An Australian man using a budget-quality metal detector unearthed a gold nugget containing 2.6kg of gold, BBC News reported. The find made waves in the Australian prospecting community after Lucky Strike Gold, a prospecting shop in Geelong, Victoria, posted the nugget on its Facebook page.
“Check out this absolutely gobsmacking nugget!” Darren Kamp, the shop’s owner, wrote. “Our jaws hit the floor when we first saw it!”
The amateur prospector, who prefers to remain anonymous, walked into Kamp’s shop and dropped a nugget on the table, asking the owner if he “thought there was $10,000 [AUD] worth of gold in it,” according to Live Science. When Kamp replied there was at least $100,000 worth of gold in the nugget, the prospector delivered another shock — the other half of the nugget was still at his house, waiting to be appraised.
Good morning Geelong, here is our front page. To read and subscribe visit https://t.co/oMqqjO2a49. pic.twitter.com/U3IDQUT4vf
— Geelong Advertiser (@geelongaddy) March 28, 2023
Kamp promptly ran a formal appraisal on both pieces, purchasing them for $240,000 AUD ($160,000 USD).
“Oh, the wife will be happy,” the prospector said.
Victorian goldfields
The Australian gold rush kicked off in 1851 with the discovery of gold at Ophir, New South Wales and Bendigo Creek, Victoria. The Victorian gold rush would go on to account for more than a third of the world’s gold production in the 1850s, according to National Museum Australia.
The museum credits the rush of the 1850s, as well as subsequent rushes continuing into the 1890s, with quadrupling Australia’s population and “bringing new political ideas to the young colonies.”
The effect of the rush on Victoria’s Indigenous Australians is complex. Documents at the State Library of Victoria report that the gold rush had a significant negative impact on the Australian environment, which in turn had repercussions on Indigenous people. The library also notes that many Indigenous people were active participants in the rushes, whether as guides or as prospectors.
