Toronto-based RNC Mining hit the jackpot of all jackpots when a single blast of dynamite 500 meters (1,640 feet) below ground revealed the rare gold specimens which geologists are calling a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”
All the gold-encrusted rock was found in an area about 3 meters wide by 3 meters high (about 10 x 10 feet). The Beta Hunt Mine is in the outback of Western Australia near the small town of Kambalda, 630 kilometers (391 miles) east of Perth.
On Monday, RNC Minerals’ shares skyrocketed on the news, trading up more than 80 percent to 18 Canadian cents in Toronto at 9:30 am ET. By Tuesday morning, according to CTV News, the company’s stock price was up more than 94 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The largest chunk of rock weighed about 198 pounds (90 kilograms) and took three men to lift it onto the back of a pick-up truck. It’s covered in an estimated 2,300 ounces of gold worth about $3.8 million at today’s gold price.
The second largest piece of quartz weighed in at 132 pounds (60 kilograms), and contains an estimated 1,600 ounces of gold valued at about $2.7 million. And there is a lot more where that has come from.
“Recovering 9,250 ounces of high-grade coarse gold from a single cut on the 15 level at our Beta Hunt mine, including specimens which could rank among the largest ever discovered, underlines the importance of this discovery,” Mark Selby, President, and CEO of RNC, said in a statement.
Senior geologist Zaf Thanos said in most mines around the world it is only possible to see gold through a magnifying glass. “You might go your whole life and you’ll never see anything like it. It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,” he said.
“As a geologist, like I said, you get excited by a pinhead speck. But to see something on this scale is just phenomenal. This sort of bonanza zone is incredibly unique.”
Beta Hunt is a nickel mine
Amazingly, the Beta Hunt mine has mined for nickel, a key ingredient in stainless steel since the 1970s. Gold was not that big a deal. There are rumors of previous finds, but never this big. And there are rumors that miners buried bags of the gold nuggets and pieces – in hopes gold prices would go up.
The Canadian owners, RNC Minerals, are planning an auction for the large specimens. RNC president Mark Selby said, “Given the rarity of the rock, and the physical beauty and presentation of the gold that’s there, it’s a very spectacular stone in multiple ways so we’ll see whether 20, 30 or even 50 percent premiums apply here,” he said.
Interestingly, the Beta Hunt mine has been in the final processes of being sold. But Selby said the “world-class discovery” does not make RNC think twice about selling up.
“When we started the sale process it wasn’t because we don’t like the asset. We always believed that it had the potential to become a multi-hundred-thousand-ounce mine, we just weren’t able to raise the capital required to do the exploration drilling,” Mr. Selby said
“We believe that a different set of management should be running the asset with the right amount of capital to take it forward.”
