Aussie bloke finds 4.6kg gold nugget worth $240k with a budget metal detector: ‘The wife is going to be happy’
- The 4.6kg rock contained 2.6kg of gold
- The man was searching in Victoria’s ‘Golden Triangle’
- The area was popular during the 1850s gold rush
An amateur prospector has unearthed a massive nugget of gold worth a whopping $240,000.
The man, who did not want to be named, was searching for gold in Victoria’s ‘Golden Triangle’ – an area from Ballarat across to Bendigo and up to St Arnuad, where prospectors have struck gold since the 1800s.
He was combing the area with a Minelab Equinox 800 metal detector worth $1,200 when his budget scanner started to beep.
After unearthing the 4.6-kilogram nugget, the man took his find to Lucky Strike Gold in Geelong for appraisal.
Gold trader Darren Kamp discovered the rock was made up of more than half its weight in gold – a staggering 2.6 kilograms.
An amateur prospector unearthed a 4.6kilogram golden nugget worth $240,000 (pictured)
‘He said, ‘oh do you think there’s $10,000 worth in it?’ As soon as it hit my hand I said [to him] ‘try $100,000′,’ he told 9News.
‘And he said, ‘oh wow, the wife’s going to be happy with that’.’
The man then told Mr Kamp he only brought half the rock, having left the other half ‘at home’.
Mr Kamp said the man was lucky and labelled his discovery as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ find.
Gold prices in Australia hit an all-time high of $2,943.80 per ounce on March 23, making it the perfect time to find and sell the precious metal.
Even small nuggets of gold can reach up to $1,000 in the current market as inflation continues to drive up the value of gold.
Mr Kamp explained the man’s find is proof there is still gold to be found in Victoria and said budding prospectors need to be persistent.
‘If it’s got your name on it, you’ll find it,’ Mr Kamp said.
‘You just need some luck and persistence. It’s like Tattslotto: you’re never going to win unless you’ve got a ticket.’
The ‘Golden Triangle’ is in north central Victoria between Ballarat, Bendigo and St Arnaud, covering small towns including Daylesford, Maryborough and Castlemaine.
The area was popular during the prosperous gold rush of the 1850s, with gold nuggets famous for purity, quantity and size.
The 4.6kg rock contained 2.6kg of gold (pictured)
The man was searching for gold in Victoria’s ‘Golden Triangle’ (pictured) – an area from Ballarat across to Bendigo and up to St Arnuad where prospectors have struck gold since the 1800s
During this time, most of the golden nuggets were alluvial – with prospectors finding them in streams or river beds.
Eager miners and prospectors flocked to the region in search of fortune and built quaint towns, with many buildings now being used as museums, galleries and cafes.
Two Cornish miners unearthed the biggest golden nugget discovered in the area on February 5, 1869, near Moliagul.
Dubbed the ‘Welcome Stranger’, the gold nugget weighed 72 kilograms, was 61cm long and sold for £10,000 ( roughly $18,475 AUD).
Today, a nugget of that size would fetch approximately $ 6.8 million.
