Melbourne Cup rides high into town

MADE from over one and a half kilograms of eighteen-carat gold from the Fosterville Gold Mine, the Melbourne Cup returned to its place of origin on Monday.

Halfway through the annual Melbourne Cup Tour, the trophy was presented by the Victorian Racing Club in the Dai Gum San precinct.

VRC representative Bree Laughlin said it’s terrific to be able to share the cup with the town it came from.

“The Melbourne Cup is an incredible work of art, it takes 250 hours to make, and it’s actually hand spun,” she said. “It’s quite an incredible piece to be made.

“The cup has endured some incredible tough times over the years, war, depression and now we find ourselves in a pandemic and the Melbourne Cup still runs.

“It represents resilience and I think it’s a great symbol for us at the moment in really difficult times.”

Ion Hann, the vice-president of Australian operations with Kirkland Lake Gold said it’s the second year in a row Fosterville Gold Mine has produced the precious metal for the cup.

He said the current agreement between Kirkland Lake Gold and ABC Refinery is proof there is still life yet in the region’s historic goldfield.

“The Bendigo goldfield is one of the great gold districts of the world,” he said. “In the 1850s we had 11 deep shafts over 11 kilometres deep; this is the greatest concentration of shafts anywhere in the world.

“We’ll certainly be putting our hat in the ring if we get the chance to continue to supply the gold.”