Gold mining in certain parts of the world like Australia, California and South Africa was sparked by people coming across golden pebbles. When nuggets started to be found in the Kalgoorlie area of Australia, it sparked a gold rush which was the largest in Australia. This gold rush is the reason why Australia became an important gold producing nation in the world because from the number of specimens found, it was clear that the ground held so much more. Since the 1800s and despite the mining industry becoming more regulated and formal, people are still finding gold nuggets in the area. How often and how many, is not known because gold prospectors have always been a secretive bunch of people. Finding a gold nugget might be rare but when people do, they often keep the location secret because they don’t want anyone going to that area and finding more nuggets that they were would have found by themselves had no one else known about their initial find.
Prospecting is risky. You have to go gold hunting on hills and in rivers. All the walking, climbing, panning or digging can be hard on the body and its even harder because the chances of find gold nuggets are extremely small. Prospecting is not seen as a good career choice. However, it is a good sport or hobby. There is definitely not enough money in it, its hard and the odds are stacked against you. Some people have gone on for years without making any significant finds or only coming up with placer gold.
Some people love prospecting and with the price of gold being what it has been over the last couple of months, even long timegold finders gets excited when they come across a flake of gold. Also, Gold buyers are still seeing a number of people coming into their shops to sell gold nuggets. It might seem like a renaissance of the gold prospecting life in Australia with hopeful people looking at areas that have a history of gold find. Old mining towns are popular as are areas close to active mining areas.
One lucky prospector, a retired man with time to spend searching and digging for precious gold finally got rewarded for not giving up when he found a nugget near Victoria. Where exactly this nugget was found is now top secret because he does not want gold fossickers invading the area with their metal detectors.
There retired prospectors discovered a 2kg nugget with his metal detector. The nugget is said to be so big it covered his palm. The retired gentleman tried to sell it to a gold dealer in Ballarat. According to the dealer, the man was visibly shaken by his discovery. Since this discovery, offers to buy the nugget have been poring in in with some people offering as much as $160,000 (USD).
The name of the prospector is still unknown, which is to be expected considering the suspicious nature and paranoia that prospectors have about sharing their windfall with other. According to the gold dealer he took his gold nugget to, the man thinks there is more gold to be found out there. The gold prospector is said to have used the money from the sale of the nugget to buy more equipment. He has gone back out to look for more gold. Whilst the location of his 2kg nugget find might be closely guarded, it has piqued interest in Ballarat and more prospectors are expected to show up in the area to try their luck at making their own significant finds. Buyers are always on the lookout for people who want to sell gold nuggets they have stumbled upon.
