A MINE in Australia has produced what its owner believes are two of the biggest gold specimens in recorded history.
The biggest of the stones came in at 90kg and is estimated by the company to contain about 2300 ounces of gold, a total that at current prices would be worth around €2million.
Gold encrusted rocks which were recovered from the Beta Hunt mine in Kambalda East, Australia
The second-biggest piece weighed 60kg and was valued at about £1.5 million.
Early estimates from RNC Minerals have put the total take of coarse gold from the cut at more than 9000oz, or more than £8 million worth.
Airleg driller Henry Dole has been credited with uncovering the astonishing find at the 45-year-old Beta Hunt gold mine near Kambalda.
He has been in the profession for 16 years and says he has never seen anything like it.
Gold in quartz at Beta Hunt mine after the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ discovery
Miner Henry Dole was the first to spot the massive nugget
The gigantic nugget is reportedly worth somewhere in the region of £2 million
The enormous nugget took three men to shift it out of the mine
Henry said: “I’ve seen it in veins in the face but nothing like this — this was just everywhere.
“As I was drilling it, you could see the gold shavings coming out of all the holes and I thought ‘there’s something here’.
“And then after we fired it and I came in the next day and washed it all down, it was just everywhere.
“It was unbelievable and I’ve never seen it before in my life.”
