AN anonymous prospector has found a two-kilogram gold nugget somewhere within one-hundred and fifty kilometres of Ballarat.<\/p>\n
The lump of precious metal, which would be valued at about $130,000 on the base commodity price alone, has been named \u2018You wouldn\u2019t believe it\u2019.<\/p>\n
Mark Day runs Gold Ballarat and said the find could be worth even more to the right collector.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s has already received offers of $160,000 for the nugget,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople collect nuggets, they don\u2019t want them melted down. This one has real character to it. We were in awe when he brought it in. It really looks good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in this business for 25 years and this is the biggest find we have seen by one of our customers, that they\u2019ve told me about anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time the prospector, a retiree, had struck it rich.<\/p>\n
Following an equipment upgrade, he dug up 42 grams of gold nuggets.<\/p>\n
Shortly after that the prospector called Mr Day and asked if he was interested in buying some \u201cbig gold\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said I wasn\u2019t a buyer and asked him what he meant by big. He said two kilos and I just said you\u2019ve got to be kidding,\u201d Mr Day said<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he showed me the nugget here in the store he was shaking like a leaf. He didn\u2019t know what to do with it. He hadn\u2019t slept in three days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prospector reported the \u2018You wouldn\u2019t believe it\u2019 nugget was located about a meter below the ground in an old pasture.<\/p>\n
It was under 30cm of wash and further 15cm of very hard clay.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me the detector made a noise and when he dug down a short way and found a .22 lead bullet and thought that was that. But the detector kept insisting there as something there, so he dug further and bang, there it was,\u201d Mr Day said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AN anonymous prospector has found a two-kilogram gold nugget somewhere within one-hundred and fifty kilometres of Ballarat. The lump of precious metal, which would be valued at about $130,000 on the base commodity price alone, has been named \u2018You wouldn\u2019t believe it\u2019. Mark Day runs Gold Ballarat and said the find could be worth even […]<\/p>\n