‘Not enough to retire on, but I won’t complain’: Australian man shows off two gold nuggets he found while fossicking – and reveals their VERY impressive value
- Hobby gold digger shows off two large gold nuggets found in outback online
- The Reddit user discovered his prize – worth up to $1300 – with a metal detector
- The find comes about two weeks after another prospector found a 50g nugget
A prospector has unearthed a number of small gold nuggets in the Outback.
The nuggets, measuring smaller than a 50c coin, were discovered between Kalgoorlie and Leonora in Western Australia.
A picture of the gold, weighing from 12.5grams and measuring between two and nine inches in length, was posted to Reddit on Friday.
The Reddit user shared his most recent prize gold prospecting prize online on Friday
The Reddit user said a few smaller pieces were also found – totaling about $250 – ‘but these two pieces are obviously the best ones’.
‘Usually nuggets like this are in the 85 per cent to 95 per cent purity range, alloyed with other metals such as silver and copper as common alloys, to a range of others,’ the user responded to another’s comment asking about the percentage of gold in each nugget.
‘There’s a few different ways to test – a graduated acid test, and the strength of the acid to dissolve a scratching of the nugget tells you. There’s electronic tests that use known signatures, all the way up to x-ray spectrometry and fire assay used by industry.’
The Reddit user said the Victorian gold fields were on their bucket list to-do ‘when things settle down’ with COVID-19.
‘Absolutely love prospecting, come back to camp at the end of the day, sit by the fire with a cold beer and just enjoy. It’s probably more the getting out and just being in the middle of nowhere with no pressure for a while and the fresh air!’ the user said.
‘I’m not a professional prospector so there’s no pressure, so enjoy every part of it regardless of the find or not.’
The individual’s find comes about two weeks after another prospector located a 50g nugget on private property in the Ballarat area, south-west Victoria.
It was valued up to $4000 and found buried two feet underground.
The prospector, known as Bill M, shared a photo of the nugget to Australian Facebook group Detecting Downunder.
The prospector, known as Bill M, found the 50g nugget (pictured) on a private property in the Ballarat area, south-west Victoria, during June
‘Gold prospector ‘Bill M’ found this gorgeous 50 gram nugget on private property in the Ballarat area,’ the post read.
‘This is straight from a main gold reef and Bill looks like he’s onto something special. It was found about two feet (60cm) down.’
A gold reef is where a large amount of gold is found encased underground in the rock it was formed in.
The community of treasure hunters weighed in on the find.
‘Just wondering what a nugget of that size is worth? one user asked.
The group administrator answered: ‘At the current gold price of $82 per gram, it’s worth around $4k. Not a bad pay day.’