More like 65 to 70 % purity, I saw what looked like silver in the ore and that would explain the lack of gold color in the bar, as you saw in his vid he was full of excuses for his lack of experience and it clearly shows up in his smelting technique. Sad
I thought that the first chunk he had would have been nice slabbed and polished.
Devils advocate..
He may have needed some operating money for his mine or some emergency repair.
Specimens and cut/polished slabs take time to convert to cash.
Crush and melt might have meant immediate cash.
I think he even mentioned the same.
He also may have lots of other pieces that are similar.
I have a piece that I like due to larger size and large surface area of solid gold.
It's basically a piece of thin vein. It wouldn't bring the money a large placer nugget would.
That surprised me.
Realizing he could own private ground. However this guy has only one claim to his name. And none closed or abandoned. It is a placer claim. Though he has other under ground videos. yet few of them show gold. No showing of the chunk he ruined being found or shown off.
I have no doubt he found it. Unless he inherited or bought it for some reason maybe years ago?
He paid a maintenance fee this year which seems silly considering it looks like he does ample work on his claim. if that's it in the videos.
Can't find any thing on him selling specimens. I happen to know a little bit about that market. I've contacted numerous broker/collectors.
I seriously doubt he did it cause he needed the money. His bar sucks and will need more refining. He didn't show all that much experience.
He should have just priced it right in the first place.