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Friday, 29th May 2009 (1219 views)

A gold nugget thought to be worth $10,000 (£6,000) has been found in the California desert.

The Ventura County Star reports that Terry Hughes from Moorpark discovered the 8.7-ounce piece on Memorial Day (Monday May 25th).

He has been prospecting for years as a hobby, but the previous largest piece he had uncovered weighed one ounce.

Mr Hughes explained that a number of other prospectors had been searching earlier, but he was alone when he discovered the gold nugget near Randsburg.

"The last one had left about two hours before I found it. I thought I would make one last run with my metal detector," he was quoted as saying.

Patrick Keene - who valued the piece - added that, to his knowledge, it was the largest to come out of the desert in the last 20 years.

Earlier this week, the Times noted that large gold nuggets believed to date from the 16th century have recently been discovered in the Scottish hills.

 

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