Holtermann Gold nugget at Hill End

[Greg Ward]

Hill End is a marvellous place, still with a nineteenth century appearance. It was the site of an enthusiastic 1870s? Gold Rush and a place for painters in the 1950's.

It was also where the Holtermann nugget was found, promoted as the largest nugget ever found in the world.
All the articles quote it at 72 tonnes, measuring 1.43X0.65X0.1 metres containing 15581 ounces of gold.
BUT my calculations show that with gold with a specific gravity of 18, that the weight of the nugget could have been only:

1.43X0.65X0.1 = 0.0923 cubic metres or 1.67 tonnes, not 72.

15581 ounces is 442.6Kg of gold, so this would appear possible.....the rest quartz??

But where did the 72 tonnes come from, or is this one of those errors that are copied from one article to another???
Or is my maths wrong???

Regards
Greg

[echnidna]

ask Al, he's the resident Gold Historian.

[Jon]

The Hill End - Tambaroora gold field is perhaps the most famous in New South Wales because of the very large masses of gold that were recovered during early mining operations. The largest of these was the Beyers and Holtermann Nugget. This nugget, and for that matter, nearly all of the gold found in this area was won from reef deposits. Although well known as the 'Holtermann Nugget', this mass was not strictly speaking a real nugget at all. It is however still the largest mass of gold found anywhere in the world. Discovered in 1872, the mass weighed about 235 kg (630 pounds) and contained approximately 2750 troy oz (85 kg) of gold.

http://www.minerals.nsw.gov.au/prodServices/minfacts/minfact_25

[Ashore]

Hill End is a marvellous place, still with a nineteenth century appearance. It was the site of an enthusiastic 1870s? Gold Rush and a place for painters in the 1950's.

It was also where the Holtermann nugget was found, promoted as the largest nugget ever found in the world.
All the articles quote it at 72 tonnes, measuring 1.43X0.65X0.1 metres containing 15581 ounces of gold.
BUT my calculations show that with gold with a specific gravity of 18, that the weight of the nugget could have been only:

1.43X0.65X0.1 = 0.0923 cubic metres or 1.67 tonnes, not 72.

15581 ounces is 442.6Kg of gold, so this would appear possible.....the rest quartz??

But where did the 72 tonnes come from, or is this one of those errors that are copied from one article to another???
Or is my maths wrong???

Regards
Greg

I have a book on Holtermann by Malcolm Drinkwater, that I got at Hill End in 1993, and the Holtermann specimen better known as the Holtermann nugget was as Jon describes
However records from the crushing of specimens from the star of hope mine (where the nugget was found ) from the 16th of october 1872 to the 6th of november 1862 including the holtermann nugget was 15581 ozs of gold taken from 272 tons of stone giving a returne of aprox, 57 ozs to the ton These figures are quoted from the C.W.Marshall archives

Rgds

[Doughboy]

No matter how you look at it or add it up...

It was and still is a shed load of gold!!!!!

Wish it was in my bank account

Pete

[Greg Ward]

Thanks.
That explains where the 72 tonnes came from. It is poorly summarised in many articles.

Regards
Greg