The large chunk of gold was discovered on the perimeter of central Victoria’s Golden Triangle.
“I thought it was rubbish at first, maybe an old horseshoe,” the man told Australian Mining, “I was in total disbelief as I didn’t think nuggets of this size were still around.”
Shocked by his discovery, the man did not know what to do.
“It’s like catching a big fish and not knowing what to do with it,” he said.
So, he ended up treating it exactly like a fish.
“I washed it in water, covered it in aluminium foil and kept it in my oven on the first night,” he said.
The man was working with a group of friends, prospecting enthusiasts who frequently treasure-hunt together. They had a pact to split the earnings from any large find and the man intends to make good on his word. The nugget is currently in a bank vault prior to being auctioned.
Instead of retiring, the lucky prospector plans to buy a van and travel Australia, sight-seeing and searching for gold.
“We’re thrilled that a Minelab customer has made such an amazing and important discovery. This is a historic find on par with a nugget like ‘Cindy’s Pride’ and eclipsing Mick Brown’s recent ‘Fair Dinkum’ nugget,” Fraser Kendall, Minelab’s regional sales and marketing director said in a news release. “He was prospecting in an area that others had clearly worked over and this just goes to show that there’s plenty of gold still coming out of Victoria.”
The stunning find comes just days after the world got its first glimpse of what may be the world’s largest pearl — weighing in at some 75 pounds. The previous record holder, the Pearl of Lao Tzu, weighed 14 pounds.
