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Photo courtesy: Lucky Strike Gold |
(Kitco News) - No element in the world can capture our collective imagination like gold. It is the stuff dreams are made of and that dream has come true for one Australian amateur gold hunter.
According to recent media reports, the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, used a budget-rate metal detector and found a 4.6-kilogram rock; more than half of it contained gold.
The massive nugget was found in Victoria, Australia, in the Golden Triangle, home to the country's famous 1850s gold rush.
The amateur gold hunter took his find to Lucky Strike Gold, a prospecting store about an hour south-west of Melbourne.
In an interview with BBC News, the owner of the Store, Darren Kamp, said it was the biggest nugget he had ever seen in his 43 years in business.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime find," he told the BBC.
The prospector initially thought the rock might be worth $10,000.
However, Kamp said its value was at least ten-times more.
"I looked at him and said, 'Try $100,000'," he said.
The rock, which was broken in two, weighed 4.6kg and contained about 83 ounces of gold - or about 2.6kg.
By comparison, as a prospector, Kamp said that the biggest nuggets he has found weigh 24 ounces.
Kamp bought the rock for A$240,000 (more than $160,000).
According to some analysts, the nugget's value would be significantly more than just its metal value as these types of finds are extremely rare.
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The latest find is still pretty small compared to other historical discoveries in the area. The most famous discovery from Australia's Golden Triangle is the "Hand of Faith," which was discovered in 1980 and weighs 876 ounces. The nugget resides in the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The world's biggest gold nugget was found in 2018 at the Beta Hunt Mine in Western Australia. The "King Henry," weighs 94kg and contains more than 2,400 ounces of gold.
