The discovery was announced August 25 by Minelab, the metal-detecting equipment manufacturer whose flagship GPZ 7000 model metal detector was used to locate the nugget.
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But as he dug deeper, the finder of the nugget now being called “Friday’s Joy” realized he hadn’t just stumbled across some junkyard-worthy detritus. The unnamed prospector, who wishes to remain anonymous, dubbed his find “Friday’s Joy” after it was recently located in the far southern edge of Central Victoria’s Golden Triangle in Australia. He then chose to go back for more.
Minelab said the prospector, who has used his weekends to search for gold and coins for the past 10 years, found a 9-ounce nugget the day before.
As he began to scrape away the clay and dig deeper, he said he really couldn’t believe his eyes. I had just unearthed a colossal gold nugget – a once in a lifetime find!
With the money, he plans to purchase a van, travel around Australia both for sightseeing and prospecting. “(…) I didn’t think nuggets of this size were still around”.
“It’s like catching a big fish and not knowing what to do with it!” “Where do we put it?”
After rinsing the enormous nugget in water and wrapping it in aluminium foil, he hid it in his oven at home and enjoyed “celebratory beers” with his gold-digging friends.
He has since turned it in to officials, who are storing it in a bank vault and prepping it for auction – where it is expected to fetch upward of $250,000.
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Dermot Henry, acting head of sciences at Museum Victoria explained that historically Victorian goldfields had the greatest concentration of gold nuggets and have produced more large nuggets than any other field in the world.
