Crystals of native (naturally occuring) gold on a sample of quartz. Gold is a soft, yellow, malleable transition metal. It is often found in veins of quartz or as nuggets scattered through alluvial or glacial deposits. Gold is used in jewellery and dentistry and in electrical contacts and solders. It is chemically unreactive and has the chemical symbol Au. This specimen was found at Lizard, Cornwall in the UK.