Prospecting for fool’s gold in Johor Bahru

Over the last week, villagers from Kampung Melayu Majidee, and neighboring areas encroached upon a construction dump site in Jalan Mewah, Johor Bahru to sift through glittering stones which they believe are made of gold.

Despite press statement made recently by the state director of Minerals and Geoscience, Shahar Effendi Abdullah Azizi stating that an analysis carried out on the gold-tinted stones are actually granite which contain iron sulphide, also known as ‘fools’ gold’ and has no commercial value.

The Johor Police Chief, Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff, has advised the public to stop wasting time on ‘gold’ prospecting activities which has inconvenienced to the local residents.

Last week, three lorry loads of stones were dumped at a site along Jalan Mewah, Kampung Melayu Majidee, for a drain construction project there.

Rumour has it that local residents were attracted by the yellowed stones and started prospecting thinking that the stones contained gold residues.