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![A herder shows a gold nugget in his house in Qinghe county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Feb 5, 2015. The 7.85-kg gold nugget found on Jan 30 is 23 centimeters long, 18 centimeters wide, and 8 centimeters thick. It has attracted many visitors to his house. [Photo: China News Service/ Zhu Xinfeng]](http://www.bazhesc.com/2015/0206/20152692257.jpg "A herder shows a gold nugget in his house in Qinghe county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Feb 5, 2015. The 7.85-kg gold nugget found on Jan 30 is 23 centimeters long, 18 centimeters wide, and 8 centimeters thick. It has attracted many visitors to his house. [Photo: China News Service/ Zhu Xinfeng]")
A herdsman in China's far western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region found a 17-pound (7.85-kilogram) gold nugget that was "practically lying on bare ground".
The Kazak herdsman, Berek Sawut, from Qinghe County in Altay Prefecture made the extraordinary discovery around 5 p.m. last Friday. The estimated price for such an unexpected luck, assuming the nugget is 80 percent pure (Nuggets are usually 80 to 90 percent pure), is a whopping 1.6 million yuan (255,313 US dollars) based on latest gold price.
Zhu Xinfeng, a local expert said the price of natural gold, considering its uniqueness, is often several times higher than that of standard gold.
The random-shaped gold nugget is about 23 centimeters long, 18 centimeters on its widest side and 8 centimeters at its thickest.
A gold nugget is a naturally produced irregular piece of gold, and is most frequently found through mining. The name Altay means gold in Mongolian. A 1.84-kg gold nugget was also found in Altay in 2010.
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