The Hand of Faith, named so for its shape, holds the record for being the biggest gold nugget found using a metal detector. Weighing 27.2 kilogrammes, it was found by prospector Kevin Hillier in September 1980 in Wedderburn, in the state of Victoria in Australia.
An Australian man using a budget metal detector has hit the score of a lifetime – a giant gold nugget worth $160,000. The man, who did not want to be identified, made the life-changing discovery in the southern state of Victoria, the world's largest gold nugget was discovered in 1869.
While discoveries like this are rare, Australia is estimated to have the world's largest gold reserves and many of the world's biggest nuggets were found in Australia.
The largest gold specimen Kamp has found was a 24-ounce piece, which now would be worth around 70,000 AUD ($46,753). He said that about 10 years ago, his friend found a 600-ounce gold nugget.
Welcome Nugget
The Welcome Nugget is Australia's second-largest nugget and was found in June 1858 in the Bakery Hill area of Ballarat, approximately where McDonald's is located today. It was mined by the Red Hill Mining Company and weight 69kg upon extraction from the ground.
The Pepita Canaã is the world's largest gold nugget and was found in the Serra Pelada – the 'Naked Mountain' – in Brazil in 1983. With a gross weight of 60.82kg and containing 52.33kg of gold, this equates to 1,682 troy ounces and would be worth $2,999,510.60 based on metal value alone at today's gold price.
Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie are the famous gold mining centres in Australia. Gold is also available in certain parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
Two Cornish miners unearthed the biggest golden nugget discovered in the area on February 5, 1869, near Moliagul. Dubbed the 'Welcome Stranger', the gold nugget weighed 72 kilograms, was 61cm long and sold for £10,000 ( roughly $18,475 AUD). Today, a nugget of that size would fetch approximately $ 6.8 million.
Victoria's gold-bearing rocks are sandstones, siltstones and mudstones, deposited in deep marine conditions some 400 million years ago. Today they form a bedrock spine that runs east to west through Victoria, with the Great Divide running along the crest of Victoria's Western and Eastern Uplands.
Your finds
Minerals are the property of the Crown. If you discover gold or other minerals or gemstones on land not covered by a mining tenement, and the ground is Crown land (under the Mining Act 1978), then you are free to keep what you have found (as long as you hold a Miner's Right).
Storage: Physical gold requires secure storage, preferably not in your home. It should be stored away from damp, corrosives and metals such as silver, which can tarnish it. Various mints around Australia offer storage, as do specialised vault companies; however, third-party storage will incur additional fees.
In Australia this concentration of gold took place in the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago in the eastern states, and thousands of millions of years ago in Western Australia. As well as gold, the fluids can carry other dissolved minerals, such as quartz. This is why gold is often found with quartz.
As of 2022, Boddington is Australia's biggest producing gold mine.
Some of the veins produce up to one quarter of an ounce of gold per ton of rock. What makes Dahlonega gold so different from other gold found around the world is the purity. Dahlonega has the purest gold in the world, which is 98.7 percent pure.
Australia is estimated to have the world's largest gold reserves, with 9,500 tonnes or 17 per cent of the total world estimated gold reserves of 57,000 tonnes.
Southern Cross Gold Buyers will buy all kinds of gold and silver including jewellery, coins scrap, as well as nuggets, and we offer the highest prices for your gold with our price beat guarantee. Give us a call today on Tel: 1800 102 864, and see how much cash you can get when you sell your gold nuggets in Adelaide.
Nuggets are usually 20K to 22K purity (83% to 92% by mass). Gold nuggets in Australia often are 23K or slightly higher, while Alaskan nuggets are usually at the lower end of the spectrum. Purity can be roughly assessed by the nugget color, the richer and deeper the orange-yellow the higher the gold content.
Considered by most authorities to be the biggest gold nugget ever found, the Welcome Stranger was found at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. It weighed gross, over 2,520 troy ounces (78 kg; 173 lb) and returned over 2,284 troy ounces (71.0 kg; 156.6 lb) net.
If you're fortunate enough to own gold nuggets, you can earn a small fortune now with the current high price of gold. At Cash For Old Gold, we offer you top market rates for your gold nuggets. We can even come to you, to value and assess the weight of your nuggets and carat, so you can earn cash on the spot.
However, it is worth remembering that nuggets cost more than their gold content since they're not pure gold. The price of a gold nugget depends on a wide range of factors. For instance, the quantity and purity of gold a nugget has can determine how much you'll pay or get for it.
It's also home to the Golden Triangle, where the richest, purest gold has been found. The Golden Triangle is a region in northeastern Victoria, Australia that is known for the richest gold deposits.
Mount Whaleback Mine in Western Australia, was the largest mine in Australia, producing approximately 88.8 million metric tons per annum (mmtpa) of Run-of-Mine (ROM) in 2021. The Mount Whaleback Mine is owned by BHP;Mitsui & Co Ltd;Itochu Corp, and is due to operate until 2037.
As part of Australia's official reserve assets, the Reserve Bank holds an amount of gold.