Nick Mead, the mechanic who opened an old Russian tank and found a treasure trove of gold bars: “We didn’t know what to do”
An unexpected purchase on a digital platform ends up revealing a million-dollar find.
A British collector named Nick Mead made an astonishing discovery after buying an Iranian Type 69 military tank on eBay. When he opened the vehicle, he found five gold bars worth roughly $2.7 million, believed to have been hidden since Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Mead turned the gold over to U.K. authorities so investigators could trace its original owners. But he never received any financial reward for the find — something he still regrets. As he puts it, “gold has a fingerprint,” meaning experts can determine exactly where it came from.
A troubling origin
Initial analysis suggests the gold may have come from artisanal and small‑scale mining, a type of extraction that relies on rudimentary tools and often uses mercury to separate tiny gold particles from sediment.
The world’s largest source of mercury pollution
Experts warn that this method is the largest source of human‑generated mercury pollution, releasing an estimated 1,000 tons of mercury into the environment every year.
A study by Pure Earth and Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency found that in several mining communities, mercury levels in soil far exceeded World Health Organization safety limits. Arsenic levels were also dangerously high, contributing to kidney problems and other health issues — especially among children.
A global pattern, from Africa to the Amazon
A similar crisis is unfolding in the Amazon. Satellite monitoring shows that illegal gold mining has destroyed nearly 350,000 acres of rainforest in Peru since the mid‑1980s.
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