URUMQI, Feb. 5-- 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 U.S. 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.