RNC Minerals recovers giant gold slab from its mine in Australia

Final weights and gold content will be determined for each specimen slab once all have been cut, RNC said.

“We expect that these spectacular specimen slabs will be highly sought after by mineral specimen collectors. With a minimum of 30-35,000 ounces expected from the Father’s Day Vein area, the company will be in a substantial net cash position to fully fund its upcoming activities,” Mark Selby, President and CEO of RNC said in the statement.

For now, six gold slabs weighing almost 200 kg are being displayed at the Perth Mint until late October.

The company believes the gold-rich stones are among the biggest of their kind ever unearthed in Australia.

Close up showing Father’s Day Vein structure, gold in quartz, with porphyry, sediments and basalt. (Image courtesy of CNW Group | RNC Minerals.)

RNC plans to auction off some of the most impressive specimens as according to Selby, collectors in North America and around the world are known to pay up to a 50 percent premium on the gold metal value for rare specimens.

Gold experts called for Australian governments to purchase them for historical purposes, but Western Australia said it didn’t have a spare A$7 million (roughly $5 million) to spend.

“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,”RNC said last month.

The 45-year-old Beta Hunt gold mine is located 600km east of Perth and 50km south of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Gold specimen slab, cut with a diamond chain saw, exposing gold/quartz veining. . (Image courtesy of CNW Group | RNC Minerals.)