Where there was life, there may be gold. Some of the
oldest life forms may have played a crucial role in the formation of
what's now the Earth's largest known gold reserve.
The process could only have taken place
during a window of opportunity after life on land came to being and
before it created the planet's oxygen-rich atmosphere. This means such
gold deposits could not be formed today – but it potentially gives us a
new way to find them.
Approximately 40,000 metric tonnes of gold have been mined from the
Witwatersrand Basin
in South Africa since its discovery in 1886. That's three times more
than from any other single source and roughly half the gold ever been
mined on Earth.
The gold accumulated 3 billion years ago. But how it did so has been a matter of geological debate.

Rich pickings: the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa (Image: James L. Stanfield/Getty)