All we can do is speculate. Which is a shame. I think they are the old residents, the workers had suits they couldnt get out of, and I dont think it protcted them, turning them into monsters trapped in suits. Dosnt explain the fact they keep getting up intil you go dead space on their ass though.

No what I think he is trying to say is that gold is rare... and here are some of the signs you can see that gold has its place in the wasteland.

Gold is obviously around, and is obviously worth working for when you first talk to Easy Pete.

"So what do you do for a living?"
"I am a prospector."
"you mean you pan for gold?
"Nah its just a fancy word for scauaging."

Or something like that. It shows that even though you live around the area when someone first mentions prospecting you first think of... gold.

Now what its used for outside of the Legion I am unsure. The Tech seems to use tubes, and cables more then circuit boards, and gold, however maybe old traditions die hard.

Just found a bug. I had Ed-E as a companion when I went to do the Dead Money quest. He left me and returned to Prim. When I finished the quest and went to go get him at Prim he attacks me and Mr. Nash.

That was a glitch even b4 dead money

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