This is the piece of crystalline gold - reputed to be the largest [such] specimen in the world - found on Dec. 26th 1992 (not Christmas Day as the web site says, but it was known as the Christmas Nugget). Sharon was driving a 100-ton capacity haul truck in the pits that evening and *may* have been the one who hauled it in. No one knows for sure. It was only discovered when it stopped the crusher. The pocket contained much more but nothing even approaching the size of this one piece.
At the time it was found it was valued at approx $1.3 million and was given to the County in lieu of a cash bond against land restoration, something the County Supervisors threw in the way in their attempts to close the mine down. This nugget alone kept the mine operating for another 4 years.
