Gold

Gold is a powder material, appearing in powder form mainly in the Mines and Coal Pits areas, and may also appear in Gold Potions which can be found in Treasure Chests. Lava and Liquid Fire will quickly melt gold into Molten Gold.

Gold Nuggets are a solid form of gold, primarily coming from defeated Enemies as their dropped loot. They are fairly standard rigid-body objects, being affected by gravity and other forces such as explosions, and can sink into most Powders where they can be difficult to spot. They periodically have a sparkling visual effect which can be seen through other materials and can help locate them.

Properties
Gold is a heavy powder which resists explosions and conducts electricity. Upon contact with the Player, it is automatically collected, yielding 1 gold per pixel of powder absorbed. Acid will dissolve powdered gold, although gold nuggets are generally unaffected. Both gold powder and gold nuggets will be destroyed by Concentrated Mana, which vaporises all metals it comes into contact with into Steam.

Molten Gold is a hot liquid, which will ignite any entities that come in contact with it. It can be cooled and solidified with some Water or any [cold] materials.

Mining
Pockets of gold dust are mainly found in the Mines and more commonly in the Coal Pits. Spells such as Digging Bolt, Digging Blast, and Chainsaw will not destroy gold and are effective for collecting it. Other spells such Triplicate Bolt, Energy Orb, or Magic Bolt can destroy terrain without destroying gold and can work if the player doesn't have any other options. Explosive spells also work, but are typically limited use without the Unlimited Spells Perk.

The Luminous Drill and Black Hole spells will destroy gold, so players should be careful if trying to use that spell to mine it. Gold nuggets can also be damaged by these spells, and will disappear if damaged too much.

Reactions

 * These reactions list only those directly involved with Gold, Molten Gold, or Gold Nuggets. See sand_metal and meltable_metal for more reactions involving Gold.

Gold Nuggets
Upon death, most Enemies will drop at least one gold nugget. When contact is made, the entire nugget is collected as a single unit, rather than just a single pixel. Nuggets will disappear after not being collected for a certain amount of time, unless the player has the Gold is Forever Perk. They blink white when getting close to vanishing, and flash faster until they are gone.

Gold nuggets come in five different values:

There are a few enemies that do not drop any gold at all, for example most Worm enemies as well as any enemies spawned from hives.

Accidental Kills
Killed enemies will drop double the amount of gold nuggets in certain situations:


 * Killed by a physics object, for example: falling debris, a thrown tablet, or a kicked or otherwise propelled rigid-body object.
 * Killed by a naturally-occurring explosive prop, like a crate or propane canister.
 * Killed by damage or status effects inflicted by a material, for example: Fire, Acid, Toxic Sludge, Lava, Poison, Freezing Vapour, and any electrified liquids or metals.

In addition, certain spells can also cause accidental or "trick" kills. For example:


 * Dormant or Unstable Crystal
 * Summon Rock Spirit
 * Propane Tank
 * Both the spikes and the explosion of Prickly Spore Pod, but not the direct damage from hitting an enemy with the initial projectile.
 * The six Touch of spells which convert enemies directly into a material.
 * Explosive Projectile in combination with any of the 5 material spells (Acid, Blood, Cement, Oil, Water).

Blood Money
Blood money is a special, ruby-red form of gold nuggets, which heal the player a little when picked up. Certain Perks, like Trick Blood Money and No Wand Tinkering, cause enemies to drop blood money on death.

The amount of health restored by picking up a given nugget depends on its size: