Two major gold nugget finds may have given renewed hope to the multitude of grey nomads who travel with detectors and sieves in their rigs.
First, a family almost stumbled across a $35,000 nugget on the outskirts of Bendigo in Victoria, and now a man has unearthed a 1.4kg gold nugget worth an estimated $100,000 in Western Australia’s goldfields.
The owner of a Kalgoorlie prospector supply store, Matt Cook, said the man was an experienced local hobbyist who used a detector to find the piece about 45cm below ground on some saltbush flats.
“He walked into my shop and showed me the nugget in his hand with a big smile on his face,” Mr Cook said. “It was just a bit bigger than a packet of smokes, and the density of it was incredible, so heavy.”
Back in Bendigo, the authorities are expecting the latest finds to generate a new ‘gold rush’.
However, Earth Resources Victoria is reminding wannabe treasure hunters that to legally fossick for gold in Victoria, a person must carry a Miner’s Right.
“Gold fossicking is fantastic tourism for Victoria, a lot of grey nomads come along each year and try their hand at finding gold,” Earth Resources Regulation executive director Anthony Hurst told the Bendigo Advertiser. “We do anticipate with the recent publicity that it will only heighten people’s interest, but it’s important that modern gold hunters are aware of the rules and how to remain safe.”
Mr Hurst said the government body issues on average 22 Miner’s Rights per day in Victoria. More than 38,000 people have a Miner’s Right in the state. The Miner’s Right covers a person for a period of 10 years and costs $24.20 for the decade-long licence.
Mr Hurst said Earth Resources would carry out spot checks in places like Bendigo and Ballarat, so anyone who is found to be recreationally fossicking for gold without a Miner’s Right would receive an $800 on-the-spot fine.
There are also tight restrictions around recreational fossicking. People are only allowed to use picks, shovels, hammers, sieves, shakers, electronic detectors and other similar tools. Heavy machinery and explosives are banned.
Gold to be found near gympie, secret location to be announced in September. metaldetectingworldchampionship
Been there, done that, spent 5 days with my brand new gold detector, whilst it was fun, only found a small amount of gold the value being far less than the cost of the detector. No regrets, it was good exercise, you might get lucky, but don’t set your expectations too high.
Perhaps the only “easy” gold to be found will be the championship organizers
🙂
The easy gold is ‘found’ by the detector sales people, but it’s a great way to spend time in the outdoors! I purchased one years ago for $5000.00, and think it still owes me $4915.00 ! Found lots of lead bullets in the bush, and $$ at the beach in summer, when there were too many snakes competing with my space in the bush.