Nice Bahog!
Posted on 01/17/2013 9:45:27 AM PST by Theoria
A MASSIVE gold nugget that could be worth upwards of half a million dollars has been unearthed in Ballarat. See your ad here
The nugget, weighing slightly more than five kilograms (177 ounces), was discovered by a local prospector on Wednesday morning, who rushed it to the Ballarat Mining Exchange Gold Shop.
The exact location and the identity of the lucky prospector remain secret, but gold shop owner Cordell Kent said the nugget was found within 30 kilometres of the Ballarat CBD.
It was found about 60 centimetres below the surface, with the prospector using a state-of-the-art detector worth more than $6000 – a Minelab GPX-5000.
If sold at market value it would be worth just shy of $300,000, but its extreme rarity would mean it be worth far more, according to Mr Kent.
“If you are silly enough to melt it down, it would be worth just under $300,000 on market value. But as a nugget at this size and shape, it’s worth significantly more than that,” he said.
“I can’t remember a nugget this big ever being found locally.”
Mr Kent said the prospector had found small pieces of gold before, none of which had been worth more than $1000.
“Up until yesterday the smallest nugget he had found was a small one, about a quarter of an ounce,” he said.
“A finding like this gives people hope. It’s my dream to find something like that, and I’ve been prospecting for more than two decades.
“We’re so far into a gold rush and we have years and years and years of hope ahead of us. It’s unbelievable.”
It is expected the nugget will be sold to a collector or possibly a museum.
Mr Kent said he hoped to sell it within Australian as given its size, there would need to be special permission granted for it to be exported overseas.
He also predicted there would be a fresh gold rush hit the Ballarat region.
“I’ve got no doubt there will be a lot of people who will be very enthusiastic about the goldfields again, it gives people hope,” Mr Kent said. See your ad here
“There’s nothing like digging up money, it’s good fun.”
Nice Bahog!
Only two feet deep. That’s a good metal detector but that is also highly reflective target!
Nice nugget!
I've actually been to Ballarat..and visited a mine.
Please bring me back one.
Thank You!
Nice find though. I'd like to see it find its way to a museum.
My great great granddad was in that area in the early 1850s looking for gold
along with 1000s of others
:)
I found that he sailed out of New York City to Melbourne...
He didnt do too good in Aussie so he moved on NZ...
again the goldfields were srowded...
he got little gold..
but he found himself a wife...
]
so he found a good thing after all...
:)
Except for the way he traveled and got there his history and travels are written in the flyleaves of his family Bible...
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I don’t know where they come up with the half a million dollars figure. At 177 ounces it’s worth about half that. Even if you take into account that they may be talking Australian dollars (about 1.05 USD) they’re still way off.
It's about finding the gold.
Jeez, just read that part of the article. Never mind.
A nugget, especially one so rare, will bring much more at auction than the current spot price of the gold.
I read that but I just don’t believe it. Gold is gold. Gold dust isn’t worth less per ounce. But maybe they’re right maybe there’s a sucker out there.
Nuggets over 4 ounces normally get double spot price, or 2x the price of gold per ounce. It’s a jewlery/collectors item thingie.
Looks like a painted rock........
No sweat, we were all youngidiots at one time. Look forward to your future when you can be an oldidiot. That’s when the fun starts.
I’m looking for me own LOL
This is BS!!! Look at that photo.. A gold ‘nugget’ of that size would weigh FAR MORE than 12 pounds and the way he handles it in the video is not commensurate with the weight it would be!! BS alert!!
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