A man in Australia has found a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth about $160,000. Photo: Lucky Strike Gold
A man in Australia has found a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth about $160,000. Photo: Lucky Strike Gold
A man in Australia has found a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth about $160,000. Photo: Lucky Strike Gold
A man in Australia has found a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth about $160,000. Photo: Lucky Strike Gold

Amateur gold digger finds 4.6kg nugget worth $160,000


Jamie Goodwin
  • English
  • Arabic

An amateur gold digger in Australia has stumbled across a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth about $160,000, the BBC reported.

The unnamed man was using a budget metal detector when he made the “once-in-a-lifetime” find in the goldfields of Victoria state in the country’s south-east, where Australia's gold rush took place in the 1800s.

The specimen was valued and bought by Darren Kamp, who owns a prospecting store in Geelong near Melbourne.

He said it was the biggest he had seen in a 43-year career.

“I was just gobsmacked. It's a once-in-a-lifetime find,” Mr Kamp told the BBC.

Mr Kamp said people usually come to his store with “fools gold” — rocks that just look like gold.

“But he pulled this rock out and as he dropped it into my hand he said, 'Do you think there's A$10,000 ($6,600) worth in it?'”

“I looked at him and said, 'Try A$100,000 ($66,000)'.”

But even that estimate was low — the 4.6kg rock contained about 2.6kg of gold.

“He said to me, 'Oh the wife will be happy',” said Mr Kamp.

Australia is estimated to have the world's largest gold reserves and many of the world's biggest nuggets have been found there.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

INDIA SQUAD

Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
  • Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
  • Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
  • The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
  • Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
  • It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
  • Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
  • Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
The five pillars of Islam
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Updated: March 28, 2023, 9:47 AM`