Russia ranks second in the world in gold mining – only China manages to beat us in this matter. It is believed that every year Russian gold miners extract approximately 300 tons of gold from the bowels of the planet. The largest gold deposits are located in the territories of Chukotka, Magadan, Krasnodar Territory, and the Urals. In the 19th century, a huge amount of precious metal was mined just on the Ural soil, not far from the Chelyabinsk city of Miass. If you believe open sources, there were about 200 gold deposits in total, and the largest of them was the Tsarevo-Alexandrovsky mine. For several decades, people have found many large nuggets in this place. The largest among them was agiant weighing 36 kilograms, which, due to its unusual shape, received the name “Big Triangle.” The fate of the man who found it, it seems, was not the happiest.
The largest gold nugget in Russia was found in October 1842
Contents
- 1 The richest gold deposit in Russia
- 2 The largest gold nugget in Russia
- 3 How much did the largest gold nugget in Russia cost
- 4 The largest gold nugget on Earth
The richest deposit gold in Russia
According to the Miass Museum of Local Lore, the Tsarevo-Alexandrovsky gold mine was discovered in the summer of 1824. It got its name in honor of Emperor Alexander I, who was reigning at that time. Once the ruler visited this place and even tried to mine gold on his own – he took everything he found with him as a souvenir. He was also given a large nugget, and a monument was erected in honor of this event.
Monument in honor of the arrival of Emperor Alexander I to the mine
The largest gold nugget in Russia
In October 1842, an event occurred that went down in history and is mentioned even in the foreign press. During a normal working day, 17-year-old Nikifor Syutkin was at a 3-meter depth and discovered something solid underneath him. As it turned out, he found the largest gold nugget in Russia – it measured 31 by 28 centimeters, and its mass reached 36.2 kilograms. Because of its characteristic shape, the nugget was called the “Big Triangle.”
Nugget “Big Triangle”
Russia's largest gold nugget was delivered to St. Petersburg under strict security. There, until the end of March 1918, it was part of the “precious mineralogical collection” of the Mining Museum. Then the Soviet government moved to Moscow, and is still kept in the Kremlin’s Diamond Fund.
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How many cost the largest gold nugget in Russia
Nikifor Syutkin was generously rewarded for his discovery. It is believed that in the 1800s, gold miners received approximately 3-4 kopecks a day, that is, they could accumulate about 15 rubles per year.
Given this, is it worth saying that1266 rubles (according to According to other sources, 4390 rubles)was fabulous money for Nikifor Syutkin? Having such a sum with him, he could easily live without the need for further work. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly how much the nugget itself cost.
There are two versions of how the fate of Nikifor Syutkin developed (in this photo he no)
Unfortunately, many sources say that he was unable to use his wealth wisely and spent the money on drinking. He eventually died from drinking at a very young age.
However, local historian Alexander Kozlov could not find any evidence of Nikifor Syutkin’s drunkenness. But, judging by archival documents, he was “a short, blue-eyed young man with freckles.” After the lucky find, he immediately got married – this was confirmed by the manuscripts of the local priest Vladimir Amanatsky. Family life led to the birth of two children. It is also known from the documents that he was not an orphan. At the time the nugget was discovered, his father was alive. Nikifor Syutkin also had cousins, sisters and even nephews.
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The largest gold nugget on Earth
Today, the Tsarevo-Alexandrovsky mine, which gave Russia the largest gold nugget, does not exist. The monument that was erected in honor of the arrival of Emperor Alexander I is also missing. But in the village of Leninsk in the Chelyabinsk region there is Syutkina Street, which is dedicated to a lucky person with a mysterious fate.
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It is important to note that the “Big Triangle” is the largest gold nugget only in Russia, and not in the world. The record holder of all time is a nugget called theHolterman Plate, which was discovered in 1872 in the Australian Hill End mine. With a length of 1.4 meters, this gold plate weighed 285 kilograms. Unfortunately, it was crushed and transported, so now we can only look at it in photographs. We shared them in the article “The largest gold nugget was found in the 19th century—it still has no analogues.”