This gold nugget has the distinction of being the largest gold nugget ever found using a metal detector. ![]() The “Hand of Faith" is a 27.66 kgs gold nugget found by in the area of Kingower, Victoria, Australia in 1980 by a local, Kevin Hillier. ![]() Russia is currently the world’s 3rd largest gold producer, with mining production output of 250 tonnes of gold in 2016. While the Urals was one of Russia’s first gold mining areas, today, there are extensive gold mining operations in many areas of the Russian Federation, particularly in the East of the country. The Diamond Fund is an extensive permanent exhibition of the Russian state’s crown jewels, precious stones and gold and platinum nuggets. The Great Triangle gold nugget is owned by the Russian State, and through the Gokhran Fund (State Fund for Precious Stones and Precious Metals), it is currently on display in the ‘ Diamond Fund‘ collection in the Kremlin in Moscow. The Great Triangle gold nugget on display at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia When found, it was dug up from a depth of about 3.5 metres. The “Great Triangle" has dimensions of 31 cms * 27.5 cms * 8 cms, and as the name suggests, it is triangular in shape. It has a gross weight of 36.2 kgs and a gold assay of 91%, meaning that it has a fine gold content of 32.94 kgs, or 1059 troy ounces of gold. This gold nugget was found in the Miass area of the Russian Urals mountains in 1842 by Nikofor Syutkin. The world’s second largest surviving gold nugget is the “Great Triangle”. Serra Pelada gold rush, Para, Brazil, 1980s 2. However, Brazil is still a significant gold producer, with gold production output in 2016 totalling 80 tonnes, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The Serra Pelada has essentially been closed since the late 1980s and gold mining is no longer possible due to flooding and government prohibitions. ![]() In the early 1980s, Serra Pelada became known as one of the world’s most notorious gold mining areas when over 100,000 freelance miners flocked there to engage in open air gold mining excavations in vast, dangerous, and crowded conditions. “Pepita Canaã" – The largest surviving gold nugget, on display at the Brazilian central bank headquarters, Brasilia Notably, the source nugget from which the Pepita Canaã nugget came was actually larger, but it split into several pieces while being removed from the ground. The “Canaan" gold nugget was purchased by the Banco Central do Brazil in 1984, and is now on display in the “Gold Room" of the central bank’s money museum (Museu de Valores do Banco Central in Brazil) in Brazil’s federal capital Brasilia. The Pepita Canaã gold nugget has a gross weight of 60.82 kgs and contains 52.33 kgs of gold, or 1682 troy ounces of gold. The world’s largest surviving gold nugget is the Pepita Canaã (Canaan Nugget) which was found by miner Júlio de Deus Filho in the Serra Pelada (‘Naked Mountain’) gold mining region of Brazilian state of Pará in 1983. Therefore, the following list, based on research to the best of our abilities, profiles the largest ‘named’ gold nuggets which are still in one piece, all of which are famous, all of which are on display, and all of which can be visited by the public. We think a list of gold nuggets which still exist is more accurate, since many historical nuggets are now just legends and have long since been melted down into gold bars or gold coins. There are also a number of “largest gold nuggets" lists which confusingly mix historical nuggets which no longer exist alongside nuggets which still exist. Obviously, not all of these claims can be true. There are a number of gold nuggets which claim to be the world’s largest. “Gold nuggets" can also technically be extracted from hard rock gold deposits as long as the surrounding rock can be removed. Gold nuggets can be found in alluvial deposits (sediments formed by water movement) or in other placer deposits (formed by other movement), but gold nuggets can also be found in or close to primary gold deposits, for example gold lodes or veins which have been exposed by the weather. It has probably something to do with so much gold being found at the same time, often with relative ease. Throughout gold rush and gold mining history, the discovery of a large gold nugget is a phenomenon which always causes excitement throughout a mining community as well as capturing the wider public’s imagination.
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