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Rare is the story of a modern mining company that unexpectedly strikes a gold vein.
But the Toronto-based mining company Royal Nickel Corp. announced Sunday night that its employees in Australia at the Beta Hunt mine – which the company had been trying to sell since April – had removed a golden rock like few others in the world earth cube measuring about three meters wide, three meters long and three meters deep, they found 9,000 ounces of gold including two large pieces, all at a value of about 14 or 15 million dollars to current prices. This equates to about 40% of the market capitalization of $ 35 million CDN last week.
"It was a nickel mine for years and years," said Mark Selby, chief executive of RNC. "But we bought it because there was a bunch of gold deposits underneath."
Royal Nickel shares jumped 83% to $ 0.16 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday.
To put the latest findings in perspective, the Beta Hunt mine normally produces ore containing about two to four grams of gold per tonne, considered a standard quantity. According to Selby, the latest discovery contained 2,000 grams of gold per ton.
They broke a 95 kilogram stone that contained about 2,440 ounces of gold, according to the company. He said it was so pure that he did not need to be treated and that he was sent directly to the Perth Mint.
According to the World Gold Council, the largest gold nugget ever weighed just over 2,300 ounces. The RNC specimen contains quartz, however, so it can not be considered an apple-apple comparison.
Trevor Turnbull, a Scotia Capital mining analyst, said that while it's not a pure gold nugget, its sheer size makes it unique and potentially very valuable.
"They will probably sell it as a museum piece and they will make a lot of money," Turnbull said.
The company will likely sell the stone specimen to a museum, according to an analyst.
He said the real question, unanswered, without more information, is whether the gold comes from a vein that will quickly "get noticed" or if it stays wide.
RNC bought the Beta Hunt mine in 2016 for a mix of cash and its own shares, worth about $ 12.5 million.
Located in Western Australia, about 600 kilometers from Perth, it has been a nickel mine since the 1970s. RNC has been trying to sell it since April to focus on raising $ 1 billion for the construction of its nickel mine. Dumont planned in Quebec.
Selby, who lives in Toronto, said he heard the news when he got up in the middle of the night last Monday to go to the bathroom.
"I turn my phone around and discover it," he said. "I did not go back to bed. You do not often find 2,000 ounce gold coins, so it feels good to be lucky.
The Australian news channel ABC reported that the miners were working underground, about 500 meters below surface, in the Kambalda neighborhood.
Henry Dole, the minor credited with finding gold, said, "I have never seen anything like it in my life. There were gold pieces on the face, on the floor, really unique, I think, "according to the ABC newspaper.
• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @ GabeFriedz
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