Two large gold specimens found in WA mine

An underground Goldfields mine in Washington State has produced what are believed to be two of the largest gold specimens in history.

Since last weekend, RNC Minerals saw a massive harvest of single Blasted rock cut about 500 m underground at the Beta Hunt gold mine near Kambalda, 600 km east of Perth.

The largest stone weighed approximately 90 kg and the company estimated it contained approximately 2,300 ounces of gold, for a total of approximately $ 3.8 million at current prices.

The second largest stone was not worth much less, weighing about 60 kg and about 1,600 ounces housed in the quartz specimen, worth about $ 2.7 million.

According to RNC's initial estimates, the total gross gold cut would be greater than 9,000 ounces, or more than $ 15 million.

Airleg Driller, Henry Dole, was credited with the discovery and after 16 years in the industry, Kambalda resident said Perth now that he has never seen anything like it.

"I saw it in the veins in the face but nothing like it – it was just everywhere" he said.

"As I pierced it, you could see the gold chips coming out of all the holes and I thought there was something here."

"And after we shot and I arrived the next day and washed it, it was just everywhere.

"It was amazing and I have never seen it before."

It took three people to lift the 90-kg specimen on a utility vehicle when it was found, so that it could be brought to the surface for later inspection.

"It was almost the day after our shot, we went in and you could not miss it … especially when you hit it with water, it came out" Mr. Dole said.

"We really should not have lifted it, we should have used the bogger but we had it on the back of the user."

The Canadian RNC has the mine currently on sale and Director General of RNC in Toronto Mark Selby told Perth now that it was a unique discovery in a modern mining operation.

"It's one of those unique moments when people find gold pieces of 2300 ounces and 1600 ounces," he said.

"It's usually an exciting time, and because the mine was hard to do, this kind of discovery only reinforces the fact that we've always known that this mine has potential.

"We are starting a sales process to focus on the capital needed for exploration, to find those areas that we know and hopefully retain holdings in.

"But this discovery shows that Beta Hunt has the potential to be a very large gold mine in the future."

RNC's Australian subsidiary Salt Lake Mining discovered a museum-quality specimen at Beta Hunt two years ago and two months ago, RNC collected 1,500 ounces of coarse gold in an area close to last week's discovery.

Director of Geology, Salt Lake City John Vinar told Perth now that it is very unique to find gold in this form.

"I'm really lucky to see that – it's a rarity" he said. "I do not know many other places that can deliver this type of material. We will target our surveys to see if we can find more.

"We thought the HOF was the best thing, but it only delivered about 1000 ounces, while it overshadowed everything, so it's beyond our wildest dreams to see that amount of gold exit."