Barry Lloyd Clay (born November 1, 1955) is a

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

from

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and f ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. In 1998, Clay discovered the largest gold nugget ever found in Alaska on Swift Creek near

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

. The nugget, nicknamed "The Alaska Centennial Nugget", weighs 294.1

troy ounce Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in the Kingdom of England in the 15th century and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 p ...

s. In 2007 he operated a mining camp that allowed tourists to search for gold on his claims. At the 2010 Alaska Miners Association convention he was named Miner of the Year by the

Alaska Department of Natural Resources The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is a department within the government of Alaska in the United States. The department has the mission of responsibly developing Alaska's resources by making them available for maximum use and benefit c ...

. He currently does consulting work for Alaska placer mining projects of all sizes and he plans to continue to mine for gold in the Ruby-Poorman mining district as of 2011.

References

1955 births American gold prospectors Living people People from Palmer, Alaska {{alaska-bio-stub