Amateur gold-digger finds record 4.6kg nugget worth hundreds of thousands of dollars

‘When he dropped it into my hand my jaw dropped with it’

An amateur gold digger discovered a nugget worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Victoria, Australia. Screengrab (9 News Australia / YouTube)

An Australian man has discovered a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth $160,000 (£130,000) with the help of a budget metal detector.

The man, who did not wish to be named, had found the rock in Victoria’s “Golden Triangle” area, also known as Goldfields. He took the rock for evaluation and discovered that it contained a staggering 2.6kg of gold.

Prospecting equipment retailer and expert Darren Kamp – who also bought the specimen – said it was the biggest he saw in his 43-year career.

“He pulled this rock out of his backpack and as he dropped it in my hand he said, ‘Do you think there’s $10,000 worth in it?’” Mr Kamp was quoted as saying by NCA NewsWire.

“As soon as it hit my hand I said, ‘Try $100,000’.”

The man told Mr Kamp that his wife would be happy, as he had only brought in half the rock, leaving the other half at home, reported news.com.au.

“It’s one of those life-changing pieces,” said Mr Kamp, who owns Lucky Strike Gold Prospecting, that manufactures metal detectors.

“When he dropped it into my hand my jaw dropped with it.

“I’ve been in the gold industry for 43 years and it’s the biggest gold specimen I’ve seen.”

“You see big specimens found by big companies underground... but to find it with a detector, it’s the biggest one I’ve seen.”

Mr Kamp bought the rock from the man after valuing it.

In 1869, a 72kg gold nugget was found near Moliagul, also in Victoria.

Dubbed “Welcome Stranger”, the nugget was said to be the largest in the world.

It, however, had to be broken into pieces as there were no scales big enough at the time to weigh the 60-by-30-centimetres rock.

Victoria’s “Golden Triangle” area is in north central Victoria and stretches between Ballarat, Bendigo and St Arnaud, encompassing small towns between such as Daylesford, Maryborough and Castlemaine.