List of nuggets
| Name | Discovered by | Location of Discovery | Country | Date |
| Welcome Stranger | John Deason and Richard Oates | Australia | 1869 | |
| Welcome Nugget | Red Hill Mining Company | Bakery Hill, Ballarat | Australia | June 1858 |
| Canaã nugget also known as the Pepita Ca ... | Serra Pelada Mine | State of Para | Brazil | September 13, 1983 |
| W.A. Farish, A. Wood, J. Winstead, F.N.L ... | Sierra Buttes | United States | August 1869 |
Are there any gold nuggets in Ballarat?
Ballarat has also yielded some of the largest gold nuggets of the world. New discoveries of large gold nuggets still continues to this day, thanks to the popularity of metal detectors. A 145-troy ounce nugget was found in 2016 and a 112-troy ounce nugget was found around Ballarat in 2014. Replica of the "Welcome" nugget.
How much is the rarest gold nugget in Australia worth?
A prospector made an extraordinary discovery yesterday when he found an “incredibly rare” 5.5kg gold nugget under only 60cm of dirt in Ballarat, Victoria. The total price for such a happy unearthing: a whopping $300,000. And he found it in a place where hundreds searched before all thanks to state-of-the-art technology.
What is the largest gold nugget ever found on Earth?
Found during the height of the mining boom in Victoria, it still remains as one of the largest gold nuggets ever found on Earth. It was in June of 1858 when a crew of men working at the Red Hill Mining company found the nugget in the heart of Ballarat, Victoria.
Where did Victoria’s biggest gold nuggets come from?
In the 1850s thousands of workers abandoned their jobs and rushed to Ballarat, Bendigo and surrounds to seek their fortune in gold. Here are the stories of Victoria’s biggest gold nuggets and the extraordinary prospectors who found them.
What is the largest gold nugget found in Victoria?
the Welcome StrangerConsidered 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.
Is gold still found in Ballarat?
The region is world famous for the huge alluvial gold nugget discoveries which continue to hit the news today! Ballarat and surrounds is a fantastic area for gold detecting, panning and sluicing, and we've put together this handy gold prospecting guide to get you started in the area.
What was the largest gold nugget ever found?
Holtermann 'Nugget': 10,229oz. While the Welcome Stranger is the largest gold nugget ever discovered, the single biggest gold specimen ever found is the Holtermann. Dug up in October 1872 by German miner Bernhardt Holtermann at Hill End in New South Wales, it was crushed, and the gold extracted.
Where was the most gold found in Victoria?
Gold discovery at Ballarat in 1851 sparked Victoria's famous gold rush. An estimated 6000 diggers (miners) arrived each week seeking their fortune. Ballarat was considered the world's richest alluvial goldfield during its peak between 1852 and 1853.
How deep is the Ballarat mine?
The maximum depth of 300 metres. Mining re-commenced from 1937 to 1952 and again during the 1970's and 1980's as small scale gold mining operations.
Is there any gold left in Victoria?
It is estimated that as much as 75 million ounces of gold remain in Victoria, in meaty nuggets buried deep in the ground or alluvial fragments drifting in our streams and rivers. That's equivalent to the total amount of gold discovered since the start of the gold rush in 1851.
Where is the most gold found in Australia?
About 60% of Australia's gold resources occur in Western Australia, with the remainder in all other States and the Northern Territory.
Can you find gold in any river?
Every river in the world contains gold. However, some rivers contain so little gold that one could pan and sieve for years and not find even one small flake. The amateur prospector will not be able to determine whether gold is contained within an outcrop of rocks.
Where is the best place to find gold Australia?
The Best Places to Hunt for Gold in AustraliaGolden Triangle in Victoria.The goldfields of Western Australia.Fields in New South Wales.Fields in Queensland.Fields in Northern Territory.
How much gold was found at Ballarat?
On the evening of 9 June, 1858 an excited shout rang out from Ballarat's Red Hill Mine. A party of 22 Cornish miners discovered what was then the world's largest gold nugget. The Welcome Nugget weighed a whopping 69 kilograms and was just over 99% pure gold.
Who first found gold in Ballarat?
John DunlopOn 21 August 1851 gold was found at Ballarat, Victoria in Poverty Point by John Dunlop and James Regan. Ballarat is about 10 km (6.2 mi) from Buninyong and upon the same range.
Where is the Victorian Golden Triangle?
We're in Victoria's so-called 'golden triangle': a wedge bounded roughly by Ballarat, Wedderburn, Dunolly and Bendigo, where massive finds in the 1800s brought prospectors pouring into the area, setting up tent cities and, at its peak, sending 1000 kilograms of gold every week to the bank vaults of Melbourne.
What is the biggest gold nugget?
The Welcome Nugget. The Welcome Nugget was one of Australia’s most amazing gold discoveries. Found during the height of the mining boom in Victoria, it still remains as one of the largest gold nuggets ever found on Earth.
How much gold is in the Welcome Stranger nugget?
The eventual assay of the nugget showed that it was over 99% gold, with almost no impurities. A decade later, the discovery of the Welcome Stranger Nugget overtook it as the largest nugget, but to this day the Welcome Nugget still remains as the 2nd largest gold nugget ever found. Also Read: The Welcome Stranger Nugget.
Who struck the nugget in the mine?
A crew of men were working near Bakery Hill discovered the amazing piece. They were working the night shift at the mine when a man named Richard Jeffrey dug down and struck the piece with his pick axe. Men from the mine quickly came to help extract the nugget and eventually it was brought to the surface.
How much was the Welcome Nugget worth?
The Welcome Nugget was eventually sold at a price of the lump of 10,050 pounds, and for a year it was put on display in various locations and garnered much attention. However, a year after it was unearthed it was melted down for its bullion. Prior to being melted down, models were molded of the famous nugget and given to various museums.
What is the third largest gold nugget?
The Pepita Canaã is the third largest gold nugget ever to be found in the world, however, it does currently take the top spot of being the largest gold nugget known to be in existence today. And this monster nugget weighs in at 134 pounds. This massive gold nugget was found in 1983 by miner Júlio de Deus Filho in the Serra Pelada gold mining region ...
Where is the gold nugget in Brazil?
This massive gold nugget was found in 1983 by miner Júlio de Deus Filho in the Serra Pelada gold mining region of Brazilian state of Pará and is currently on display in the “Gold Room” of the central bank’s money museum in Brazil’s federal capital Brasilia. 4.
How much does a welcome nugget weigh?
Not to be confused with the other large gold nugget found in Australia that shares a similar name, the Welcome nugget is the second largest gold nugget to ever be found weighing in at 152 pounds.
How much gold did Australia export?
Between 1851 and 1861 Australia is reported to have exported at least 850 metric tons of gold, which is equivalent to more than one third of the total amount of gold produced in the world. It was soon after this main gold rush, in 1869, that the Welcome Stranger nugget was discovered by Cornish miner John Deason and his partner Richard Oates ...
Where was the Welcome Stranger nugget found?
But that’s not the case. The Welcome Stranger nugget was simply found by digging around the roots of a stringybark tree. It was lying just over an inch below the surface!
Where was the Lady Hotham Nugget discovered?
Named in honour of the wife of Sir Charles Hotham, the Lady Hotham Nugget was discovered by a group of nine miners at the Canadian Gully in Ballarat in September 1854 during the Australian gold rush.
When did gold nuggets start sticking out of the ground?
In 1869 , a group of miners were on their way to work when they saw a small portion of this 109 pound gold nugget sticking out of the ground. The recent rains had washed away enough of the dirt that was covering it so it could be seen by the workers. As you can imagine, they quickly began digging it out of the ground.
What is the largest gold nugget?
The Hand of Faith is the world's largest gold nugget found by using a metal detector. A wood-engraving of the Welcome Stranger published in The Illustrated Australian News for Home Reader on 1 March 1869. The scale bar across the bottom represents 12 inches (30 cm). Gold nuggets of various sizes have been found throughout the world.
Where was the gold nugget found?
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.
How much does a nugget weigh?
^ The main controversy regarding this nugget is that the excavation reports suggest that the existing nugget was originally part of a nugget weighing 5,291.09 troy ounces (165 kg; 363 lb) that broke during excavations.
How pure are gold nuggets?
Nuggets are usually 20.5K 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.
What is gold nugget?
A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Watercourses often concentrate nuggets and finer gold in placers. Nuggets are recovered by placer mining, but they are also found in residual deposits where the gold-bearing veins or lodes are weathered.
Where do the biggest nuggets come from?
Three of the biggest nuggets come from the Brazilian Serra Pelada Mine. Most of the large nuggets were melted down into ingot form and so only have historical records of their size and mass.
What is the fineness of a nugget?
Nuggets are also referred to by their fineness, for example "865 fine" means the nugget is 865 parts per thousand in gold by mass. The common impurities are silver and copper. Nuggets high in silver content constitute the alloy electrum. Two gold nuggets are claimed as the largest in the world: the Welcome Stranger and the Canaã nugget, ...
Where is the gold nugget buried?
Huge gold nugget is found buried in a secret location in Australia - and it could be worth thousands of dollars. A gold prospector has found a gold nugget worth $4,000 buried two feet underground. The prospector, known as Bill M, found the 50g nugget on a private property in the Ballarat area, south-west Victoria, last week.
Where was the 50g nugget found?
The prospector, known as Bill M, found the 50g nugget on a private property in the Ballarat area, south-west Victoria, last week. The exact location remains a secret. He shared a photo of the nugget to Australian Facebook group Detecting Downunder.
How big is the Nugget?
The nugget spanned 53cms in length and weighed 68.2kgs. It was sold for £10,500 and ended up in the Crystal Palace in London before being sold to the Royal Mint in 1859. 26 September 1980 - The Hand of Faith. This nugget is the largest in the world to be found by a metal detector.
Where was the Welcome Stranger Nugget found?
The Welcome Stranger nugget is Australia's biggest ever found. Discovered by prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates in the small town of Moliagul in Victoria, the nugget weighed a staggering 72kgs and 60cms in length. The find earned them £9,381 at the time.
