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Mining museum's treasures. Gold

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Gold is one of the first metals to become known to mankind. In the Ancient Egypt, it was considered a part of Ra, the sun God. For this reason, the precious metal was accessible only to the pharaohs, their family members and the priests.

The high cost of the mineral is caused by its physical and chemical properties. The most valuable thing is that gold is the least exposed to other elements and their compounds. It does not rust, oxidize or turn black. It also does not react with acids or alkalies. Thanks to these properties, gold is actively used in medicine, jewelry and other industries. Another interesting property of gold is its high degree of malleability. For instance, this metal may be forged into sheets up to 100 nanometers thick, and one ounce may be stretched to 80 kilometers.
In nature, the mineral is found both in ores and in the pure state. The largest Russian nugget "Big Triangle", a stone weighing 36 kilograms, was found in the Urals. The model of this nugget is presented in the Mining Museum. Currently it is on display at the Diamond Treasury in Moscow. Apart from this sample of Ural gold, there are many more in the Mining Museum: octahedral, cubic and skeletal crystals, along with the oddly shaped cluster crystals.

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Nugget "The Itera", weight 696 g, Mongolia

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Gold in Galena, Berezovsk, the Urals

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Dendrites on quartzite, Minas Gerais, Brazil, From the collection of G.Forster, 1802

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Gold in hematite with quartz, Minas Gerais, Brazil, weight - 135,29 g, A present of the Russian Messenger at the Brazilian Court Real State Councillor S.G.Lomonosov, 1848

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Nugget "The Lizard", weight - 9,85 g, Monetnaya Dacha, environs of Yekaterinburg, the Urals