While the gold found in North America was usually in the form of dust or very fine grains, it was commonplace in Australia to find nuggets of gigantic size and value. The largest of these, the “Holtermann Nugget,” weighed more than 600 pounds (290 kg)!
- In America, a common form of gold mining was called panning.
- Gold panning involves separating the heavy gold from the lighter sand in a river with a metal pan.
- This method doesn’t require a lot of equipment to get started, but miners mostly collect small flakes.
- Shaft mining and open pit mines usually produce the most gold, but they require expensive equipment, are more dangerous and destroy the environment.
- The largest specimen of gold ever found is called the Holtermann Nugget.Bernhardt Holtermann found it in 1872 in Australia.
- The specimen is 59 inches long and 630 pounds.
- It yielded 15,488 ounces of gold, and it made Holtermann very wealthy.
- Gold is heavy, but it is also soft. It is easy to shape – this is called being malleable.
- It is considered a precious metal.
- Gold is so valuable because it is used for many things like jewelry, computers and batteries.
- 12 tons of gold are used to fill cavities in teeth every year in the U.S.
- Gold is measured in karats. If something is 100 percent gold, it is 24 karats.
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