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29-03-2023
Bureau Report + Agencies
MELBOURNE: An Australian man armed with a budget metal detector has hit the jackpot, finding a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth AU$240,000 (£130,000; $160,000).
The man, who doesn’t want to be named, made the discovery in Victoria’s goldfields which were the heart of Australia’s gold rush in the 1800s.
Darren Kamp, who valued and bought the specimen, said it is the biggest he’s seen in his 43-year career.
“I was just gobsmacked… It’s a once in a lifetime find,” he told the BBC.
Kamp hadn’t thought too much of it when a man wearing a large backpack walked into his prospecting store in Geelong, about an hour south-west of Melbourne. Normally people come in with fool’s gold or other rocks that look like gold, Kamp says but “he pulled this rock out and as he dropped it into my hand he said, ‘Do you think there’s AU$10,000 worth in it?'”
“I looked at him and said, ‘Try AU$100,000’.”
The man then proceeded to tell him the rock in Kamp’s hand was only half the find.
All up, the 4.6kg rock contained 83 ounces – or about 2.6kg – of gold.
After having it valued, Kamp bought it from him.
He says the lucky man is looking forward to spending the windfall on his family: “He said to me, ‘Oh the wife will be happy’.”
While discoveries like this are rare, Australia is estimated to have the world’s largest gold reserves and many of the world’s biggest nuggets were found in Australia.
In May 2019, an Australian man had unearthed a 1.4kg (49oz) gold nugget with a metal detector while wandering Western Australia’s gold fields, say locals.
A shop in Kalgoorlie shared pictures of the rock online, estimated to be worth AU$100,000 (£54,000; $69,000).
