Gold Investor

A man who was herding his flock of animals in the far flung, gold rich and also restive region of Xinjiang in north-western China, came across quite a golden fine. He found a 17 pound nugget of gold, shaped like the map of China. This is not a pure gold nugget but a natural gold ore mixed with quartz and other minerals. Still worth a pretty penny.

Xinjiang herdsman finds 17-pound gold nugget that was "practically lying on bare ground" http://t.co/lr7c8bFUnt pic.twitter.com/IJLrmKa5co

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 5, 2015

The New York Time reports that:

"The nugget found by the Kazakh herder in Qinghe County is the largest of this kind to be discovered in Xinjiang, according to Modern Express, a newspaper owned by Xinhua. Folklore says the Empress Dowager Cixi coveted such nuggets and became furious once when no one was able to find one for her birthday. The official news reports did not estimate the value of the nugget found recently. If it were pure gold, which it is not, it would be worth about $346,000, at $1,250 per ounce."