100-Ounce Gold Nugget to be Auctioned March 2011

Washington Nugget

Holabird-Kagin Americana

Found in an old riverbed near the town of Washington in northern California, in 2010, this nearly 100-ounce gold nugget is a rarity.  Most of the large nuggets in California which were found in the past have been melted into coins or bullion. 

If the nugget (known as the Washington Nugget) were sold at current market value, it would be worth $135,000.  However, mining geologist Fred Holabird told The Sacramento Bee that because it’s probably the largest remaining California nugget, the bidding could go as high as $400,000 at the March auction.

A large gold nugget is referred to as a lunker.  The Washington Nugget weighs just over six pounds.   If you’re interested in viewing it or bidding on it, go to Fred Holabird’s website for exhibit and auction times and places.

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Which Countries Have the Most Gold?

Here are the latest World Gold Holdings (March 2010) based on World Gold Council data.

United States:  8,133.5 tonnes (70.4% of reserves)

Germany:  3,406.8 tonnes (66.1% of reserves)

Italy:  2,451.8 tonnes (64.9% of reserves)

France:  2,435.4 tonnes (65.7% of reserves)

China:  1,054.1 tonnes (1.6% of reserves)

Switzerland:  1,040.1 tonnes (27.1% of reserves)

Japan:  765.2 tonnes (2.5% of reserves)

Russia:  641.0 tonnes (5.1% of reserves)

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What is Fool’s Gold?

While it’s exciting (and often profitable) to pan for gold or use a metal detector, how can you be sure that what you’re finding is the real thing?  If it looks like gold, what else could it be?  It could be fool’s gold which is actually pyrite. 

Pyrite

Pyrite

While gold is a precious metal, pyrite (also known as iron pyrite), isn’t even a metal.  It’s an iron sulfide mineral that has a metallic luster.  It is very common and found throughout the world, even sometimes along seams of real gold.  Sometimes it has a gold color very similar to gold, although not always. 

Pyrite is most often found with veins of quartz, another mineral, in sedimentary and metamorphic rock, and, commonly, in seams of coal or with other fossils.  Like quartz, pyrite grows with a pronounced crystal structure, which makes these minerals appear as conglomerations of cubes.

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