RNX-An excerpt from Resource Maven (Sept 12) This is REAL Speaking of long times, an incredible discovery in Australia just produced the largest gold nuggets ever.
RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX) has been trying to sell the Beta Hunt nickel mine in Western Australia for months. In the meantime
the mine kept operating and RNC geologists developed and started testing a theory. Beta Hunt has targeted nickel in a rock known as the Kambalda Komatiite. Underneath that nickel host sits a large basalt, known as the Lunnon Basalt. It’s been known for some time that the basalt
was prospective for gold, as both RNC and previous mine operators hit into bonanza gold grades at
the komatiite basalt contact.
But RNC’s geologist took it one step further. About 150 metres down a black shale horizon cuts through the basalt,differentiating the Upper and Lower Lunnon. But RNC’s geologists saw that the shale unit might provide the perfect unit , in terms of chemistry and location,
for gold deposition.
Earlier this year, RNC mined a 1,500-oz. gold nugget from the shale layer, from a part of the mine
that had reached it. That was enough evidence for RNC to actively aim for the shale in another area...and the effort was rewarded.
In an area the size of your living room, RNC mined 9,250 oz. of gold, worth roughly $15 million. That’s
an average grade of 2,200 g/t gold.
Yes, that’s crazy impressive. So are the photos. RNC preserved 190 kg of specimen stone–the
nicest looking rocks
–
and the largest weighs 95 kg and is estimated to contain 2,440 oz. of gold.
Posted without permission.