12-Pound Gold Nugget Found In Ballarat, Australia

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12-Pound Gold Nugget Found In Ballarat, Australia, Could Be Worth More Than $500,000
Jan. 17, 2013 / http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/gold-nugget-australia-ballarat-found_n_2496663.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl38|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D258605

There's gold in them thar Ballarat, Australia. Really big gold.

A 12-pound gold nugget, worth perhaps $500,000, was dug up Wednesday by a prospector using a $6,000 metal detector, local news site the Courier reported. A good investment, we'd say.

The identity of the prospector and exact location of the find remain secret, but the Courier wrote that the man took the mega-nugget to the Ballarat Mining Exchange Gold Shop to confirm his incredible fortune. Shop owner Cordell Kent said the nugget was unearthed nearly two feet below the land surface.

Melted down, the "nugget" would be worth about $300,000, but its rarity multiplies its value, Kent said.

Kent told Australian news site Adelaide Now that the prospector heard a faint alert on his detector and scooped up a pile of leaf mulch before digging. The miner thought he had uncovered a gold car part at first but, to his disbelief, kept unearthing a bigger and bigger chunk of real gold.

"It’s extremely significant as a mineral specimen," Kent said via Adelaide Now. "We are 162 years into a gold rush and Ballarat is still producing nuggets -- it’s unheard of." Gold was first discovered in Ballarat in 1851, and 20,000 miners had descended on the place by 1853. Just last July, an eight-pound nugget was uncovered in the region.

Kent said, per the website, that the discovery will create a new gold rush and provide a "life-changer" for the finder. "He is going to pay off a lot of bills and pay off his house," Kent remarked.

A video of the gold was posted on YouTube on Jan. 16 by user Troy Aurum, whose Facebook page indicates he is a self-employed resident of Ballarat.

As huge as the nugget is, it's a mere pebble compared to the Holtermann Nugget found in Hill End in New South Wales, Australia, in 1872. It weighed 639 pounds, and is considered by many to be the largest single mass of gold ever found.

All this talk of instant riches giving you the bug? The gold detector used by the Ballarat prospector is reportedly a Minelab GPX-5000. We found a used one on eBay for $5,180.

Let the rush begin!

[Ben Valmores]

Yes there have been lots of success stories with Minelab's GPX 5000 and many indeed that just passed by time unpublicized.
Here's one story from among the rest, in not so distant past as this happened just last year.

GPX 5000 unearths half kilo nugget
July 23, 2012 11:00am

 Our first trip away was filled with anticipation.

We hired two GPX 4500's but although we put in 10 hour days, between us we only found 1gram of gold. We decided to do it again next year as going detecting isn't just about finding gold. There's the campfires, looking up at the stars and lots of laughs at each other's expense.

Now getting to the story that prompted me to write this.

Detectorists and their finds My mate Thommo did a lot more research on where to find gold and how to use the detectors .With help from his friend Joe and Jeff at Reeds Prospecting in Perth WA we hired 2 GPX 5000's. The difference was remarkable and the depth they achieved was amazing. Just by chance we happened to be filming as we got a good signal and began digging.

If you're interested in watching the video on YouTube go to GPX 5000 half kilo nugget.


Sala - WA, Australia

Another one,

8 Ouncer at Nearly 3 Feet Deep

Hi Folks, Just writing to thank you for the Greatest Detector so far produced... I refer of course, to the GPX 5000. Having been successful with the following Detectors SD2000 / SD2200 / GP 3000 and GPX-4000, I am suitably impressed with the next generation GPX 5000 which runs as smooth as silk and additionally, I have no further need to use a "signal enhancer" which I've needed in the past because of my deafness.

What a "Top Machine"... I've detected from North Queensland to Victoria and the Central Goldfields of West Aussie and just wish I'd had this machine the entire time. The Fine Gold setting is just amazing and signal response is excellent on sub gram nuggets, not to mention "Exceptional" on "deep larger nuggets". Here's a pic of what I found in my own backyard at Inglewood Victoria recently using the 11" Commander Mono... at nearly three feet deep!!!

...It’s a beauty, the best I've ever found and I'm tickled pink about it....Minelab has excelled with this GPX 5000.

[admin]

Wow! That's Awesome!
TW