Oh, to be so lucky! 0

[RWB]

Two gold nuggets worth $350,000 found in Australia.

Fresh from the BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-53857557

[Zebo]

Reminds me of Digger Bob

 

[Jade Collection]

wish something like this happened to me!

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Don't worry, folks - they'll both be in slabs, soon.  Perhaps they'll be brand-new "prototype" varieities!

[Walkerfan]

Interesting story.

Persistence pays.......In anything.  

Edited August 21, 2020 by Walkerfan

[Moxie15]

luck had little to do with it. How many hours a day for how many days and how many years did he work to find them? How many tons of earth did he move? Nuggets like that are not just tripped over. He earned them, every bloody penny of them, mate.

[RWB]

11 hours ago, James_OldeTowne said:

Don't worry, folks - they'll both be in slabs, soon.  Perhaps they'll be brand-new "prototype" varieities!

You're right! Those must be natural "pattern prototypes for small placer nuggets in Alaska." What a discovery -- right in the middle of the Australian soil.

[kbbpll]

I wonder what mining etc claims are like in Australia. If I found that on my own property it wouldn't be mine - I own the land but not the mineral rights.

[Zebo]

8 hours ago, kbbpll said:

I wonder what mining etc claims are like in Australia. If I found that on my own property it wouldn't be mine - I own the land but not the mineral rights.

Interesting - who owns the minerals rights? I dig something up - it's mine.

[kbbpll]

5 hours ago, Zebo said:

Interesting - who owns the minerals rights? I dig something up - it's mine.

If I publicized that I found $350000 in gold nuggets on my property, I would find out who owns the mineral rights real quick I think. The title documents to my property specifically state that mineral rights are not included. As a practical matter, somebody couldn't just come here and open a gravel pit or whatever, but what's under the ground isn't owned by me. Same if I go off panning for gold in some stream or river up in the mountains near here - all those mining rights are owned by somebody, and if I found gold, it's theirs, not mine. Which is why I'm curious what the situation is in Australia and those nuggets. I'm sure they wouldn't put themselves in the newspaper if they didn't already know they were good.

Here is an interesting case where the deciding factor is whether dinosaur fossils are minerals or not. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-court-dinosaur-fossils-worth-millions.html

[Zebo]

16 minutes ago, kbbpll said:

If I publicized that I found $350000 in gold nuggets on my property, I would find out who owns the mineral rights real quick I think. The title documents to my property specifically state that mineral rights are not included. As a practical matter, somebody couldn't just come here and open a gravel pit or whatever, but what's under the ground isn't owned by me. Same if I go off panning for gold in some stream or river up in the mountains near here - all those mining rights are owned by somebody, and if I found gold, it's theirs, not mine. Which is why I'm curious what the situation is in Australia and those nuggets. I'm sure they wouldn't put themselves in the newspaper if they didn't already know they were good.

Here is an interesting case where the deciding factor is whether dinosaur fossils are minerals or not. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-court-dinosaur-fossils-worth-millions.html

If I remember right, and I probably don't, if they laid a claim to the land - they basically lease the property and the mineral rights are theirs. The lease has to be renewed every so often and others can compete for it if it is not renewed on time. 

If the lease is not renewed - who ever sends in their request first and goes rough all the hoops - marking the claim along with documentation - it's theirs after about one year (processing time). During the time the claim is in processing - anyone can dig and keep anything they find. Of course there cannot be any big digs or mining equipment.

again - I may be wrong on the above since my memory has faded on this matter. Australia has some bizarre laws on the books that goes back to the penal colony days.

[RonnieR131]

Looks like a parking lot nugget to me, throw it away. That's machine doubling on the reverse. (see, I'm learning). Keep searching.

[RWB]

They were searching in an area of old, but abandoned claims and had registered their new claim. That's why the "virgin ground" comment is important: the rest had been mined out long ago.

FYI President Herbert Hoover, of Belgian Relief and Great Depression fame, built his fortune as a mining engineer in Australia.

[Zebo]

1 hour ago, RWB said:

They were searching in an area of old, but abandoned claims and had registered their new claim. That's why the "virgin ground" comment is important: the rest had been mined out long ago.

FYI President Herbert Hoover, of Belgian Relief and Great Depression fame, built his fortune as a mining engineer in Australia.

If the claims were abandon - it's finders keepers. Registering their claim only reinforces it.