Gold Native, nugget from Suriname or French Guiana, 2.923 grams- 2.92 g - (1)

Discovery zone
3°47’ North
54°04’ West

This nugget comes from French Guiana, a French region in the Amazon, or from Suriname, a former Dutch colony.
I collected it myself more than thirty years ago on the Maroni River (Marowijne River) which separates French Guiana from Suriname, in an area called Papaichton, a half day’s journey by pirogue from the town of Maripasoula.

At the time I was an gold prospector in French Guiana, and I mainly worked on the rivers, the Oyapock which forms the border with Brazil and the Maroni which forms the border with Suriname.

With my team we used a floating dredge that pumped sediment from the river bottom.
These sediments were dumped onto a washing ramp (sluice) whose base was covered with a carpet.
The whole thing was mounted on a floating barge which also served as a living base with kitchen and dormitory.
The visible surface gold nuggets on the carpet were harvested by hand.
The heavy sediments containing gold flakes and powder were embedded at the bottom of the carpet.
From time to time this carpet was washed to recover these heavy sediments.
These sediments were then processed with a vibrating plate or a pan to recover the fine gold.

The gold harvested was then regularly sold in French Guiana or in Brazil.
I kept the best nuggets for my personal collection and am now putting a few up for sale.

Although located in the Amazon (South America), French Guiana is a French overseas department.
These nuggets are therefore French.
However some are Surinamese (Dutch) when the barge was closer to the banks of Suriname than to the banks of French Guiana.
Indeed, the boundary between the two countries is a purely virtual line in the center of the river.
So French nuggets or Surinamese nuggets? … difficult to know precisely, it all depends on which side of this virtual line the barge was on the day they were collected.

The gold from this region is quite pure; in general its purity is about 950 to 980 fine, which corresponds to 22.80 to 23.50 carats.

At the time this artisanal placer mining was allowed; now it is prohibited and gold mining is reserved for a few large industrial operators.
French Guiana is now best known for the space base at Kourou, which launches satellites into space.

Of course, the photos really correspond to the nugget for sale, and I am sending you exactly the nugget that is in the photos.
All photos are taken in natural daylight.
I photographed this nugget as sincerely and precisely as possible using daylight.
Please note that differences in screen settings and ambient lighting may cause variations in color, saturation, and perceived tones.

I offer fast, secure, discreet shipping in a sturdy C5-sized envelope (162mm x 229mm) by French La Poste registered mail.