General News
30 March, 2023
2.6 kilogram gold nugget unearthed in Golden Triangle
A prospector has unearthed a 2.6 kilogram gold nugget in the region, proving gold is still out there for those willing to dedicate time to searching. The prospector has remained anonymous but the nugget, valued at around $240,000, was discovered...
A prospector has unearthed a 2.6 kilogram gold nugget in the region, proving gold is still out there for those willing to dedicate time to searching.
The prospector has remained anonymous but the nugget, valued at around $240,000, was discovered somewhere in the Golden Triangle — between Ballarat, Bendigo and St Arnaud — according to media reports.
Maryborough’s Coiltek Gold Centre owner Andrew Gladdis said he’s heard plenty of rumours about where the nugget may have been discovered, but said regardless it proves prospecting is still worthwhile.
“There’s definitely still gold out there — we wouldn’t be open seven days a week if there wasn’t,” he said.
“We don’t see it all come through here, but I did have a three ounce piece in recently which is getting up around the $10,000 mark.
“The area has been picked over a bit in the last 30 years but with the newer technology, it is finding gold a lot smaller than what the older detectors were capable of. A lot of the pieces people are finding now we wouldn’t have bothered bending over for 20 years ago, but the prices have gone up.
“I remember selling gold for about $14 per gram but now it’s worth nearly $100 per gram.
“A fairly flat piece of gold about the size of a small finger nail is worth $200-300 now. It’s still worth doing.”
A nugget of that size is not the first to be found recently — in 2019 local prospector Neville Perry and fellow prospector Mick Clark uncovered a 2.5 kg nugget outside Dunolly.
Not too far away in Moliagul was where the world’s biggest gold nugget was unearthed by prospectors in 1869, weighing in at 72 kg.
Mr Gladdis said the find comes ahead of what is generally the peak time for local prospecting — Easter.
“From Easter time onwards is when it picks up because it’s not too hot or cold,” he said.
“It’s also the time when the really serious prospectors start gearing up to head over to Western Australia to look for gold.”
In Victoria, you must purchase a miner’s right permit to prospect or fossick which costs $26 for 10 years.
Those caught without a permit can face penalties up to $36,984.
To find out more information on prospecting areas and permits visit www.parks.vic.gov.au/things-to-do/fossicking-prospecting