Published 15:32 IST, December 6th 2019
Gold nugget found by hunter in Scottish river could be UK's largest
Gold nugget found by a hunter in the Scottish river might be the UK's largest. He approached author Lee Palmer who hopes it is displayed in the Museum.
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A gold nugget weighing a hefty 121.3 grams (4.28 ounces) was reportedly found by a gold-hunter from a Scottish river. The hunter further claims it to be the largest nugget found in the UK and has dubbed the metal lump, found in two pieces as "The Reunion Nugget". Earlier in 2016, another nugget named "Douglas Nugget," weighing 85.7 grams was found and deemed the biggest in the UK. If facts are proved then the newfound nugget will become the largest to date.
Gold-hunter presents nugget to Lee Palmer
The anonymous gold-hunter reportedly approached Lee Palmer, who had been writing a book on the origins of gold in the UK. Palmer explained that the prospector discovered the metal using a technique called "sniping," which involves scraping out the crevices at the bottom of a river. The author of Gold Occurrences in the UK: A Gold Prospector's Guide claimed that the pieces seemed to come from the same lump of gold. It was noted that the two pieces weighing 89.6 grams and 31.7 grams, fit perfectly like a jigsaw, and could have been broken apart by rock strike or glacial damage, as per Palmer.
Palmer hopes the nugget is displayed in the museum
Palmer further informed that there are more than 300 locations where gold can be found in Scotland, proving the metal's provenance would be difficult. Yet Clark, author of Scottish Gold: Fruit of the Nation and curator at Glasgow's Hunterian Museum said that even if this nugget did come to a museum to be looked at, it's virtually impossible to tell where it had come from because there's only one isotope of gold that's found naturally. He added that the only way of checking Gold is to see where a piece of gold has come from is to locate the impurities in it, and even then and that's very difficult. Moreover, Scottish gold ownership laws could also complicate the situation that the majority of gold falls under the ownership of the Crown, or certain estates in Scotland. In his conclusive statement, Palmer hoped that the nugget would be exhibited in London's Natural History Museum, or the National Museum of Scotland.
14:30 IST, December 6th 2019