Sell Gold - Aussie Prospector Strikes Gold With $300k Nugget

Source - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
By - The Wall Street Journal
Category - Sell Gold
Posted By - http://tinyurl.com/SellGold1

Sell Gold

A rare gold nugget roughly the size of a large hammer weighing almost 177 troy ounces (5.5kg) worth nearly $300,000 at current prices has been unearthed near the town of Ballarat in Victoria.

The prospector used a metal detector, a shovel and a crowbar to unearth his find Wednesday morning, said Cordell Kent, owner of Ballarat's The Mining Exchange Gold Shop. Mr Kent is representing the nugget's owner in talks with potential buyers, but declined to name the prospector.

"He's a very happy camper," Mr Kent said of the prospector, adding the man had found natural gold nuggets in the past, but the largest had weighed just a quarter of an ounce.

The nugget is 22cm long and 14cm wide at its broadest point, and is between 97 per cent and 98 per cent pure gold, Mr Kent said. The prospector initially weighed the nugget on his bathroom scales at 3.4kg, but a more precise measurement by Mr Kent showed it weighed 5.5kg or 177 ounces.

The high price of gold now trading at $1688 an ounce is tempting more and more prospectors to scour the outback and Australian towns associated with past gold rushes in search of the precious metal.

In 2010, a solo prospector unearthed the Ausrox Nugget, a football-sized lump weighing 50 pounds (22.6kg), using a metal detector on a site east of the Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie. The nugget was later sold to an American buyer for more than $US1 million.

Cathy Anza, of the Perth Mint, said the Ballarat nugget is likely to fetch a premium to the value of its weight in gold.

"It would probably be in the top ten to fifteen largest nuggets in the world that haven't been melted down," Ms Anza said. While larger nuggets have been discovered in the past, many of them were melted down for their gold content.

The rarity factor of the Ballarat nugget would likely see it secure a greater value, Ms Anza said.

Mr Kent said buyers are already lining up to bid on the nugget, which is likely to remain a display piece rather than get melted down.

"I was up until 1.30 in the morning answering email and phone calls," Mr Kent said, adding a sale is likely to be finalised in the coming days.

"We've got offers on the table and we don't want to lose those offers," he said, adding the prospector is looking forward to paying off debt on his house and his bills.