World's Largest Gold Crystal Found In Venezuela

Scientists in New Mexico have confirmed that a lump of gold the size of a golf ball found in Venezuela is the largest gold crystal in the world.

The gold crystal was actually found several decades ago in the South American country. But it's authenticity as the largest gold crystal was only recently confirmed by the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Weighing nearly 7.7 ounces, the gold nugget is estimated to be worth $1.5 million, according to a statement from the laboratory.

"The structure or atomic arrangement of gold crystals of this size has never been studied before, and we have a unique opportunity to do so," John Rakovan, a geologist from Miami University, said in the statement.

The nugget was part of a group of four gold crystals sent by the owner, who lives in the U.S., to Rakovan to determine how they are made, the statement said. The largest was once believed to be the world's largest trapezohedral gold crystal, and was even rejected at an auction in 2006 because its authenticity could not be confirmed, the statement said.

Using two advanced machines that specialize in the structure of crystals, Rakovan was able to determine that the nugget was a single, gold crystal, and not of a multiple-crystal structure like previously believed. One machine, the SCD, determines the atomic composition of crystals. The other machine, the high-pressure/preferred orientation, or HIPPO, measures the crystal's structure and texture in a poly-crystalline material.

"The gold single crystals are so far the largest single crystals characterized on HIPPO," Sven Vogel, a HIPPO scientist who helped Rakovan, said in the statement.

The nugget's value is expected to increase now that it's proven to be a naturally created, single piece of gold crystal, and not manufactured, according to the statement.

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