Beijing, Feb 5 (IANS): A herdsman in China's far western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region found a 17-pound (7.85 kg) gold nugget that was "practically lying on the bare ground".

The Kazak herdsman, Berek Sawut, from Qinghe county in Altay prefecture made the extraordinary discovery around 5 p.m. last Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

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) 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 cm long, 18 cm on its widest side and eight cm 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.