A CANADIAN gold panning student has found a 20 carat golden nugget worth £10,000 near Scotland's highest village.
He hauled the 18.1 gram nugget, said to be the most significant such find north of the Border in 70 years, from a river near Wanlockhead, Dumfries and Galloway.
But the enthusiast thought it was worthless - and almost threw it back in.
And he only avoided disaster because a fellow gold panning expert, Leon Kirk, said he thought it was valuable.
'John' who hails from gold rush province of British Columbia and does not wish to give his full name, was studying at the Museum of Lead Mining in Wanlockhead when made the find on Thursday.
He said: "Leon was telling me how to look out for haematite, the red coloured mineral which is often found with gold.
"We were a few minutes into panning when I found the nugget with a bean tin, an underwater viewing tin with a glass base.
"I saw the piece lying just under the surface of the water and picked it up. It didn't look like much and I was just about to throw it back when I thought I should double-check with Leon first. I still can't believe it's such a big deal."
Scotland does not have a commercial gold mining industry and nuggets of this size are extremely rare.
Most of the larger pieces of Scottish gold have been found in the small area of the Lowther Hills, once known as God's Treasure House of Scotland.
Mr Kirk added: "People will be talking about it in 30 years' time."
Gerard Godfrey, trustee of the museum in a village 1,531ft above sea level, said: "No doubt there will be a mini gold rush once this gets out."
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