Finding gold nuggets with metal detectors should be easy, right? The detector beeps, you dig, that’s it!
Not really. Not only is it difficult, using metal detectors to find gold nuggets is a painfully slow process that requires patience and skill. Big nuggets are like finding a needle in a haystack. Most are tiny. Heavy gold nuggets like these are exceptionally rare.
Just buy a metal detector and decide to go gold nugget hunting with no research or training is a failed effort. This is a special skill that needs regular practice. Plus, good research is essential to locate places with large gold pieces.
First and foremost, make up your mind. Once you decide to go after the big stuff – gold nuggets – block the thought of other forms of gold deposits. The smaller gold types can interfere with your search for nuggets. Metal detecting is a process specially suited to the hunt for nuggets exclusively.
Save yourself some time by doing research and focusing only on areas with the previous history of gold nuggets.
Many have had success in finding large nuggets using metal detectors.
Need a little motivation? Here are some of the largest gold finds with metal detectors.
1. Butte Gold Nugget
People have been mining gold for thousands of years. So, anyone who finds gold pieces, small or large, must count themselves lucky.
Finding large gold nuggets is a rare event. Hence, occasional news of discovery should give every prospector the hope that there is a nugget somewhere waiting for him or her to unearth it.
Not much is known about the prospector who found the Butte Gold Nugget. The person prefers anonymity. Even the exact location of the find isn’t known to many.
The prospector found the nugget weighing 75 troy ounces somewhere in the Butte County, California. The lucky person discovered the fine piece of gold 12-inches under the surface with the help of a metal detector.
It’s said that initially, the prospector suspected some metal trash, seeing how strong the signal was. But on digging the earth found it to be a large piece of the yellow metal, which is estimated to be around $400,000.
2. Mojave Gold Nugget
As the name suggests, this gold nugget was discovered in the Mojave Desert. Ty Paulsen was the lucky person who found the precious metal in the Stringer Mining District in California.
The nugget, found in 1977, weighed 156 troy ounces. Some claim the Mojave Nugget to be the largest to be found in California. It isn’t true, as that honor goes to another piece weighing 648 troy ounces.
The person who found the gold nugget – Ty Paulsen – sold it for an undisclosed amount to Robert and Margie Petersen. The new owners of the incredible piece of gold donated the same to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles.
3. Ausrox Gold Nugget
The three prospectors who found the 51.25lb nugget must surely be lucky. This extremely valuable and amazingly beautiful gold piece was found accidentally in Australia.
Three friends on a prospecting trip mounted a tractor and went nugget hunting. Suddenly, the tractor went haywire. They examined the loss of control and with the help of the metal detector, the three prospectors found the Ausrox Gold Nugget.
This gold piece found in Kalgoorlie is the third largest of its kind the world. The irregularly shaped gold nugget has a very high bullion value.
But, its size, shape, and rarity make it an extremely valuable collector’s item. Now, the Ausrox Nugget as a collector’s item is way more expensive than its actual gold value. At present, the beautiful gold nugget is safely housed in the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences.
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4. The Boot of Cortez Nugget
Only the naïve would presume that metal detectors make the task of finding gold easy. Gold nugget hunting is a painstaking task because most of the time the prospector has to deal with trash. That was the experience of the prospector who found the boot of cortex nugget.
Hailing from Senora, Mexico, the prospector set out to find gold nuggets after buying a cheap metal detector. For a long time, his every attempt turned to disappointment, the signals only led to the discovery of nails and trash. But, one day, hearing a different sound from the detector he proceeded to examine the object. He found a 389.4 troy ounce gold nugget.
Found in 1989 and named as the Boot of Cortez because of its boot-like shape, this nugget was on show in many museums around the world.
5. The Hand of Faith Nugget
The Hand of Faith holds the title of the largest gold nugget to be found using a gold detector. In 1980, a prospector, Kevin Miller, found the nugget just near the surface in Wedderburn, Victoria, Australia. The area has a history of producing large gold pieces. The largest nugget to be found in the area was the Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget.
The nugget weighed an astounding 875 troy ounces. It was bought by the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas.
