Could this be the start of another gold rush in which ‘old timers’ in their caravans and motorhomes hotfoot it to Warwick to stake a claim?
Maybe not … but certainly the news that an prospector has unearthed 29 pieces of the precious metal in the Durikai State Forest fossicking area, about 40 kilometres west of the Queensland town, will pique the interest of grey nomad treasure seekers.
What’s even more encouraging is the fact that Warren McGrath found all the gold in a relatively small 10 metre by 20 metre patch of dirt.
“It was one of those days when there was gold everywhere,” he told the Warwick Daily News. “We’ve found gold in the past but to get that much in a small area in one patch is quite extraordinary.”
The nuggets were lying close to the surface which apparently is fairly typical of Warwick, which is a fairly dry area.
“The soil’s not saturated so the gold doesn’t drop to the bedrock or it could be an old stream but it’s weathered away,” said Mr McGrath. “We don’t know when it happened but for it to be so shallow it’s either been a recent geological event or it’s been weathered down.”
Unfortunately for the keen gold detector, the proceeds from the combined find aren’t about to propel him into the super wealthy category. The pieces amounted to about 16g of gold, worth about $500-600.
However, Mr McGrath told the Daily News he doesn’t plan to sell the nuggets and will instead add them to his collection of gold pieces he has found around Australia, including in Western Australia and New South Wales.
“We just keep them as souvenirs of where we’ve been, because all gold is different depending on the mineralisation of where you found it,” he said. “It really gives a purpose to camping.”
The area near Warwick was a gold field way back in 1860.
It might be only $500—-$600 but just how many ctns of tinnies is that, ah 10. Cheers Stevo.