So this guy finds a 4-kilo gold nugget...

[TrainChaser]

This VERY LUCKY guy finds a 4-kilo gold nugget in Australia.

With a metal detector.  Twelve inches down.  The value estimate is at least a quarter-million frog skins.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-...re-than-4kg-found-in-central-victoria/7785204

I'm just being picky (PO'd that it wasn't me), and I know my math isn't great, but the article says it weighs 145 oz, or a bit over 4 kilograms.  That is regular ounces.  Don't they use troy ounces for gold in Oz?  Or do they just pay a different price?

Just curious

Oh, and he also found a 9 oz nugget the day before.  Lucky guy.  *sigh*

I'll bet there's gonna be a gold rush in his neighborhood!

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Well this certainly makes me want to start my metal detecting hobby even sooner! Wonder what the actual odds of finding something like that is, 1 in ten million or one in a 100 million or even higher? Good for him, I like hearing when the regular guy catches his break.

 

[rvpopeye]

I gotta get some batteries !

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I had no idea they were still using frog skins as currency in Australia!  Wonder what the exchange rate is . . .

 

[highdesertranger]

I have never tried to convert to metric. gold is bought and sold in the Troy system worldwide as far as I know. for those interested a troy ounce is 31.10..... grams and a troy pound is 12 troy ounces. so In my rough calculation it comes out to just over 125 troy ounces. so at todays spot price of 1324 x 125 = 161,500. now I would like to point out a couple of things, you never get paid spot price a good price would be 90% of spot it all depends on where the gold came from which means it's purity. another thing any nugget will bring a premium price as capered to spot the bigger the nugget the more of a premium. if someone has a calculator they can get a more accurate price then what I came up with, my calculator is packed away. highdesertranger

 

[Reducto]

I'm just being picky (PO'd that it wasn't me), and I know my math isn't great, but the article says it weighs 145 oz, or a bit over 4 kilograms.  That is regular ounces.  Don't they use troy ounces for gold in Oz?  Or do they just pay a different price?

Most likely the author of the article just converted the 4121 grams shown in the picture into ounces because it seems right to talk about gold that way and they didn't know they should have used the other type of ounce.

My calculation using 1324 spot price and US$ to AU$ as of today gives me about $231k so the author probably just rounded up after hearing that a single nugget that big might go for a premium.

 

[Dennis]

That's a bigun' !! Just waiting on a (expensive) Minelab to find it.

 

[USACelt]

You could build a very nice van for that amount of Money

 

[LeeRevell]

Well, his goobermint taxmen will take at least half the money. Maybe all, if they can con the mugs into believing the goobermint owns the mineral rights. Uncle always wins in these cases.

 

[highdesertranger]

here in the US you don't owe a penny in taxes until you sell it. highdesertranger

 

[Kentucky Dave]

I always thought that nuggets had a premium price above the face value of the gold, especially one that is a large 'specimen' that belongs in a museum. Time for an auction!

Guy

You are correct, it will be worth more as a specimen than just it's weight and purity.

 

[DannyB1954]

Well this certainly makes me want to start my metal detecting hobby even sooner!  Wonder what the actual odds of finding something like that is, 1 in ten million or one in a 100 million or even higher?  Good for him, I like hearing when the regular guy catches his break.

A number of people have won the lottery, One guy found a nugget. I would think winning a lottery is easier than finding that kind of nugget.

 

[highdesertranger]

I tell people that prospecting is Mother Natures lotto. you never know. while that nugget was huge and very rare indeed, every year I hear of dozen of cases were smaller nuggets are found they just don't rate the news that one did. if you go to a big gold show like Vegas you will see tens of thousands of nuggets for sale. they were all found by someone. highdesertranger

 

[TrainChaser]

And you never know... maybe you'll find a small nugget... and a meteorite.

Does anyone know if meteorites come in groups? A friend and I were going to Mammoth, CA to go skiing many years ago, and on the way, I ran across something odd. We turned off on a gravel road to eat our sandwiches, and rockhound that I am, I was looking at the ground. I found several (maybe 6-7) odd lumps about the size of candy jawbreakers, somewhat irregular, but kind of rounded, and they were very heavy. They weren't rounded like glacial wear, but more like melted, near the base of a large rock outcrop. I was going to take them with me, but my friend said she didn't want a "bunch of rocks" in her pet El Camino. Just curious if they could have been meteorites, but several in maybe 100sf???

 

[DannyB1954]

Could be silver ore. There was a big silver strike in Tonopah Nv. Legend has it that the find was made by a rancher / farmer who went to throw a rock at a mule he was upset with. He noticed the rock was very heavy and took some home.

Gold gets a lot of attention, but other mnes are usually more profitable. Where you find things like copper and silver, you find a lot of it. It also may start out as a silver mine, then you find gold, or vice versa.

 

[WriterMs]

A few years ago, I used to enjoy a show on the Discovery or History channel about meteorite hunters. Wish I could remember more details for you, but you might be able to find episodes or clips from that show online. And a Google search in the "Images" category would show you pics. From the show, I know they usually expected to find several pieces in a field if they found one.

 

[TrainChaser]

Thanks for the tip! You gave me the idea to go to Google Images and see what they look like. I saw several that resembled what I saw.

I guess when I hit the road again, I'll just have to go back and see if I can find that spot again! *delight*

 

[rvpopeye]

Meteorites are usually quite valuable , maybe more than gold!

 

[TrainChaser]

That would be fine!

 

[highdesertranger]

well I don't think you guys have been paying attention. in 2011 the government change the rules on meteor collecting. if you collect meteors with the intent to sell, you need a permit = $. if you call yourself a casual collector you are limit to the amount you can collect and you cannot sell them.http://www.blm.gov/or/programs/minerals/rockhounding.php . highdesertranger