Posted
Thursday, February 5, 2015 |
by- AFP
A herdsman in China's remote far west has struck gold after stumbling upon a huge nugget of the precious metal estimated to be worth at least Sh22 million ($250,000), state media reported Thursday. PHOTO | FILE
BEIJING,
A herdsman in
China's remote far west has struck gold after stumbling upon a huge
nugget of the precious metal estimated to be worth at least Sh22 million
($250,000), state media reported Thursday.
The
7.85 kilo chunk was discovered "practically lying on bare ground", the
official Xinhua news agency said, quoting the herder, an ethnic Kazakh
named Berek Sawut.
He found the
golden lump, described in the report as "random-shaped" and about 23
centimetres long, 18 centimetres at its widest and up to eight
centimetres thick.
It was estimated to be worth Sh22.9million (1.6 million yuan, $255,000), Xinhua said, assuming it was 80 percent pure.
It
quoted a local gold price expert, Zhu Xinfeng, as saying that natural
lumps of the precious metal can fetch several times more than the
refined variety.
But the report did not say whether the herder would be able to keep his new-found riches.
The
discovery was made in the far western region of Xinjiang, a vast and
diverse area bordering Central Asia and abundant in natural resources
and striking scenery, with an ethnically diverse population including
the Kazakhs, Uighurs and Han, China's majority.
The nugget was found in Qinghe county, part of Altay prefecture, the report said, adding that Altay means gold in Mongolian.
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