Largest Gold Nuggets Ever Found

Learn about what percentage of gold purity the typical gold nugget is depending on the location it is found. As well, what the troy ounce gold yield was for each of the biggest gold nuggets ever found. To begin, let us define what a Gold Nugget is.

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Gold Nugget  - (n) a naturally occurring piece of native high-density gold.

Gold nuggets often get recovered by placer mining, but they also get found in residual deposits where the gold-bearing veins or lodes get weathered. Gold nuggets also get discovered in the tailings piles of previous mining operations, especially those left by gold mining dredges.

Gold nuggets typically have a 21K to 22K gold purity (88% to 92% gold by mass weight).

Historically gold nuggets found in Australia are often 23K or higher purity. Alaskan gold nuggets are usually at the lower end of the gold nugget purity spectrum.

A gold nugget’s fineness or purity can be roughly assessed by a gold nugget’s color. The darker and more vibrant an orange-yellow coloring a gold nugget has the higher percentage the gold content yield it has typically.

Gold nuggets high in silver content constitute the alloy electrum, which is the gold-silver mixed composition of the first gold coins struck and used in Ancient Lydia around 600 B.C.

Below we count down the 5 Biggest Gold Nuggets ever recorded with the second-largest find recently occurring only months ago in Australia

5 Biggest Gold Nuggets Ever Found

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Watch the accompanying video below to learn more about the year 2018 RNC Minerals gold strike in Australia.

This record-breaking gold haul reportedly yielded over 9,000 troy ounces total with gold extraction estimates of over $15 million fiat USD in gold value at the then fluctuating gold price.