A huge 12 pound gold nugget has been found in Ballart, Australia. ABC News reported that it could be worth upwards of $300,000.
Australia's The Courier reported that the gold nugget weighed 5.5 kilograms and was discovered by "a local prospector yesterday, who rushed it to the Ballarat Mining Exchange Gold Shop."
The identity and location of the prospector has not been released but gold shop owner, Cordell Kent said that it was found close to the Ballart CBD, within 30 kilometres.
"If you are silly enough to melt it down, it would be worth just under $300,000 on market value but as a nugget at this size and shape, it's worth significantly more than that," Kent sai to The Courier. "I can't remember a nugget this big ever being found locally."
He added that finding a nugget like this gives people hope. "It's my dream to find something like that, and I've been prospecting for more than two decades," he said to The Courier.
Kent said to ABC News that this was the most significant nugget found in his 20 years of business. "We have 800 prospectors on our books and only a couple of those have ever found a nugget over 100 ounces. So there's only been one or two big pieces and they were found a long time ago," Kent said to ABC News.
Kent believes there is still much to be found in the Victoria goldfields. "A lot of people think Victoria's goldfields are dead and that there's none left, but he (the prospector) has worked in an area where a lot of people have worked in the past but he persisted and he's been rewarded," he said. "We are 162 years into the gold rush and it's never totally waned, it's just changed."
ABC News reported that the nugget was found around 10:30 a.m (AEDT) on Wednesday.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
