Latest news with #AmalgamatedProspectorsandLeaseholdersAssociationofWesternAustralia
Mercury
a day ago
- Business
- Mercury
Mapped: Areas where Australians are striking gold
Two friends from Western Australia have struck gold, pocketing more than $160,000 after discovering large nuggets during a prospecting mission. Amalgamated Prospectors and Leaseholders Association of Western Australia President James Allison told the Kalgoorlie Miner the two men uncovered the treasure at Sandstone, a small town some 400km northwest of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Mr Allison said the two men, who had been prospecting for decades, came across a one-ounce nugget worth more than $5000. Later that day, the pair hit the jackpot again when their detector picked up a second sound. The men dug up and unearthed another piece weighing 895 grams, worth a whopping $161,000, according to the Perth Mint spot price as of June. MORE: MCC boss' secret $2m Melb mancave revealed Aus warned: Squatters move into man's home Revealed: Block buyer torches apartments as duds Victoria is also on the cusp of a whole new gold rush, with bush blocks where owners have found the odd nugget becoming hot property. Towns across the state's former gold fields, and especially in the golden triangle bounded by Bendigo, Ballarat and Wedderburn, have wannabe prospectors hunting for cheap land to hunt for the valuable mineral. With the price of gold surging over the past decade the leading lobby group believes more and more people will be looking to stake a claim to an alluvial address. Prospectors and Mining Association of Victoria President Jason Cornish said more people had begun looking to buy a cheap bush block amid fears the state government would turn Crown land — where prospecting is currently legal — into national parks, where it is not. Stockdale & Leggo Bendigo Sales Manager Grant Hosking said he was seeing good numbers of retirees relocating from Melbourne to take up a prospecting hobby in their golden years. Buyers have been homing in on blocks anywhere from 4ha to 40ha. 'In Wedderburn, property has never sold that quick, but we are selling them very, very quickly at the moment — and getting good prices for them,' Mr Hosking said. 'And most of it is weekenders and hobby prospectors.' The Australian Government Geoscience Australia website shows a map of where gold is likely to be found and which states have greater sources of gold. It says gold is mostly found in rocks, and WA accounted for 60 per cent of Australia's gold discoveries. Primary deposits, where miners target, were in Kalgoorlie in the Super Pit, Granny Smith, St Ives, Norseman and Mount Magnet all in WA, Gympie and Ravenswood Qld, Callie NT, Stawell Vic, Cadia NSW, Henty Tas and Challenger in SA. Gold is also found in Olympic Dam, SA – the area is mined with copper and uranium. 'Mostly, gold is spread throughout the rocks and soil around us but in such low amounts that it's not worthwhile trying to get it out,' the website said. 'However, there are some places where there is enough gold to make it economic to mine.' — Additional reporting by Nathan Mawby Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox. MORE: Where Aus' secret religious clans really hide Sneaky bank trick stopping Aussies saving Scary reason Aus renters won't move
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pair of Aussie mates make incredible $161,000 discovery deep in the outback
A pair of "good mates" in the country's west are reportedly now more than $160,000 richer after unearthing multiple large gold nuggets during a single prospecting mission. James Allison, Amalgamated Prospectors and Leaseholders Association of Western Australia's president, said the two men were trying their luck at Sandstone, a small town some 400km north-west of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, when they uncovered serious treasure recently. Allison told the Kalgoorlie Miner the two men had been prospecting for decades, but at the end of May, they came across a one-ounce nugget worth more than $5,000. Later that same day, their luck struck again in a big way when their detector picked up a second very promising sound. It prompted the men to dig up another piece buried at about 250mm deep and weighing 895 grams, which at today's values puts it at a whopping $161,000, based on the Perth Mint spot price as of June. Allison said the men celebrated over a beer later that evening and continued to prospect the following day, with the incredible find making front page news on Wednesday. It's certainly not the first time dedicated Aussies have hit the jackpot prospecting in the outback lately. Tyler Mahoney, also from Kalgoorlie in WA, is a fourth-generation gold prospector. She sold a mammoth nugget for a cool $9,500 back in January 2024. Tyler, who starred in the reality series Gold Rush, told Yahoo that most of the time it's the "small pieces of gold" she finds that end up paying her wages. 'Rare' outback find sells for $9,500 with booming market on rise Aussie woman's $7,000 find in outback: 'Not a bad day's work' $20,000 in hidden gold: Aussie prospector reveals secret Tyler explained that the state's long history of gold mining dates back to the 1880s, with the first gold rush sparked by the discovery of the "Golden Mile" at Kalgoorlie in the 1890s. Sizeable nuggets are "getting harder and harder" to find, she said, meaning that it's exceptionally "lucky" to uncover such large treasures. Because of this, natural gold nuggets — called alluvial gold, which have broken away from their original source — can sell for about 30 per cent more than refined gold like bars, coins, or ingots. That's because they're rarer and more sought-after by collectors, so they come with a higher price tag. And it's not just those in WA who have recently uncovered gold. Last year, Angus James found $20,000 worth of gold in a single day in Victoria. Angus insists working full-time with his metal detector is bringing in more than the average wage. He said there is still a lot of valuable metal waiting to be discovered. So much remains that he's more than happy to share some very specific tips on how to find it. "The Golden Triangle in Victoria is one of the best places to go looking for gold. So, Inglewood, Bendigo, Ballarat have all got places worth searching," he told Yahoo last year. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
