uniqueness, is often several times higher than that of standard gold. The random–shaped gold nugget is about 23 cm long, 18 cm on its widest side and eight cm at its thickest. A gold nugget is a turally produced irregular piece of gold, and is most frequently found through mining. (IANS)