Raw Treasure The Treasure Hunters


Raw Treasure

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Transcript


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'First floor.'

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I am in a top-secret location.

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Right here, they are assembling an extraordinary amount of treasure.

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Diamonds from across the globe.

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Oh, my goodness!

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Look at the size of that.

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Looking at all these diamonds, you do start to wonder,

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where do they all come from? How were they formed?

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And just how much more treasure

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is our planet hiding beneath the surface?

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My word!

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Ha-ha!

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Our planet is full of treasure.

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From precious metals like these to dazzling jewels.

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But you've got to know where to look.

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We'll take you to the far corners of the globe...

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Oh, look at that!

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..to discover the deepest...

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I'm way out of my comfort zone now.

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..most elusive...

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..and most valuable natural treasure on earth.

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Come with us on the world's biggest treasure hunt.

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And with the help of the best treasure hunters on the planet...

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-What about that then?

-Yes.

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Scalpel.

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Check.

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..we'll uncover just where to search for it,

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how it's created,

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and why it's worth so much.

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-It's massive.

-This is the largest

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and most valuable precious gem opal in the world.

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The dream of finding it, that's what keeps you going.

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From the famous to the surprising,

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we'll reveal the incredible stories behind our greatest riches.

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This is treasure hunting at the limits.

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# Diamonds are forever

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# They are all I need to please me... #

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Today, in one iconic image,

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they are capturing a selection of some of the world's rarest diamonds.

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Worth millions.

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Dalia, the model there, is going to be wearing

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hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds.

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In fact, it's going to be the most expensive

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collection of diamonds that anyone's ever worn, ever.

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Turn it this way.

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Their beauty mesmerises us into valuing them

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above almost any raw material on earth.

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And yet, like charcoal, diamonds are just humble pieces of carbon.

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It takes millions of years of crushing pressure

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and intense heat for them to form, deep within the earth's crust.

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Francois Graff has spent his life

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creating some of the world's most valuable jewellery.

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So let's just talk about treasure for a moment.

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How much is all that worth?

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That's worth about half a billion US dollars retail.

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-Half a billion?

-Yes.

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-You have half a billion dollars on your head. Did you hear that?

-Yes.

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-Half a billion.

-Why do you think she's smiling?

-Half a billion.

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Diamonds hypnotise us.

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Our desire for them has driven demand

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and their high value has given rise to a global industry.

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As their value increases,

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we go to ever more incredible lengths to find them.

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Namibia in southern Africa has the richest

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marine diamond deposits ever discovered.

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Over millions of years,

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diamonds have been swept down from the gem-rich interior.

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Having extensively mined much of the land,

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the search is now taking diamond company DeBeers under the sea

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in one of the most high-tech treasure hunts on the planet.

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The scale of this whole operation is unbelievable.

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This entire ship is essentially just a big,

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floating vacuum cleaner, sucking up tonnes and tonnes

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of ancient riverbed material that's settled on the sea floor.

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To get to the diamonds, everything on the sea floor

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is brought up on deck through a giant hosepipe.

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Then it's sorted by sieving and X-raying what's left.

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Any diamonds detected are separated out

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before everything else is pumped back into the sea.

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This is the beast pulling the gems from the sea bed.

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That is just immense.

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At 280 tonnes, it's the biggest treasure-hunting machine ever built,

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sucking up thousands of tonnes of seawater, mud, gravel

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and diamonds every hour.

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That is enormous.

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That is the world's biggest vacuum cleaner head.

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This is treasure hunting at the limits.

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I was talking to one of the guys

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and they reckon they get about 2,000 carats a day,

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which is the equivalent of 2,000 or 3,000 engagement rings,

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if you like, depending on how generous you are.

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They try to keep this operation running 24 hours a day.

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But there's no driver underwater.

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It's masterminded from a control room deep in the heart of this ship.

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Mike. Dallas, how do you do? Great to meet you.

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This is pretty high-tech.

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More high-tech than I thought it would be.

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-It is, it looks like NASA's Space Centre.

-It really does.

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Mike Doherty is in charge of this multi-million-pound piece of kit.

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-Am I allowed to drive it?

-Yes.

-Am I? I was just...

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-BEEPING

-That'll be my agent saying, "Don't let him drive it."

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-Just roll it back.

-Just roll it all the way back?

-Roll it backwards.

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I promise you I won't break it.

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There she goes.

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Oh, look, it's moving. My God, I'm actually driving the thing.

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The seabed crawler is currently 123 metres below me.

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-What do I do?

-Just push it forward.

-OK.

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It's fitted with a navigation system that combines pictures and sound

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to create a 3-D image of its surroundings.

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OK, let go.

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I'm a natural.

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This thing is amazing to work with.

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And the technology involved is incredible.

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This was what I was thinking about when I got on board the ship.

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We are really working at the limits of our skill, our ingenuity,

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our imagination, to find treasure.

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We are so in love with shiny stone.

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Security here is watertight.

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No-one ever handles the diamonds.

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In fact, they don't even get to see them.

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They are channelled entirely by machines into these unmarked cans.

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It's even got a nice easy-open ring-pull.

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The temptation is great, but I shall resist.

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Once a week, this precious cargo is transported back to land...

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..where it's valued by a team of eagle-eyed experts.

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Oh, my word!

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I can't even begin to imagine the value of this pile here.

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You can see, some of them are very, very clear.

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Some of them have got what's known as inclusions in them.

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That's little bits of black carbon that's been trapped inside,

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which reduce the value.

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Any lower-grade diamonds could be used for industrial cutting tools.

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But 95% of Namibian marine diamonds

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have so few flaws, they are known as gem quality

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and are used for the lucrative jewellery market.

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Very occasionally, you'll get a stone like this.

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Maybe once every year, once every couple of years.

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This is 89 carats.

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Can you imagine owning something like that?

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If I wanted to walk out of this building today with this stone,

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which obviously I couldn't, you'd be talking, just as-is,

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as a rough stone, perhaps £3 million.

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It does make your heart beat a little bit quicker

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seeing all those diamonds in one place.

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I suppose nothing really defines natural treasure better than that.

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It's about beauty, it's about rarity,

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and also that knowledge of just how difficult it is

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to get your hands on the stuff.

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Precious gems may be obvious treasures, but there is

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one really surprising example which also fits the bill.

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But you won't find it in a jewellery box.

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I've come to the States,

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home to the single largest natural treasure in the world.

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It has a multi-million-pound price tag.

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But more than that, its value comes

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from the insight it's given us into the past.

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Meet one of the world's unique treasures.

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A T. Rex named Sue.

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She may not sparkle like a diamond, but she cost a fortune.

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And that's because Sue is extremely rare.

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In fact, she's the biggest T. Rex ever found.

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One of the great things about Sue is how complete she is,

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which means we've been able to learn a huge amount about her

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while she was alive.

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The other thing is her size.

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It turns out she was around ten tonnes -

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that's bigger and heavier than an African elephant.

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Way bigger than anyone imagined before she was found.

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Fantastic for visitors, but sensational for scientists

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in their quest for knowledge about the past.

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And her value made headline news around the world.

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And I begin with a bid of 500,000.

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Opening at 500,000.

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600,000.

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700,000 now...

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Until 1997, nothing like her had ever been sold before.

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Two bids at 1 million now...

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No wonder she caused a sensation.

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5 million.

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5.5.

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It's in the room.

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On the phone.

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At 7,600,000.

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7,600,000.

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An astonishing price, perhaps.

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But it was Sue's rarity,

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coupled with the knowledge she could give us,

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that helped make her such a valuable treasure.

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Sue was discovered in South Dakota in the Midwest,

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where she had lain since she died 67 million years ago.

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Back then, these plains were lush forest,

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and teeming with dinosaurs.

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They left clues for palaeontologist Peter Larson to follow.

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And he's still hunting.

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-Stop me if I've missed anything really significant.

-OK.

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Sometimes you can walk for a whole day and not see anything.

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-And that's very disappointing.

-What about that there?

-Yes.

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-Is that it?

-OK, you've found... Look more closely around here.

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Oh, look, these are a funny shape.

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Look at the patterns on this one. That's rather odd.

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That's part of the fossil turtle.

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-A soft-shelled turtle called trionyx.

-There you go.

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-These are all pieces of bone.

-Fantastic.

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-But this one is different.

-That looks like a recent bone, is that right?

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No, that's a fossil bone as well.

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-But this is a dinosaur bone.

-Oh!

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How exciting. You can tell that just by looking at it?

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Just by looking at it, by the texture of the bone.

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What drives Peter to keep searching these plains is that

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when his team do make a new discovery, it can be extraordinary.

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It was back in 1990 when they saw a few fragments of what

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turned out to be the biggest T. Rex anyone's ever found.

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And they named it after the person who spotted it first.

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Susan Hendrickson brought me two pieces of bone, and those two pieces,

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although I'd never seen the inside of a T. Rex vertebrae before,

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I knew what I was looking at.

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And I said, "Is there more?" And she said, "There's lots more."

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So we literally ran the two miles to the site and I could see

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tons of bones, brown pieces of bone, sitting at the bottom of the hill,

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and at that moment I knew this was the most important specimen

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we would ever excavate.

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-Wow, that was the moment right there.

-That was the moment.

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The ultimate treasure for a palaeontologist.

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It's the most fantastic feeling,

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and one that will never probably be duplicated.

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It was just out of this world, a dream of mine

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since I was four years old to uncover a T. Rex, and there it was.

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Sue is worth more than money to scientists.

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She's given us vital clues to one of the great T. Rex mysteries.

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How did they move?

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Sue has got two legs, and just like us,

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when we walk, we never fully leave the ground,

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but when we want to go faster, look what happens.

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When I run, both my feet leave the ground at once.

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Sue needed to move fast to hunt for her food, but at nearly

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ten tonnes, could she lift her huge body high enough to run?

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Once they'd put Sue back together, they realised that she was

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simply too heavy to run, her muscles and bones just wouldn't allow it.

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'But she didn't need to.

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'Measuring these enormous legs, her stride was close to ten metres.

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'Meaning she could walk at up to 20mph.

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'That's pretty quick, and plenty fast enough to catch her prey.'

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Sue is the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever found.

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So highly valued because she could help palaeontologists with

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that 67 million-year-old mystery, and because she's so rare.

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Sometimes the rarest treasures can be made from

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the most common substances on earth.

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Take calcium carbonate, or chalk to you and me.

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It's given us the White Cliffs of Dover,

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it's what snail shells are made of, it's all around us.

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But I've come to the tropical waters around Australia for

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its most luxurious incarnation.

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This is a grade A South Sea pearl.

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To you, £2,000,

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and right here in Northwestern Australia is where you find them.

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'Pearls were gathered in the Persian Gulf over 4,000 years ago,

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'prized even then for their lustre and their rarity.

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'But finding them involved risking your life

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'by freediving for oysters.'

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Ready?

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HE INHALES DEEPLY

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Diving without the help of modern technology

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puts huge demands on the body.

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So I've asked competitive freediver Lewis Jones to help me.

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-HE BREATHES OUT

-Oh, God.

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One minute eight, 0.8.

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Oh, God, you've got to be so relaxed to do this.

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'Mastering holding your breath takes practice.'

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Might be here some time.

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Lewis has been training for years.

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HE BREATHES OUT

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You all right? Yeah?

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2.46.09.

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That's really, really impressive. So what's your all-time best?

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My best is 5.46.

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5.46?

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That's unreal.

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All right, you can tuck that down.

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Then bring your arm up.

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'Diving ten metres down without air tanks is dangerous.

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'Hundreds of pearl divers throughout history have died doing this.'

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The risk is shallow water blackout.

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Your body gets to a certain stage where the oxygen level

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drops and drops and drops, and then you'll basically go to sleep.

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-So even at this depth...

-Correct.

-..this could happen.

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-This could happen in the swimming pool.

-Oh, blimey.

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I'm looking for an oyster called the pinctada maxima.

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It's the size of a dinner plate, but sandy-coloured, making it

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all but invisible in these nutrient-rich waters.

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And I'm struggling to hold my breath.

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It's so hard, because all your instincts are to panic,

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and to try and relax and be focused and get your orientation

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in the water, it's really difficult, I don't know how you guys do it.

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Next time I can be a little bit more relaxed

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and have a bit more time to stay down and look about.

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Look at that! I got it! Oh, God.

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Oh, my God. That...is a pearl oyster.

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-Is there a pearl?

-I don't know! Look at that, I can't believe I got it.

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'Getting the oyster is hard enough, but finding a pearl is very rare.'

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Oysters grow pearls naturally as a defence mechanism.

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If something gets caught inside their shell and irritates them,

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they protect themself by covering it.

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And pearls occur in fewer than 1 in 10,000 wild oysters.

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Here we go, the moment of truth. Do we have...a pearl? Ready?

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Oh, look at that. Oh, my God, we do have a pearl! Kind of.

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-There is, too.

-Oh, my God, look at that. Can you see that there?

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I'm going to take my glove off, can you hold that for me?

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That's unbelievable.

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Look at that. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a pearl.

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-How about that?

-Amazing.

-I'm genuinely shocked. Duncan?

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Sorry, this is Duncan, who works here. I'm absolutely gobsmacked.

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-Ha-ha!

-We weren't meant to find a pearl!

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Well, we weren't expecting to. That is...

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It's not perfect or round, but what do you think?

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These seedless are valued on weight, and, oh...

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-it's probably about 500 Australian dollars' worth.

-Really? Oh, my God.

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About 300 British pounds.

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-That was worth diving to the bottom for.

-Yeah, that's a good one.

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Oh, OK, do I get to keep it? How does it work?!

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Is it yours, is it mine? See ya, I'm off!

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Being so rare and risky to get meant that for centuries

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pearls were incredibly expensive.

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Until just over 100 years ago, when we realised

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we could trick the oysters into creating them on demand.

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And all at once, pearl hunters became pearl farmers.

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Like marine biologist James Brown.

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It is much the same process in the wild - something gets in there,

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an irritant, the shell's natural response is to make it smooth,

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so it doesn't irritate any more.

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So the procedure begins by seeding the shell

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with a sliver of oyster flesh.

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A pearl will naturally form around the irritant,

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and the technician adds a nucleus to try

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and achieve the perfectly round shape we've come to prize.

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It just lays down thousands of tiny crystals

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in layers around that nucleus, growing a pearl.

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The seeded oysters are then returned to the sea.

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There we go. Man, you've got the hardest job I've ever seen.

0:26:010:26:05

After two years underwater,

0:26:090:26:11

the pearl inside will hopefully have grown big enough to harvest.

0:26:110:26:16

And for that, you need a specialist.

0:26:210:26:23

So this is my new friend Billy,

0:26:240:26:26

and he's going to show me how to extract a pearl from an oyster.

0:26:260:26:30

Which is, if I may say so, a rather eye-watering procedure.

0:26:300:26:34

Yeah, it took me about 10 or 15 years to learn how to do it,

0:26:340:26:37

and you can assure me that you...

0:26:370:26:39

Five minutes I've been doing this.

0:26:390:26:41

First of all, we're going to use those pliers.

0:26:410:26:44

'Oysters can grow a pearl three or four times in their life,

0:26:440:26:48

'so I mustn't kill it.'

0:26:480:26:49

Now, using the spatula there, we'll just separate the gills,

0:26:490:26:53

because we need to be able to see the gonad region,

0:26:530:26:55

where we're going to find the pearl.

0:26:550:26:57

So, basically, the pearl grows in the oyster's gonads?

0:26:570:27:01

Correct. Correct.

0:27:010:27:02

-Further to the left?

-No, no, no. There, over to your left.

0:27:020:27:07

Oh, God, it's really difficult.

0:27:070:27:09

'Hiding inside that bulge is a pearl.'

0:27:090:27:12

-It's just there, I can feel it just there.

-Yep.

0:27:130:27:16

I'm going to be very gentle. Scalpel?

0:27:160:27:19

Check.

0:27:200:27:22

-OK.

-Around the left-hand side, and just push in gently to the right

0:27:240:27:28

against the pearl, because we have to make that cut right on the pearl.

0:27:280:27:33

Ugh, well, I've cut something.

0:27:340:27:36

-Do you want to have a little look, Billy?

-I don't know.

0:27:360:27:39

You know, for a first go, I'd say you're doing pretty good.

0:27:390:27:43

I don't know that you need to cut any more.

0:27:430:27:46

We can use our little instrument here,

0:27:460:27:49

-which we call our extractor.

-OK.

0:27:490:27:51

My hand is shaking. Oh, there he is, look at this!

0:27:540:27:58

That is amazing, oh, look at that!

0:27:580:28:00

OK, my hand is actually shaking really badly, but...

0:28:000:28:05

-lo and behold, ladies and gentlemen, a pearl.

-Nice job.

-Woo!

0:28:050:28:10

That was stressful. Oh, God!

0:28:100:28:13

BILLY LAUGHS

0:28:130:28:15

-You didn't see that.

-Righto.

0:28:150:28:17

Worldwide, we now cultivate

0:28:220:28:24

over two and a half million pearls each year.

0:28:240:28:27

Being more common makes them less valuable than natural pearls,

0:28:290:28:33

but they are consistently high in quality.

0:28:330:28:35

Well, this is just for you, Dallas.

0:28:390:28:41

'The size, shape, colour and lustre of these farmed pearls means

0:28:410:28:45

'the necklace retails for around £30,000.'

0:28:450:28:49

-53,000 Australian dollars?

-Australian dollars.

0:28:490:28:52

'Paula sells these pearls,

0:28:520:28:54

'but she doesn't plan on letting go of one record-breaking monster.'

0:28:540:28:59

This is the world's largest fine-quality round pearl.

0:29:020:29:06

That is ridiculous!

0:29:060:29:08

-Yeah, it's got a lot of weight in there.

-So, if I wanted to buy this...

0:29:080:29:11

..as an earring or something, how much, what am I talking?

0:29:130:29:15

It's really difficult to say because it's such a unique pearl,

0:29:150:29:18

there isn't really anything to compare it to,

0:29:180:29:20

but we have been offered in the hundreds of thousands,

0:29:200:29:23

-almost a million for it.

-Oof.

0:29:230:29:24

We're not selling, it's in our private collection,

0:29:240:29:27

so it will stay a Cygnet Bay pearl.

0:29:270:29:29

There's mother of pearl, and then there's the mother of all pearls!

0:29:290:29:33

-Which is this one.

-That's right, yeah.

0:29:330:29:35

Fantastic, you look amazing.

0:29:400:29:42

From the mesmerising beauty of one of the most expensive

0:29:420:29:46

raw materials on earth...

0:29:460:29:48

Seven million six.

0:29:480:29:50

..to the world's most expensive fossil...

0:29:530:29:56

..and the planet's most lustrous pearls.

0:29:590:30:02

How about that?

0:30:020:30:04

I'm genuinely shocked!

0:30:040:30:06

You might think that treasure has to last to be valuable.

0:30:090:30:12

But an unlikely-looking one found right on our doorstep

0:30:120:30:16

proves that's far from the truth.

0:30:160:30:18

DOG PANTS Wooster! Come on, this way!

0:30:220:30:25

He's got something there.

0:30:260:30:28

-He's got one?

-Clever boy!

0:30:280:30:32

Clever boy!

0:30:320:30:33

Wooster, here, with his highly developed sense of smell

0:30:350:30:38

and training, is sniffing for black fungus.

0:30:380:30:42

That might not sound like much,

0:30:420:30:44

but what he might have found just here

0:30:440:30:47

is so precious it's been known as "the diamond of the kitchen".

0:30:470:30:51

'He's hunting for an edible fungus

0:30:530:30:56

'worth almost twice as much as silver.'

0:30:560:30:59

HE SNIFFS Where's the truffle?

0:30:590:31:01

Where's the truffle, Wooster?

0:31:010:31:03

'And it grows just under the ground.'

0:31:030:31:07

-And there is an absolute beauty.

-Oh, wow!

0:31:070:31:10

-Look at that.

-That's a big one!

0:31:100:31:11

Yeah, that's a massive one.

0:31:110:31:13

'You might think this looks like a lump of mud.

0:31:130:31:16

Do you want a treat?

0:31:160:31:18

'But truffle-hunter Zak Frost

0:31:180:31:20

'can get about £600 a kilo for them.'

0:31:200:31:23

Clever boy.

0:31:230:31:24

'These black truffles grow around the roots of hazel and oak trees,

0:31:240:31:29

'and they're ripe for harvesting in late summer

0:31:290:31:32

'through to midwinter.'

0:31:320:31:33

Did you get one there, Wooster?

0:31:330:31:35

How rare is it to find so many in such a small patch like this?

0:31:360:31:41

Er, well, as far as I'm aware, it's unheard-of.

0:31:410:31:44

Certainly in England, perhaps anywhere.

0:31:440:31:46

There's another one, see?

0:31:460:31:48

'So the exact location of this farm is kept a secret.'

0:31:480:31:52

'But what is all the fuss about?'

0:31:540:31:57

Few shavings of this?

0:31:570:31:58

Yeah, just run it firmly across there. Hold the truffle tight.

0:31:580:32:01

'Fresh truffles are one treasure that certainly won't last forever.

0:32:010:32:05

'They're good for up to ten days - then they're worthless.'

0:32:050:32:09

Mmm!

0:32:110:32:13

Oh, lovely texture.

0:32:130:32:15

-Mmm.

-Mmm.

0:32:150:32:17

I've heard these described as tasting with vanilla-y tones,

0:32:170:32:21

or hazelnut, chestnut, even chocolate.

0:32:210:32:24

And to me, I don't get any of those. They taste like truffles to me.

0:32:240:32:28

-You've got to dig in.

-Might have to steal a bit myself, yeah.

0:32:280:32:31

'The unique taste favoured by the world's best chefs

0:32:310:32:35

'means that the rarest and most prized become incredibly expensive.'

0:32:350:32:40

The most valuable are Italian white truffles,

0:32:400:32:43

and late last year, a couple of them sold

0:32:430:32:46

for an eye-watering £75,000.

0:32:460:32:50

That makes them three times more expensive than pure gold.

0:32:500:32:54

Not bad for a fungus.

0:32:540:32:56

Wooster!

0:32:580:32:59

'Very few places in the world have the right conditions

0:32:590:33:03

'for natural treasures to form. It's what makes them so rare.'

0:33:030:33:06

MUSIC: "A Land Down Under" by Men At Work

0:33:110:33:15

The unique environment beneath the heart of the Australian outback

0:33:150:33:18

has created one of the world's most beautiful gems,

0:33:180:33:22

and it's been luring people here for almost 100 years.

0:33:220:33:26

MUSIC CONTINUES

0:33:260:33:27

To search here requires a particular type of treasure hunter -

0:33:370:33:41

one who will devote their life obsessively to the quest,

0:33:410:33:44

and who's prepared to live

0:33:440:33:46

in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet.

0:33:460:33:50

God, look at this place. It's crazy, isn't it?

0:33:500:33:52

It's like being on the moon.

0:33:520:33:54

This place is insane.

0:34:000:34:01

If you're my age, you'll remember the Clangers, the kids' TV show.

0:34:010:34:05

This whole area reminds me a little bit of that,

0:34:050:34:08

because there are holes everywhere, literally everywhere.

0:34:080:34:12

I keep expecting the Soup Dragon to pop up.

0:34:120:34:16

If I chuck a rock down, you'll get a sense of how deep it is.

0:34:160:34:19

CLUNK

0:34:210:34:22

That's a good three seconds before that rock hit the ground.

0:34:220:34:25

They are everywhere. I mean, it's extraordinary.

0:34:250:34:28

'Any Aussie can hunt for treasure here -

0:34:290:34:32

'if you can cope with the isolation, the relentless heat,

0:34:320:34:35

'and the dust.

0:34:350:34:36

'It costs just £40 to get a permit.'

0:34:360:34:41

You are quite literally staking your claim.

0:34:420:34:46

'And this is what draws them here. Opal.'

0:34:480:34:51

It's incredible to think how valuable this is.

0:34:510:34:54

The reason this is so valuable - at the moment -

0:34:540:34:57

this is on sale at 46,000 -

0:34:570:35:00

is simply because of the colour.

0:35:000:35:02

And it is absolutely stunning. The colours change,

0:35:020:35:06

and they dance about, and it's funny to think that

0:35:060:35:10

the only reason why this gemstone is valuable

0:35:100:35:13

is because we like to look at it.

0:35:130:35:16

Our love of its iridescent colours

0:35:170:35:19

has driven our desire for this gemstone.

0:35:190:35:22

But believe it or not, it's made of the same stuff as sand - silica.

0:35:220:35:27

97% of the planet's supply of opal comes from Australia,

0:35:270:35:33

so I'm going to join the hunt.

0:35:330:35:36

-There you go. What do you think?

-OK, it's as good as any!

0:35:370:35:40

'I'm teaming up with a couple of miners...'

0:35:410:35:44

Keep coming, keep coming!

0:35:440:35:46

'..who've agreed to let me have a go.'

0:35:460:35:49

Stop!

0:35:500:35:51

'This claim belongs to Justin Freitag.

0:35:560:35:59

'He's been hunting here for three years.

0:35:590:36:02

'And perhaps today we'll find the opal that will change our lives.'

0:36:020:36:07

I'm thinking what to spend all the money on.

0:36:070:36:12

New house, obviously.

0:36:120:36:13

Boat.

0:36:130:36:15

I quite fancy getting my pilot's licence, buying a little Learjet -

0:36:170:36:21

something like that would be nice.

0:36:210:36:22

'I've selflessly volunteered to be the first to explore our new hole.'

0:36:240:36:28

What are you actually looking for?

0:36:300:36:31

If you got a pickaxe, and started,

0:36:310:36:33

are you looking for fault lines, or cracks, or...?

0:36:330:36:35

You're looking for a dark band of rock,

0:36:350:36:37

maybe a few inches wide, maybe this wide,

0:36:370:36:39

and you start picking in that. And you can start to see

0:36:390:36:42

little traces of opal, or that type of thing.

0:36:420:36:45

OK, wish me luck, I'll have a good look around!

0:36:450:36:47

Ow. Ow!

0:36:520:36:53

It's incredibly hot and humid.

0:36:570:36:59

'The exploratory shaft is ten metres deep

0:37:020:37:05

'and only just wider than my shoulders.

0:37:050:37:08

'But it gives me the chance

0:37:080:37:10

'to look for any signs of a seam of precious opal.

0:37:100:37:13

This is highly speculative, but...

0:37:130:37:16

you never find anything if you don't look.

0:37:160:37:18

'Millions of years ago,

0:37:210:37:22

'the conditions here were wet and acidic.'

0:37:220:37:25

'Perfect for opal to form.'

0:37:270:37:29

I'm just sort of picking for clues, to see if there are any...

0:37:310:37:34

maybe changes in rock, or fault lines.

0:37:340:37:37

There really doesn't seem to be anything, it's just this

0:37:380:37:41

kind of...muddy clay.

0:37:410:37:43

Annoying.

0:37:430:37:45

I tell you what, though, it's addictive.

0:37:450:37:48

Once you start looking, it's very difficult to stop.

0:37:500:37:53

We're rich!

0:38:090:38:10

THEY LAUGH

0:38:100:38:12

I knew we should have been two feet to the left!

0:38:120:38:14

I did say, didn't I?

0:38:140:38:16

'Another empty hole joins the hundreds of other failures.

0:38:190:38:23

'In fact, opal strikes are so rare,

0:38:230:38:27

'big mining companies have been scared off,

0:38:270:38:30

'leaving one of the hottest places on Earth

0:38:300:38:33

'to the thousand or so treasure hunters prepared to tough it out.'

0:38:330:38:37

Oh, man!

0:38:370:38:40

I tell you, Coober Pedy is an extreme place to live,

0:38:420:38:45

not just because it's so remote

0:38:450:38:47

and not just because it's so blistering hot,

0:38:470:38:49

but stand outside and you just get covered in flies.

0:38:490:38:54

'The heat drives half the inhabitants

0:38:570:38:59

'into underground homes, where it's cooler.

0:38:590:39:02

'But the dream of striking it big is enough to keep them out here

0:39:020:39:07

'for years on end.'

0:39:070:39:08

All of you, would you call yourselves treasure hunters?

0:39:140:39:16

That's where it is. You hunt them.

0:39:160:39:18

And every guy you find, the gold miner or the opal miner

0:39:180:39:21

or diamond or whatever, they're all hunting.

0:39:210:39:24

You get sucked in, right?

0:39:240:39:25

And you think you're going to find it all the time.

0:39:250:39:28

But the dream of finding it, that's what keeps you going.

0:39:280:39:32

The dream.

0:39:320:39:33

And when you get that big chunk, you do something with it.

0:39:330:39:36

You get fricking excited!

0:39:360:39:38

Do you make a lot of money?

0:39:390:39:41

Only about 10% of the miners make actually good money.

0:39:410:39:46

And then about 30% make ends meet.

0:39:460:39:49

60% will go broke.

0:39:500:39:52

-They'll go broke, guaranteed.

-It's a gamble.

0:39:520:39:55

It is. It's big gambling. We gamble every day.

0:39:550:39:58

Came up here...for the next 12 months, didn't find a cent.

0:39:580:40:02

I was on the bones of my bum, I can tell you.

0:40:040:40:06

I went through a marriage.

0:40:060:40:08

I went to Adelaide for seven months to get over it.

0:40:080:40:11

I come back again, and when I got back here, within a week

0:40:110:40:14

I found 100,000. So there you go.

0:40:140:40:16

All of a sudden.

0:40:160:40:18

'They're all rivals here.'

0:40:180:40:21

Oh, God, I'm such a bad poker player.

0:40:210:40:23

'But they're battling the elements and Lady Luck as much as each other,

0:40:230:40:29

'drawn together by our demand for these rare and beautiful gems.'

0:40:290:40:33

Easy come, easy goes.

0:40:330:40:35

Gentlemen, you've cleaned me out. You've cleaned me out.

0:40:350:40:38

'This place is so extreme, a few days was my limit.'

0:40:420:40:48

'But to really understand why treasure hunters stick it out,

0:40:510:40:54

'you have to leave Australia's outback

0:40:540:40:57

'and head for the bright lights of Sydney,

0:40:570:41:00

'where an opal discovered in Coober Pedy

0:41:000:41:02

'is guarded by specialist Fiona Altmann.'

0:41:020:41:05

-Fiona, hi!

-Hi, how are you?

-I'm good. Thank you so much

0:41:080:41:11

-for seeing us.

-Nice to meet you!

0:41:110:41:13

Pleasure for you to come in and have a look at my opal!

0:41:130:41:16

That is an imposing safe.

0:41:160:41:18

Oh, my goodness, it's absolutely massive.

0:41:230:41:26

This is the largest and most valuable precious gem opal in the world.

0:41:260:41:30

That is just vast.

0:41:300:41:32

It's 17,700 carats,

0:41:320:41:35

which is about seven pounds. Yeah, you could do some weights with this.

0:41:350:41:39

How much would I have to offer you for me to walk out with this now?

0:41:390:41:43

If you wanted to offer like 20 million, maybe we'd consider it.

0:41:430:41:47

20 million. But I mean, there is no way you would hold this

0:41:470:41:50

and say "I'm holding a gemstone" - it just feels like you're holding

0:41:500:41:53

-a piece of rock.

-It is a piece of rock!

0:41:530:41:56

It's a rock in the ground, but a very, very valuable one, at that.

0:41:560:42:00

'The best way to discover rare natural treasure

0:42:010:42:05

'is with the help of specialists who know exactly what to look for

0:42:050:42:09

'and have the technology to improve the odds.

0:42:090:42:12

'But is that always necessary?'

0:42:120:42:14

What are the chances of you actually finding a natural treasure?

0:42:160:42:20

So striking gold, or just chancing upon a diamond,

0:42:200:42:23

or opening an oyster and finding a pearl?

0:42:230:42:25

Well, to be honest, it's pretty rare.

0:42:250:42:27

But there is this. This is...

0:42:270:42:31

a really, really expensive perfume,

0:42:310:42:34

and it's expensive because of one of the ingredients that goes into this,

0:42:340:42:37

which is worth a stupid amount of money.

0:42:370:42:41

But here's how you might get your hands on it.

0:42:410:42:43

The secret ingredient is called ambergris.

0:42:460:42:49

And it begins life in the ocean.

0:42:510:42:53

Any ocean on Earth.

0:42:550:42:57

It's a mysterious kind of treasure, really,

0:43:000:43:02

because very few people have seen the real thing.

0:43:020:43:05

But what we do know is where it comes from - in here.

0:43:050:43:09

'Strange as it may sound, ambergris forms inside a sperm whale.'

0:43:160:43:20

'Undigested squid beaks or fish bones

0:43:290:43:33

can irritate the whale's insides,

0:43:330:43:35

'so it creates a waxy mass around them.'

0:43:350:43:39

'Which can grow so huge, it could kill it.'

0:43:410:43:44

But happily, more often than not,

0:43:480:43:51

the whale manages to get rid of them.

0:43:510:43:53

And then that matter begins its epic journey around the world,

0:43:530:43:57

floating on the ocean currents for up to ten years or more.

0:43:570:44:01

Exposure to the sun and the salty sea

0:44:030:44:05

can transform some of this biological by-product

0:44:050:44:09

into a lump of extremely valuable ambergris.

0:44:090:44:12

It might sound revolting,

0:44:160:44:18

but should you happen to find some you could strike it rich.

0:44:180:44:21

And it could be washed ashore onto almost any beach in the world.

0:44:210:44:26

Now most people would not even notice it and walk on by.

0:44:320:44:36

But not ten-year-old Charlie.

0:44:360:44:38

I had absolutely no idea what it was.

0:44:380:44:42

I thought this wasn't going to be a usual stone.

0:44:420:44:45

In 2012 Charlie found this strange lump of something

0:44:530:44:57

washed up on a beach in Dorset.

0:44:570:45:00

One, it's really waxy and, two, really light.

0:45:000:45:06

Most big stones aren't light

0:45:060:45:08

so I thought, "What is this stone?"

0:45:080:45:11

I brought it to my dad and he took a random guess it was ambergris.

0:45:110:45:16

If it proves to be ambergris it could be worth thousands, even tens of thousands.

0:45:210:45:26

The highest price paid for a large lump is reputedly £200,000.

0:45:260:45:32

So how could a lump of whale waste be worth so much?

0:45:340:45:38

Master perfumer Roja Dove has the answer.

0:45:460:45:49

He's said to have one of the world's most famous noses.

0:45:490:45:53

And the formula for his latest creation includes ambergris.

0:45:560:46:00

-Hello. Lovely to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

0:46:040:46:06

Can I smell some of this ambergris at last? I've heard all about it.

0:46:060:46:11

This is after the ambergris has been placed in alcohol.

0:46:110:46:15

It's literally the rarest and most expensive

0:46:150:46:18

raw material in the perfumer's canon.

0:46:180:46:20

That's really pleasant. Lovely.

0:46:200:46:23

That's just ambergris on its own with the alcohol?

0:46:230:46:26

Ambergris in the alcohol which makes a tincture.

0:46:260:46:29

The ambergris gives a soft, slightly sweet balsamic sensuality.

0:46:290:46:33

-It does. Those are the words I was looking for.

-I'm sure.

0:46:330:46:37

I have a scent here if you want to smell.

0:46:370:46:40

This is a formula I had been working on

0:46:400:46:43

with certain floral aspects around it.

0:46:430:46:46

It smells Christmassy to me.

0:46:460:46:48

Got some lovely fragrance.

0:46:480:46:50

If I can give you that and if you put the two together

0:46:500:46:52

and now waft them under your nose.

0:46:520:46:54

Just see what the ambergris does to the other raw material.

0:46:540:46:57

Do you feel it?

0:46:570:46:58

Yes, they complement each other rather well.

0:46:580:47:01

And one of the reasons it will complement it well

0:47:010:47:04

is ambergris works as what we call a fixative,

0:47:040:47:07

so simplistically speaking it fixes all the other raw materials

0:47:070:47:10

to your skin, so it makes the perfume or scent last far longer

0:47:100:47:13

than it would without the ambergris.

0:47:130:47:15

It's why it's so highly prized.

0:47:150:47:16

If it didn't offer us something

0:47:160:47:18

we wouldn't be willing to spend the money on it.

0:47:180:47:20

Not bad for something that you could find washed up on a beach.

0:47:200:47:25

The value of raw treasure constantly changes, depending on how much

0:47:300:47:34

we desire it and how easy it is to acquire.

0:47:340:47:39

So not every material that starts out as treasure remains so.

0:47:390:47:43

This is Piccadilly Circus.

0:47:580:48:00

Home to Eros.

0:48:080:48:09

-Good morning, how are you?

-Not bad.

-Nice to see you.

0:48:090:48:13

I think up would be good.

0:48:130:48:17

As a work of art the statue is worth a fortune,

0:48:170:48:22

but what it's made of has changed in value.

0:48:220:48:26

This is great. Hi, Eros.

0:48:260:48:30

I've lived in London for over 20 years

0:48:350:48:37

and looked at the statue a gazillion times

0:48:370:48:39

and to be honest I'd never really considered what it was made of.

0:48:390:48:42

I'd always assumed the whole thing was bronze.

0:48:420:48:44

The fountain bit certainly is. The figure is made of aluminium.

0:48:440:48:48

When it was made in 1893 that would have been incredibly expensive.

0:48:480:48:54

Back then it cost a lot of money to extract aluminium.

0:49:010:49:04

But modern technology has made that process

0:49:040:49:08

so cheap that aluminium has become almost disposable.

0:49:080:49:11

There is one particular metal that since the dawn of civilisation

0:49:140:49:18

really has epitomised our idea of treasure.

0:49:180:49:21

I think you might know what it is.

0:49:210:49:24

Gold. It doesn't tarnish in air or water.

0:49:330:49:38

It's adorned pharaohs and kings for thousands of years.

0:49:380:49:43

It was believed to be the skin of gods, the sweat of the sun,

0:49:430:49:49

the stuff of power.

0:49:490:49:50

Virtually all of the gold discovered on Earth was deposited here

0:50:030:50:07

in meteorites that bombarded the Earth billions of years ago.

0:50:070:50:11

Although it can be found on nearly every continent

0:50:110:50:15

it's one of the rarest metals in the Earth's crust.

0:50:150:50:19

Over a century ago a huge discovery was made in South Africa

0:50:200:50:24

that spurred a feverish gold rush.

0:50:240:50:26

I'm on my way to Johannesburg.

0:50:300:50:32

100 years ago there were no skyscrapers here, no town,

0:50:340:50:39

just open country.

0:50:390:50:41

And rumours that there was treasure waiting to be discovered.

0:50:430:50:47

It attracted prospectors from all over the world.

0:50:500:50:53

But none of them hit the big time until 1886

0:50:530:50:56

when a man by the name of George Harrison,

0:50:560:51:00

not the one in the Beatles,

0:51:000:51:02

started digging in what was then agricultural land just out there.

0:51:020:51:07

And then he started to pan,

0:51:100:51:13

working away all of the gravel and silt

0:51:130:51:17

until he found pieces of gold just like that.

0:51:170:51:21

'George had stumbled on nearly half of the world's supply.

0:51:240:51:27

'Today, the land around Johannesburg is peppered with gold mines

0:51:290:51:33

'but to reach the precious ore,

0:51:330:51:36

'they've had to create the deepest mines in the world.'

0:51:360:51:39

Protection...

0:51:410:51:43

-The tighter the better because of the weight.

-Yeah.

0:51:430:51:46

The arms...

0:51:460:51:48

-That's for the rescue pack.

-OK.

0:51:490:51:50

That's for emergencies, it gives you oxygen for 20 minutes.

0:51:500:51:53

'Our love of gold has taken us ever deeper into the Earth's crust.

0:51:570:52:02

'Here at Kloof mine, the workers can travel for up to two hours

0:52:020:52:06

'from the surface just to start work.'

0:52:060:52:09

I don't like this. This is small.

0:52:090:52:12

'It's an epic commute for an eight-hour shift.'

0:52:120:52:16

I'm just freaked out.

0:52:270:52:28

'Without the mine's cooling system,

0:52:300:52:32

'the temperature would rise to 50 degrees Celsius

0:52:320:52:35

'as we travel into the Earth.'

0:52:350:52:37

Here we go.

0:52:370:52:39

Do I get in here?

0:52:430:52:45

'Mining takes place up to two miles under the surface.'

0:52:490:52:53

You think about your journey to work on the tube or the train...

0:52:570:53:00

Have a think about this, this is one mother of a commute.

0:53:010:53:04

It's very hot down here and very noisy.

0:53:040:53:08

'But it's worth it.

0:53:120:53:14

'We're inside the biggest chunk of gold-bearing rock ever found.'

0:53:140:53:20

So this is what it's all about. Doesn't look like much, does it?

0:53:200:53:24

-There's gold in there, is there?

-Yes.

0:53:240:53:26

It's microscopic sitting around the pebbles there.

0:53:260:53:29

Oh, there's something shining. Oh, maybe that's my imagination.

0:53:290:53:32

-You can see the fool's gold.

-Oh, yeah!

0:53:320:53:35

That's what you're seeing as gold, it's the fool's gold.

0:53:350:53:37

But in here somewhere will be the real thing.

0:53:370:53:40

There's gold-bearing material,

0:53:400:53:42

you'd need one tonne of this to get seven grams out.

0:53:420:53:45

For a ring, we know you need 20g.

0:53:450:53:47

So you're going to have to bring quite a few boyfriends worth to come and dig all that stuff out.

0:53:470:53:51

'And that's why the scale of this operation is so huge.

0:53:550:53:59

'There's billions of pounds worth of gold right here,

0:53:590:54:02

'IF they can get it out.'

0:54:020:54:04

I could not do this job.

0:54:080:54:09

In 100 years, I could not do this job.

0:54:090:54:12

'Over £1 million worth of gold comes from here every day.

0:54:230:54:27

'Even with these drills, we simply can't get the gold out.

0:54:330:54:37

'We're boring holes more than a metre deep

0:54:370:54:40

'for explosives.

0:54:400:54:41

'Once the detonator is set and we're clear,

0:54:430:54:47

'the rock will be blasted.'

0:54:470:54:48

Wow.

0:54:520:54:54

All this journey underground...

0:54:540:54:57

deep in the earth, all this hard work

0:54:570:55:00

and all this sweat,

0:55:000:55:02

just for a bit of gold.

0:55:020:55:04

'The wagons aren't loaded with what we'd recognise as treasure.

0:55:100:55:15

'But heat it to 1,000 degrees Celsius...'

0:55:180:55:21

Wow.

0:55:220:55:24

'..and something amazing happens.

0:55:240:55:27

'Liquid gold.

0:55:290:55:30

'I'm in one of the world's biggest gold refineries.'

0:55:330:55:37

Pretty much all of us have got a small piece of gold

0:55:480:55:51

or some of us in our family have got a piece of gold

0:55:510:55:54

and there's a really good chance it came form this very refinery.

0:55:540:55:58

It could have been pulled out of that very machine.

0:55:580:56:01

'But don't be fooled,

0:56:010:56:03

'gold is exceptionally scarce.

0:56:030:56:06

'If you put all the gold together that's ever been mined

0:56:060:56:09

'in the whole of history...

0:56:090:56:11

'..it would only fill three and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools.'

0:56:130:56:17

I'm not sure what it is about this.

0:56:230:56:25

It's certainly the weight and the lustre.

0:56:250:56:28

When you get this close to it, you can really begin to imagine

0:56:280:56:31

why the very long journey,

0:56:310:56:33

getting it out of the ground and turning it into this -

0:56:330:56:36

worth £332,000 a piece -

0:56:360:56:40

is really worth it.

0:56:400:56:43

Wow.

0:56:430:56:44

He's got something there.

0:56:510:56:54

We've got one.

0:56:540:56:55

'You can hunt for treasure under the sea...

0:56:580:57:01

'..or deep within the earth's crust.

0:57:040:57:08

'Devote your entire life to searching for it

0:57:090:57:12

'in the blistering heat...'

0:57:120:57:14

Damn, I wish I'd spotted that.

0:57:140:57:16

'..once we've got our hands on all this raw treasure, we can

0:57:180:57:21

'transform it into he greatest man-made creations on the planet.'

0:57:210:57:25

'Next time...

0:57:310:57:32

'From sunken treasure and pieces of eight...'

0:57:320:57:35

Wow, look at that!

0:57:350:57:37

'..to the most famous find on Earth.

0:57:380:57:43

'We'll hunt out the incredible masterpieces we've created...'

0:57:440:57:49

This is...

0:57:490:57:50

decadent.

0:57:500:57:53

'..and come face to face with lost treasures

0:57:530:57:56

'on a massive scale.'

0:57:560:57:58

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