Australian Unearths A$100,000 Gold Nugget With Metal Detector

May 28, 2019 by apost team

An experienced local hobbyist found this fantastic 49oz (1.4kg) gold nugget while wandering the gold fields in Western Australia with a metal detector, the BBC reports. The A$100,000 estimated worth means £54,000 and $69,000 in other currencies.

The lucky man detected the nugget about 18 inches (45cm) below the surface of some saltbush flats. It is just a little bigger than a “packet of smokes” and has an incredible heavy density, said a local man to the BBC.

The Kalgoorlie region, where the gold was found, produces approximately three-quarters of the gold mined in Australia. Experts have said that finds on this scale by prospectors have been known to happen several times a year.

However, smaller traces of gold are more often the common finds, says Professor Sam Spearing, who is the director of Curtin University's Western Australia School of Mines. Much of the found gold is less than half an ounce and is found fairly often.

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He also said that many people do prospecting on the weekends as a hobby while others actually do it on a full-time basis.

The above story brings to mind another incident, also reported on by the BBC, about an exceptional gold find named “Welcome Stranger” which is still the world's largest gold nugget. It was discovered 150 years ago on February 5, 1869, by two miners: John Deason and Richard Oates.

They were prospecting in the Victoria, Australia gold fields and found it right below the surface lodged in some tree roots. A monument is on the spot where it was discovered.

The “Welcome Stranger” was 24 inches (61cm) long and weighed 11 stone (72kg) when it was presented at the London Chartered Bank. Unfortunately, the nugget was broken up immediately because it was too large for the scales, so there was no model made or pictures taken.

However, a drawing was made based on the memory of those who saw it, and there is a replica in the Dunolly Museum. Moliagul, where the “Welcome Stranger” nugget was found, was a booming gold rush town in the 1850s and 1860s.

Deason had emigrated to Australia in 1853 and Oates a year later, both to begin life as prospectors or "diggers" in 1862 when they arrived in Moliagul. After seven years of just getting by, the two men found the enormous piece of gold encased in quartz on a slope named Bulldog Gully.

Mr. Deason wrote that he tried to get the nugget up with a pick, but the handle broke, and he had to use a crowbar to raise the nugget up to the surface.

If it was sold today, the estimate is that the nugget would fetch more than £2m and would have significant prestige value. Suzie Deason is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Deason, still lives in the area, and says that they didn't even get any jewelry made from the nugget.

As part of the celebrations still held today is a play in full period costume. A photo taken at the time was recreated using the relatives of the two finders and their family members.

Learn more about this fascinating part of the world in the videos below:

You are welcome to give us your opinion on the ongoing news reports and tell us if they perhaps encourage you to go gold prospecting in Australia!