Aussie MXT
New member
The holterman Nugget.
Worlds Largest Nugget, found in Australia.
Worlds Largest Nugget, found in Australia.
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Worlds Largest Nuggett
- Thread starter Aussie MXT
- Start date
nero_design
New member
Hey! I was just over at the old Holterman-Beyer mine at Hill End the other weekend! The area is still incredibly rich even today. I've been exploring several private properties in the surrounding region (with permission of course) and one area has about a gram to a gram and a half of coarse alluvial gold in each handful I've picked up off the ground.
I think it should be referred to as a "nugget" - I mean what on earth else could you call it? The darn thing was 290kg and 1.5 meters long!!! ....but the Holterman Nugget was apparently a "reef-mass" specimen before they knocked away most of the quartz for this photograph. For that reason, they say the Welcome Stranger is the biggest nugget ever found. But if they won't consider Holterman's Nugget to be a nugget (in the true sense of the word), I also think they should also demote the Welcome Stranger Nugget to "Specimen" status because it too was encrusted in quartz when found. They spent a day and a night heating the nugget over the fireplace to expand the gold and shed the quartz. Anyone else think big Gold-Quartz specimens should be labeled Nuggets or Specimens?
I heard that the Holterman mine gave up another, larger nugget but the workers refused to bring it to the surface intact because of the risk involved and cut it into several pieces first.
/ The folks at the pub said they were handing around a 13 kilo gold brick from the mine just the other day. The modern mine is still in production (see little pic above).
I think it should be referred to as a "nugget" - I mean what on earth else could you call it? The darn thing was 290kg and 1.5 meters long!!! ....but the Holterman Nugget was apparently a "reef-mass" specimen before they knocked away most of the quartz for this photograph. For that reason, they say the Welcome Stranger is the biggest nugget ever found. But if they won't consider Holterman's Nugget to be a nugget (in the true sense of the word), I also think they should also demote the Welcome Stranger Nugget to "Specimen" status because it too was encrusted in quartz when found. They spent a day and a night heating the nugget over the fireplace to expand the gold and shed the quartz. Anyone else think big Gold-Quartz specimens should be labeled Nuggets or Specimens?
I heard that the Holterman mine gave up another, larger nugget but the workers refused to bring it to the surface intact because of the risk involved and cut it into several pieces first.
/ The folks at the pub said they were handing around a 13 kilo gold brick from the mine just the other day. The modern mine is still in production (see little pic above).
Aussie MXT
New member
Hi Nero,
I forgot what site I was looking at when I saw you I'm Dicko on the other one. Wow still so rich? What are you doing on the computer, go back and get some gold. Or better yet take me with you.
The area you mention sounds like a great place to pan but are there bits big enough for detector work?
Dicko..
I forgot what site I was looking at when I saw you I'm Dicko on the other one. Wow still so rich? What are you doing on the computer, go back and get some gold. Or better yet take me with you.
The area you mention sounds like a great place to pan but are there bits big enough for detector work?
Dicko..
Hi Dicko, I'm at Sofala, Hillend, Ophir, Stuart Town or Burrendong normally 3 long weekends a month.
Plenty still coming out of the supposedly flogged out areas, and plus there's still plenty of virgin areas, if you don't mind footing it in or have a quad.
Recent large nuggets I know of coming from Ophir were 17oz, 9oz, 6oz and pretty strong rumours of a 36oz beauty
Plenty still coming out of the supposedly flogged out areas, and plus there's still plenty of virgin areas, if you don't mind footing it in or have a quad.
Recent large nuggets I know of coming from Ophir were 17oz, 9oz, 6oz and pretty strong rumours of a 36oz beauty
nero_design
New member
Hey Dicko!
The only reason I'm on the computer is because it's been raining... in between the heatwave weeks we've had lately that were pushing the 47 degrees envelope. Unbelievable and almost impossible for the average person to work in.
Whilst the finer alluvial Gold is very prolific here, the Gold is coarser and more nuggety than other districts and so finding large nuggets is not impossible. We found a few ounces in the form of 6 nuggets in just under 50 minutes the other week. Great stuff for such a short visit. I've then returned to the same location the following week and spent a few days there and found nothing with the detectors at all. That's the puzzling part. A few locals tell me they only detect after sun down out there and that hot days cause some sort of interference from the ground (sounds like hocus-pocus but that's locals for you... and they do seem to be successful). Hill End has given up so much Gold over the years that I believe it may be the second richest site in Australia next to Kalgoorlie and the third richest in the world if you take Johannesburg into the equation.
Yes, the region is still very Gold bearing... and some areas mentioned by Madtuna have only given up less than 5% of their Gold. The Department of Mineral Resources said recently that more than 95% of the Gold remains in many of these areas. Obviously, a lot of that Gold is going to be too deep for most detectors to reach but it means there's lots more to be found. A lot of this is located on private property and so it probably pays to ask for permission to detect on some of the locations there. People here are VERY secretive about their Gold and won't talk much about how much they found or precisely where they found it. Good to know there's still a bit about.
Cheers,
Marco
The only reason I'm on the computer is because it's been raining... in between the heatwave weeks we've had lately that were pushing the 47 degrees envelope. Unbelievable and almost impossible for the average person to work in.
Whilst the finer alluvial Gold is very prolific here, the Gold is coarser and more nuggety than other districts and so finding large nuggets is not impossible. We found a few ounces in the form of 6 nuggets in just under 50 minutes the other week. Great stuff for such a short visit. I've then returned to the same location the following week and spent a few days there and found nothing with the detectors at all. That's the puzzling part. A few locals tell me they only detect after sun down out there and that hot days cause some sort of interference from the ground (sounds like hocus-pocus but that's locals for you... and they do seem to be successful). Hill End has given up so much Gold over the years that I believe it may be the second richest site in Australia next to Kalgoorlie and the third richest in the world if you take Johannesburg into the equation.
Yes, the region is still very Gold bearing... and some areas mentioned by Madtuna have only given up less than 5% of their Gold. The Department of Mineral Resources said recently that more than 95% of the Gold remains in many of these areas. Obviously, a lot of that Gold is going to be too deep for most detectors to reach but it means there's lots more to be found. A lot of this is located on private property and so it probably pays to ask for permission to detect on some of the locations there. People here are VERY secretive about their Gold and won't talk much about how much they found or precisely where they found it. Good to know there's still a bit about.
Cheers,
Marco
Aussie MXT
New member
That is good news Marco,
I'm only new to prospecting so I'm still learning my detector. I've been to Eagle Beagle a couple of times now and a few spots way down the Macquarie arm of the dam. I'm still yet to get my first bit of gold but I'm sure it'll happen. I'm at dubbo so Stuart town and burrendong are easy places for me to get to. I've just hooked up with the now unnoficial local detecting club and so meeting a few people and landholders. We're heading back to eagle beagle on March 1st. If I get a few days clear one of these months I'll give you a holler. I used to work at the Electoral Commission so I've got some good maps of property boundary's for the area.
Cheers,
Dicko..
I'm only new to prospecting so I'm still learning my detector. I've been to Eagle Beagle a couple of times now and a few spots way down the Macquarie arm of the dam. I'm still yet to get my first bit of gold but I'm sure it'll happen. I'm at dubbo so Stuart town and burrendong are easy places for me to get to. I've just hooked up with the now unnoficial local detecting club and so meeting a few people and landholders. We're heading back to eagle beagle on March 1st. If I get a few days clear one of these months I'll give you a holler. I used to work at the Electoral Commission so I've got some good maps of property boundary's for the area.
Cheers,
Dicko..
miguelgold
New member
n/t
Digger Bob
New member
It was cut up, melted down, and sold in 1869. There are only reproductions such as you see here, that were made from plaster casts before it was destroyed.
If you want to see the largest nugget still in existance today, go to the Nugget Casino in Las Vegas where they display the "Hand of Faith", also found in Australia in the early 1970's with a metal detector. Google that name and you can see a picture of it.
Digger Bob
If you want to see the largest nugget still in existance today, go to the Nugget Casino in Las Vegas where they display the "Hand of Faith", also found in Australia in the early 1970's with a metal detector. Google that name and you can see a picture of it.
Digger Bob
pennyweight
New member
Hi Guys,
sorry, but a lot of inaccurate stuff going on here....the Holtermann 'Nugget' was found underground
in a quartz vein. It was in fact the largest solid lump of quartz out of a much larger enrichment zone that produced many thousands of ounces. Because it wasn't actually shed from the reef system and found in the surrounding soil or a nearby gully, it cannot be referred to as a nugget. It also wasn't a single lump but rather a filamentous mass of gold strewn throughout the quartz. A nugget it was not.
The Welcome Stranger was of course an Eluvial nugget as it was shed from its parent reef, albeit very close by. As it was solid lump of gold with much quartz attached, it can be referred to as a nugget. If the weight of the removed quartz was greater than the weight of gold, perhaps we could then refer to it as a specimen. Both pics of the anvil (on which the W/S was cut up) and the replica nugget are at the Dunolly Museum in Central Victoria.
As for Hill End being the second richest gold locale in the world, this is nonsense. The Rand in Sth Africa rates as No.1, followed by the Golden Mile in Western Australia and then possibly by Bendigo in Victoria. Although, a number of locales in Siberia and Kazakhstan might rival it for sheer number of ounces recovered. If the reference is to Hawkins Hill being a very rich deposit, this is true with almost 500,000 ounces being recovered here alone at an average grade of C.10oz per tonne. But, this pales into insignificance when compared to the worlds richest orebody, Nuggetty reef at Maldon Victoria which produced an average of 500oz per tonne for over 5,000 tonnes of quartz. Hill End's production is a pipsqueak (C.1.5m ounces) compared to Bendigo's almost 30 million ounces.
Lastly, the Hand of Faith nugget was found at Kingower in 1980. Sorry for being such a History 'Nazi'
but facts are facts and to save anyone being mislead, it's best to post the historical truth. Cheers, Dwt
sorry, but a lot of inaccurate stuff going on here....the Holtermann 'Nugget' was found underground
in a quartz vein. It was in fact the largest solid lump of quartz out of a much larger enrichment zone that produced many thousands of ounces. Because it wasn't actually shed from the reef system and found in the surrounding soil or a nearby gully, it cannot be referred to as a nugget. It also wasn't a single lump but rather a filamentous mass of gold strewn throughout the quartz. A nugget it was not.
The Welcome Stranger was of course an Eluvial nugget as it was shed from its parent reef, albeit very close by. As it was solid lump of gold with much quartz attached, it can be referred to as a nugget. If the weight of the removed quartz was greater than the weight of gold, perhaps we could then refer to it as a specimen. Both pics of the anvil (on which the W/S was cut up) and the replica nugget are at the Dunolly Museum in Central Victoria.
As for Hill End being the second richest gold locale in the world, this is nonsense. The Rand in Sth Africa rates as No.1, followed by the Golden Mile in Western Australia and then possibly by Bendigo in Victoria. Although, a number of locales in Siberia and Kazakhstan might rival it for sheer number of ounces recovered. If the reference is to Hawkins Hill being a very rich deposit, this is true with almost 500,000 ounces being recovered here alone at an average grade of C.10oz per tonne. But, this pales into insignificance when compared to the worlds richest orebody, Nuggetty reef at Maldon Victoria which produced an average of 500oz per tonne for over 5,000 tonnes of quartz. Hill End's production is a pipsqueak (C.1.5m ounces) compared to Bendigo's almost 30 million ounces.
Lastly, the Hand of Faith nugget was found at Kingower in 1980. Sorry for being such a History 'Nazi'
but facts are facts and to save anyone being mislead, it's best to post the historical truth. Cheers, Dwt
Hi Folk,
I am grateful that pennyweight has corrected the historical inaccuracies of previous posts. Hawkins Hill even at 500,000 ounces would not even make it into the top 50 Australian gold producing sites and there are modern mining assessment requirements; namely the JORC code of conduct in regard to the reporting of grades; the present mining company Hill End Gold Limited are pushing; even in bonanza shoots at this locality; to legally report to the ASX that there is anything near a grade of 10 ounces per tonne and most geologist's would now consider that the historic reports of 10 ounces per tonne are at best very inaccurate; more likely between 4 to 8 ounces at the very best. Even Hill End Gold themselves admit that with a likely resource of 175,000 ounces that they are going to struggle to make a profit because of the difficulties in extracting the gold from the host rock.
Another Australian gold locale that dwt forgot to mention is Mount Morgon in Queensland; which is considered from even a modern viewpoint to be probably the richest gold lode that was ever mined in Australia and would have easily produced way more than the 1.8 million ounces produced over the the whole Hill End-Hargraves field. Another locale again is the Telfer Mine in Western Australia and the list could go on and on. Bendigo Mining at present are mining gold bonanza shoots that are at 26 ounces per tonne and this is recognised under the JORC code of conduct. Maldon's Nuggety Reef as dwt states is the winner by a very long way and the both the recently closed Tick Hill Gold Mine in Queensland and the Nick O'Time Shoot at Tarnagulla in Victoria.
I would state clearly that on a world wide scale Hill End would not even make the top 500 gold locale's. Apart from the obvious Australian and South African locales; there are the Canadian; former USSR, USA, Namibian, the Congo, Papua New Guinea and many more.
Also the Hand of Faith as dwt states was found at Kingower in Victoria in the 1980's; I along with dwt and many others such as Tony Mills etc know CK Minerals which handled the sale to the casino. Dwt knows as I do the difference between filament gold in quartz and nuggety gold in quartz.
Geolit
I am grateful that pennyweight has corrected the historical inaccuracies of previous posts. Hawkins Hill even at 500,000 ounces would not even make it into the top 50 Australian gold producing sites and there are modern mining assessment requirements; namely the JORC code of conduct in regard to the reporting of grades; the present mining company Hill End Gold Limited are pushing; even in bonanza shoots at this locality; to legally report to the ASX that there is anything near a grade of 10 ounces per tonne and most geologist's would now consider that the historic reports of 10 ounces per tonne are at best very inaccurate; more likely between 4 to 8 ounces at the very best. Even Hill End Gold themselves admit that with a likely resource of 175,000 ounces that they are going to struggle to make a profit because of the difficulties in extracting the gold from the host rock.
Another Australian gold locale that dwt forgot to mention is Mount Morgon in Queensland; which is considered from even a modern viewpoint to be probably the richest gold lode that was ever mined in Australia and would have easily produced way more than the 1.8 million ounces produced over the the whole Hill End-Hargraves field. Another locale again is the Telfer Mine in Western Australia and the list could go on and on. Bendigo Mining at present are mining gold bonanza shoots that are at 26 ounces per tonne and this is recognised under the JORC code of conduct. Maldon's Nuggety Reef as dwt states is the winner by a very long way and the both the recently closed Tick Hill Gold Mine in Queensland and the Nick O'Time Shoot at Tarnagulla in Victoria.
I would state clearly that on a world wide scale Hill End would not even make the top 500 gold locale's. Apart from the obvious Australian and South African locales; there are the Canadian; former USSR, USA, Namibian, the Congo, Papua New Guinea and many more.
Also the Hand of Faith as dwt states was found at Kingower in Victoria in the 1980's; I along with dwt and many others such as Tony Mills etc know CK Minerals which handled the sale to the casino. Dwt knows as I do the difference between filament gold in quartz and nuggety gold in quartz.
Geolit
I was peeved that Kevin found the hand of Faith exactly 1 day before I was to detect behind the Kingower Primary School. I was held up at the Dunolly Caravan park as I had arranged to go panning with Eric and Margaret's son on burnt creek. Eric and Margaret managed the Dunolly Caravan park back in the Eighties. But as luck would have it the weather changed and it started to rain, I observed the creek side wall collapse and looking right at me was a 3 oz Nugget. I never did detect the creek bank an now I have no idea where we were..
Aussie MXT
New member
Thanks to Pennyweight and Geolit for that data. Sounds like there's been mountains of gold found all over the place. I'm willing to bet there's heaps more that hasn't been found yet.
Dicko..
Dicko..