There be gold in those hills trees! Everyone’s heard the expression “Money doesn’t grow on trees” well, that’s now officially false as scientists have discovered a prospector’s dream with gold literally growing on trees in the Australian outback.
The disvovery came about when a group of prospectors were surveying the Goldfields-Esperance (gold in Goldfields, go figure) region in Western Australia to better understand why the area that was known for being rich in gold deposits had dried up. Their answer would be found in the area’s Eucalyptus trees.
It’s been rumored that Eucalyptus trees get their leafy golden luster from gold deposits in the ground and this turned out to be true. The roots from the trees grew up to ten stories deep and absorbed gold particles from the soil. Just to be certain that the gold came from the soil and they hadn’t discovered some new golden wonder tree, the scientists grew Eucalyptus trees in gold-laced potting soil in a greenhouse and got the same result.
Before you go cranking up your chainsaw to cut down some golden Eucalyptus trees, you should know that each tree only contains an incredibly small amount of gold — 46 parts per billion. That’s hardly enough to profit from. However, since 30 percent of the world’s gold reserves lie underground the trees could be a valuable resource for tracking down golden-laced soil. Grab your prospector’s pan and passport and head for Australia!
Via Gizmodo