Australian Scientists Find Gold in Trees

Australian scientists have literally struck gold

Researchers from Perth have found tiny particles of gold hidden in eucalyptus trees, in a discovery which could help future prospectors to find deposits of the precious metal

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) researchers said that they believe that the trees, sitting on top of gold deposits buried deep underground, suck up the gold in their search for moisture during droughts

“We weren’t expecting this at all. To actually see the gold particles in the leaves was quite an eureka moment for us,” said Melvyn Lintern, a geochemist at CSIRO.

“The particular trees that we did the research on appear to be bringing up gold from a remarkable 30 metres depth, which is about the equivalent of a 10-storey building,” he said.

The gold was found in the resource-rich Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia, site of a major gold rush in the late 1800s