How are gold nuggets formed? For everyone and about everything.

What are gold nuggets?

Golden Nugget- this is a piece of a cluster that was born by nature and formed arbitrarily in the earth’s crust, of course, under certain conditions. There is an opinion that these pieces are eroded gold from ore-bearing underground veins, which attract the smallest particles of the noble metal from the upper and middle layers of the soil, as well as from groundwater and solutions containing a large number of minerals.

After this, these particles inexplicably combine and form pieces of nuggets different sizes from 2, 3 grams to tens of kilograms. You can now easily understand why these gold nuggets are so coveted by those people who have been hunting for them for many years.

Sometimes there are cases when finds exceed all expectations, for example, the very famous “Welcome Stranger” nugget, its weight is 2284 or 71.1 kilograms. Another specimen, slightly smaller than the previous one, is called “Desirable”, weighing 2195 ounces or 68.4 kilograms.

The next find, a huge slab named Holtermann, weighs 7560 ounces or 235.5 kilograms. Just recently, a rather large piece of gold was discovered in Brazil, which was called “Goliath”, it weighs 1622 ounces or 50.5 kilograms. And the last example, whose name is "Blanche Barclay", this one is slightly larger than the previous one and weighs 1743 ounces or 54.3 kg.

Very large quantity gold nuggets was discovered in the vicinity of Ballarat. Once a gold nugget was grown even in artificial laboratory conditions, a crystallization nucleus was used, which played the role of a catalyst and was carbon-based.

Natural gold nuggets usually have a good standard, its range ranges from 800 to somewhere up to 950, and the main admixture of these pieces is silver, but of course there are samples with a lower standard, they are less common.

A little later, after much study natural nuggets It has been proven that they have a crystalline structure, which is very similar in structure to the structure of . It was also noticed, after long detailed studies natural nuggets, that signs of growth were completely absent, but traces of destruction were very often present.

These facts were refuted previous version about the attraction of small particles of gold to each other. All found specimens had traces of impacts, many scratches, dents, and bends. And another fact hinting at destruction is the many small gold particles that surround large pieces and it is quite difficult to assume that they did not have time to unite.

From here we can imagine the following picture: somehow a large mass of red-hot gold flowed through the area and froze, after which it lay for many years, being destroyed by environment and rocks, but how it was actually unknown and one can only guess.

Meet: Welcome Stranger 72 kg.

It would seem that metal is just metal, nothing special. It’s too soft and you can’t build a serious structure from it; it’s not in vain that it’s used only in decorations and plumbing fixtures. But what a story, what a role in the development of humanity! There is simply no other material so important and famous. And you shouldn’t be surprised at this, because it’s gold! The most expensive, most attractive and most beautiful metal in the world. Most earthlings think so. And everything connected with it can turn out to be quite interesting.

It was found not in America, but in Australia and was called the Welcome Stranger. It weighed 72.02 kg and measured 61 by 31 cm. The nugget was found by John Deason and Richard Oates in the town of Moliagul, 200 kilometers northwest of Melbourne. The find not only turned out to be the largest nugget of gold, but so large that there was no suitable scales to determine the exact weight. The lucky ones simply solved the problem, the most big ingot The gold was divided into three parts on an anvil.

2. Gold is “lucky” to become so valuable because of its relative rarity in nature.

Its content in the bowels of the earth is only one billionth part. By the way, the human body contains up to 0.2 milligrams precious metal.

3. Before the gold rush, all of our ancestors mined only 10% of the gold known to history.

The real boom began in the mid-19th century.

4. The first serious gold nugget in the United States was found in 1799 and weighed 7.7 kilograms.

Local Indians had known this metal for a long time and called it “poop of the gods.” In a soft translation.

5. In 1848, gold was discovered in California.

The land belonged to Mexico, but was soon reclaimed by the United States. Why did it happen?

6. Interesting prices in Californian shops at the height of the gold rush.

A glass of popular whiskey could cost 100 dollars, a kilo of flour could be bought for 60-70 dollars. This despite the fact that in big cities wages rarely reached $10 a week.

7. Gold is most respected in India.

Almost 1,000 tons of precious metal are sold there every year.

8. In the USA, things are somewhat more modest,

but only on wedding rings Americans spend 17 tons of gold per year.

9. A standard gold bar weighs about 11 kg.

And a piece of gold, the volume of Matchbox, is rolled out into a thin sheet that can be used to cover a tennis court.

10. A little off topic, but very interesting.

Despite the rarity of gold, a person has a much better chance of finding a nugget than winning the lottery. Even in the relatively honest West!

Who hasn't dreamed of finding the largest gold nugget in the world? Some statisticians claim that every inhabitant of the planet has a greater chance of finding a gold nugget than winning the lottery. Even despite the rarity of this metal in nature. Who was lucky and what is the largest gold nugget found in the world?

A little theory

Native gold is a piece of rock formed in natural conditions unchanged, with an admixture of silver, copper, other metals and weighing from 5 grams. Gold nuggets are formed in sedimentary rocks of the geological shells of the earth. Truly gigantic nuggets are rarely found; most are of very modest size and weight.

Why gold?

It would seem that gold is a rather soft metal. It cannot be used to make durable parts; it is used primarily in jewelry workshops. But in terms of its significance in the history of civilization, it has no equal. And all because there is very little of it on the planet - only one billionth of the metal is contained in the earth’s crust.

Unconfirmed data

First, let's look at unconfirmed data about the largest gold nugget in the world. These are facts about which there is no documentary data, but only descriptive data.

In the ancient Arabic chronicles there is evidence of a gold nugget measuring cubit by cubit (an ancient measure of length). The location of the find is Zaruban, on the lands of present-day Afghanistan. It is estimated that with such dimensions its weight would be somewhere around two tons. Somehow I don’t really believe it, right?

Although sources indicate two nuggets weighing about two tons and 960 kg, respectively, found in 1145 in the Czech Republic.

There are descriptions that another giant nugget sank after falling from a ship sailing from the New World to Spain. But there is no data about his weight.

There is evidence that a gold nugget weighing 200 kilograms was found in Brazil in the 19th century. But then where is he?

Described and captured giants

The first largest gold nugget in the world, the photo of which has been preserved, was found in Australia. The Beyers and Holterman company, which was developing the vein in 1872, discovered a piece of quartz weighing 250 kg, on which a layer of gold had grown. Called the “Holtermann Plate,” it is today the largest gold nugget in the world, weighing 83 kilograms. It really looks like a slab, and, fortunately, photographs of it have been preserved.

Lucky John Deason and Richard Oates two years later found a nugget weighing 72 kg at a neighboring mine, and its photographs have also reached us. Unlike the nugget itself, which they couldn’t even properly weigh, there were no appropriate scales. That is why it was divided into pieces and now different sources are confused in its exact weight(from 93 kg to 72 kg).

Australia continues to lead the ranking of places where such a natural formation has been discovered as the largest gold nugget in the world. Although the largest gold deposit (25-50% of total global production) is located in South Africa and is called the Witwatersrand.

It is impossible not to mention at least two. "Welcome Stranger" weighing 70.9 kg was found in Victoria. The legend associated with this find is that it was simply discovered on the road when a van wheel broke.

Another one - "Oliver Martin" - was found by a gold digger when he was burying his partner. Its weight was 36.6 kg, and the enterprising Oliver (just that prospector) not only sold it for almost 23 thousand dollars, but also earned half of this amount from showing off the find.

However, all these wonderful finds were sawn, split, melted and sold. Only now has it become obvious that their price would be much higher if they were preserved in their original form.

Preserved natural wonder

The third largest gold nugget in the world that managed to survive is “ Big triangle" It belongs to the Diamond Fund of Russia. The natural ingot weighs 36 kg. This is a find of 1842 on the Mias River, the territory of the Urals.

I would like to mention a nugget Russian collection- "Mephistopheles." It never fails to delight viewers with its exact match to the profile of the character of the same name and weighs 20.25 grams.

Russia has the largest collection of gold nuggets in the world, the exhibition of which was opened in 1967. It showed the world about 100 nuggets, total weight of which - more than 100 kg.

Throughout the existence of mankind and the development of civilization, gold has attracted us with its brilliance and magic. It forced knights to do crazy things, desperate knights to go to the ends of the world. Surprises awaited the most stubborn at the end of the journey, and not always the ones they wanted. But faith and hope did not abandon the brave souls.

The largest gold nugget found on the planet is the “Holterman Plate”

Statistics claim that throughout history, man has mined over 162 thousand tons of gold, and half of this amount has been produced in the last 50 years. A gold nugget is a naturally formed clot of gold, randomly formed in the depths if certain conditions were present. By the way, the first metal that succumbed to man was gold.

How are gold nuggets formed?

Gathering with different levels occurrences, the smallest crystals of gold agglomerate underground and, in an unknown way, seem to be sintered, resulting in the formation of nuggets different sizes(from several grams to tens of kilograms).

Currently, most of the available gold deposits have been depleted, and there is a lot of it only in inaccessible or completely inaccessible places on the planet. At all, industrial production gold leads to very negative impacts on the environmental situation, which cannot be avoided.

The largest gold nuggets in Australia (and also in the world)

1st place – “Holterman Plate” (93.3 kg of pure gold)

This is the name of the nugget mined in 1872 in Australia. It was not a pure piece of gold, but a conglomerate of gold and quartz. That is, they managed to extract a huge piece (286 kg) gold mine, but after melting it turned out how much the largest gold nugget weighs - there were only 93.3 kg of this metal. Of course, this find was not preserved.

However, the “Holtermann Plate” is the largest piece of gold in the world (93.3 kg of pure precious metal from a 286 kg gold-bearing vein).

2nd place – “Welcome Stranger” (70 kg)

This piece of gold was found by two prospectors in 1869, all in Australia, near the town of Moliagul, located in the state of Victoria. In a small town, everyone knew each other because they were doing the same thing. Richard and John found the nugget by accident - while rescuing their cart from the mud, they came across a stone that was in the way, and when they worked on it with a pick, they found out that just a few centimeters under the cart there was a decent lump of gold. The found nugget, called the “Welcome Stranger,” turned out to be so large that there were no scales in the town on which to weigh it. Therefore, the monolith was sawn into pieces, weighed and melted into ingots for further expedition to the metropolis.

Both Australian record finds were not accidental, because the fifth continent was famous for its gold deposits.

Largest gold nuggets around the world

The photo of each contender for the largest gold nugget in the world is impressive. It is already clear that most of the largest finds were made in Australia:

1. In 1858, the “Desired” nugget (69 kg) was found.
2. A year earlier, the mines yielded “Brilliant Barkley” (54.2 kg).
3. In 1868, the Australians were lucky to dig up another giant, “Canadian First” (50.4 kg), and a little later it was followed by “Canadian Second” (40 kg).

The tectonic feature also made Japan rich in gold, where in 1901 the Japanese nugget, weighing 71 kg, was found on the island of Honshu. Recently, a “Goliath” was found in Brazil, which pulled 50.5 kg.

There are many more gold finds around the world that are impressive in their size:

1. "Lady Hotham" (30 kg).
2. "Poseidon" (20 kg).
3. The Heart of Gold nugget was discovered in Alaska by Nick Martinex. Among the nuggets found and registered in this state, this one became the fifth largest, weighing more than 90 ounces. It was found in the process of work, when bulldozers were shoveling the “tails” of the rock. It was a miracle that the nugget was noticed at all, since it was covered with a mineralized crust and looked like an ordinary black pebble. He could well have ended up with the dump.

The largest gold nuggets in Russia

The largest gold nuggets in our country were found in the Urals.

1st place – “Big Triangle” (36 kg)

The largest gold nugget in Russia, called the “Big Triangle,” was found in 1842 near the city of Miass. He weighed approximately 36 kilograms.

This is the largest gold nugget in the world among those that managed to avoid being melted down - the usual fate of all nuggets.

2nd place – “Bull’s head” (31.6 kg)

Russia has created the richest collection of gold nuggets in the world. At the exhibition of the Diamond Fund in 1967, about a hundred such finds were shown, collectively weighing more than 200 kg.

The Bull's Head nugget (31.6 kg) was found in 1898 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

No less stunning is the “Ram’s Head” nugget (7.7 kg) located in the museum’s storage room.

3rd place – “Mephistopheles” (20.2 kg)

One of the most unique exhibits of the Diamond Fund is the Mephistopheles nugget, which, despite its “modest” weight of 20.2 kg, delights visitors - it so closely resembles the profile of this character. After finding it near Magadan, people even doubted whether it was man-made? I studied him special commission, which finally recognized its natural origin.

4th place – “Horse head” (14 kg)

Many nuggets were found on the Sayan rivers - “Horse Head” (14 kg), “Camel” (9.3 kg), “Hare Ears” (3.3 kg).

5th place – “Irendyk bear” (4.8 kg)

The gold nugget “Irendyk Bear” weighed almost 4.8 kg. Since it is considered a national treasure not only of all of Russia, but also of Bashkiria separately, it is kept in the National Bank of the Republic of Bashkortostan. This nugget was discovered near the village of Kuseevo, Baymaksky district, on the eastern slope of the Irendyk Mountains. In 1922, while plowing the ground, a local state farm machine operator found this treasure at a depth of only 30 cm. He also came up with the name of the find, since its shape somewhat resembled a bear.

But this story has a mysterious background. An employee of the Institute of Geology, Sagit Yusupov, suggested that the “Irendyk Bear” is too similar to another nugget, which was found two years earlier at the Kuseevsky gold mine and mysteriously disappeared during transportation, along with the cart and the head of the mine.

Until now, humanity has not freed itself from the “gold rush”. True, gold-rich deposits are steadily depleting, and almost no new ones are appearing. But, nevertheless, the pale yellow metal continues to attract the interests of the population, especially since its cost is only growing, and this metal is among the TOP of the most expensive substances on the planet.

Do you think a person will be able to find gold nuggets yet? large sizes? Share your opinion on

The world's largest gold nugget was found in Australia in 1872 at the Hill End mine. The nugget had the shape of a tile, 144 cm long, 66 cm wide, 10 cm thick and weighing more than 90 kg. pure gold. It was called the "Holterman Plate". The nugget was not preserved and was melted down

The second largest gold nugget after the Holterman Plate was also found in Australia, in 1869. It weighed 70.9 kg. It was called "Welcome Stranger" and was melted down.

“Big triangle” is the name given to a nugget found in the Urals in the valley of the Miass River on October 8, 1842. It weighs 36 kg. In 1842 it was valued at 28,146 rubles. Naturally, now it costs much more.

Russia houses the world's richest collection of gold nuggets.
In 1967, at the exhibition of the Diamond Fund in Moscow, about 100 unique finds weighing more than 200 kg were presented.

Among them are the gold nuggets “Horse Head” (14 kg), “Camel” (9.3 kg), “Hare Ears” (3.34 kg), “Mephistopheles” (20 g) and many others.

One of the most unique finds in the treasuries of the Diamond Fund is “Mephistopheles”. Despite its light weight, it always arouses the admiration of visitors.
Displayed against a background of black velvet, the nugget fully matches the cast of Mephistophilus' profile. When he was found in the Magadan region, they doubted:
this is a creation of nature, or the work of human hands. After a thorough examination, the commission decided that “Mephistopheles” had not been subjected to artificial processing.

The Heart of Gold nugget found in Alaska by Nick Martineks is the fifth largest nugget found in Alaska.
The nugget weighs 90 ounces and 17 pennywhites, which is equivalent to 7.5 troy pounds. It was found while shoveling tailings with bulldozers. The find initially looked unpresentable - the nugget, disguised by a mineralized crust, looked like black pebbles.