Considered by most authorities to be the biggest gold nugget ever found, the
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 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.
Lucky Strike is not the biggest nugget found in Australia – that honour belongs to “the Welcome Stranger” found near Moliagul, Victoria, in 1869, which yielded 2,300 ounces of gold.
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.
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).
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.
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.
In satellite images of central Uzbekistan, a large circular cavity stands out amidst fields of sand and dusty plains. It is Muruntau gold mine, one of the world's largest sources of gold.
the largest 72kg gold nugget ever found (called the Welcome Stranger), today this nugget would be worth approximately $4.5M USD, discovered by two miners John Deason and Richard Oates on February 5, 1869, near Moliagul, in the state of Victoria, Australia. HO Ching and 18,385 others like this.
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.
About 244,000 metric tons of gold has been discovered to date (187,000 metric tons historically produced plus current underground reserves of 57,000 metric tons). Most of that gold has come from just three countries: China, Australia, and South Africa.
Cadia Mine in New South Wales, was the largest gold-producing mine in Australia, producing approximately 764.9 thousand ounces of gold and an estimated 32.5 million metric tons per annum (mmtpa) of Run-of-Mine (ROM) in 2021.
It was melted down in London in November 1859. Large size nuggets are still being found around the world. On 16 January 2013, a large gold nugget was found near the city of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia by an amateur gold prospector.
On February 12, 1851, a prospector discovered flecks of gold in a waterhole near Bathurst, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Soon, even more gold was discovered in what would become the neighboring state of Victoria. This began the Australian Gold Rush, which had a profound impact on the country's national identity.
Now fully owned by Newmont Goldcorp, the mine reopened in 2009 after a major expansion project that increased the throughput to become Australia's largest gold mine.
Australia and Russia hold the largest reserves of gold
Australia and Russia hold a large share of the world's gold mine reserves, accounting for 8,400 metric tons and 6,800 metric tons, respectively. Worldwide, the production of gold reached an estimated 3,100 metric tons in 2022.
Leading markets for gold exports from Australia FY 2022
China was the leading export destination for Australian gold in terms of value.
It is perfectly legal to sell and buy gold in Australia. You can sell a kilo of gold bars, a wedding ring or an old coin. The Australian government has set guidelines for the sale of precious metals. There is no restriction on the weight or value of precious metal.
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.
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.
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.