Last month an anonymous prospector unearthed an impressive 132 troy ounce gold nugget on the outskirts of Victoria in South Australia. The finder (who wishes to remain anonymous) has been prospecting on weekends for more than ten years in search of gold and other valuables. After finding a nine-ounce gold nugget, he returned the next day to the southern edge of Central Victoria’s Golden Triangle to see if the area had even more hidden treasure. That gut instinct certainly paid off when he found the 4.1kg nugget about a foot below ground.
Nicknamed “Friday’s Joy,” the nugget currently resides in secure storage while being readied for auction, where it’s expected to fetch $190,710 (or $250,000 in Australian dollars). There are also plans to produce a replica of the nugget for posterity and museum display. Local news has also been keen to report that Friday’s Joy is much bigger than last year’s newsworthy nugget – the 2.7kg “Fair Dinkum.”
Australia has been a hot spot for prospectors for centuries. The country is famous for its gold rush during the 1800s, as well as for producing two world record-holding nuggets – the “Welcome Stranger” (2,315.5 troy ounces) and the “Hand of Faith” (874.82 troy ounces; largest gold nugget ever discovered with a metal detector). With large finds being reported in the news more often, perhaps another gold rush is on the horizon…
