A man in Australia has found a large stone block containing 2.6 kg of gold worth 240,000 AUD (equivalent to 160,000 USD).
Discovered in the state of Victoria (Australia) in the area known as the “Golden Triangle”, the stone block contains gold weighing a total of 4.6 kg, of which the volume of gold accounts for 2.6 kg, CNN reported on 28 /3.
The precious stone block known as the “Lucky Golden Stone” was brought to Lucky Strike Gold store late last year and into the hands of store owner Darren Kamp for valuation.
“When I held the stone in my hand, I gasped,” Mr. Kamp told CNN on March 28 . “Unbelievable. This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”
Darren Kamp, who valued the block at 0,000, said that the person who found it broke it in half and couldn’t see the gold in it because it was so dirty. (Photo: Lucky Strike Gold).
Having been in the gold mining business for 43 years, Mr. Kamp insists he has “never seen a block of this size with such a large amount of gold”.
He added that many times there are also customers who come with a block of stone that looks like it contains gold but the results are not as expected.
The man who found the rock – who did not want to be identified in the media – initially assessed it as only half that number. This person asked Mr. Kamp if the gold in the block was worth up to 10,000 AUD ($ 6,675).
Mr. Kamp said the rock looked so dirty that the finder could not see the gold on the outside and he broke it in half thinking there would be a lump of gold inside.
After the rock was cleaned , “you could see gold lying in the rock everywhere,” Mr. Kamp said.
The stone block filled with gold weighs a total of 4.6kg, of which the amount of gold accounts for 2.6kg. (Photo: Lucky Strike Gold).
The gold department is valued at 160,000 USD. (Photo: BBC).
Mr. Kamp said the person who found the rock used the Minelab Equinox 800 detector, which costs ,200 (0).
“It just proves that an 0 machine can find gold,” said Mr. Kamp excitedly. He said his shop has been selling more detectors lately, possibly because the price of gold is going up and people are looking for ways to earn extra income.
The largest amount of gold in the block that Mr. Kamp has ever seen is 680g, currently worth about 70,000 AUD (,753). It was about 10 years ago, when a friend of his found a 17kg gold-filled rock.
One gram of gold (0.035 ounces) currently costs about 94 AUD ().
In 2020, gold diggers in South Australia once found two giant gold nuggets worth A0,000 (0,000) at historic gold mines.
In 2013, an amateur explorer discovered a rock with gold worth at least 300,000 USD.
The discovery of rich gold deposits in the Ballarat and Bendigo regions of Victoria in 1851 led to a series of gold rushes in Australia in the 1850s.
Fortune-seekers have found huge gold nuggets, the largest of which is the “Holtermann Nugget” , weighing more than 90kg.