The value of a rock found in search of gold becomes even higher

The mysterious rock was discovered in 2015 by an Australian man named David Hole, who was searching for gold close to Melbourne. They assumed that there was something heavy inside due to the sheer weight of the rock. The rock later turned out to contain precious raindrops that pre-date the formation of our solar system, which are both rarer and more valuable than the gold he was finding. Science alert.

science magazine Further elaborated that to uncover his discovery, Hole tried a rock saw, an angle grinder, a drill, and even dousing the thing in acid. However, even a hammer could not make a crack. That’s because what he was trying so hard to uncover was not a gold nugget. As he learned years later, it was a rare meteorite.

“It had this sculpted, misty look,” said Dermot Henry, a geologist at the Melbourne Museum. Sydney Morning Herald In 2019.

“It forms when they come through the atmosphere, they’re melting on the outside, and the atmosphere corrodes them.”

Sydney Morning Herald further added that the test quickly confirmed his suspicions. This rock was a 4.6 billion year old meteorite. It is now known as the Maryborough meteorite, and is very heavy because, unlike standard Earth rocks, it is filled with very dense forms of iron and nickel.

Mr. Henry used a super-hard diamond saw to cut the edge, revealing a cross-section of tiny silver raindrops.

These were once droplets of silicate minerals that crystallized from the super-hot cloud of gas that made up our solar system. “You’re looking right back at the formation of the solar system here,” says Mr. Henry.