An Aussie prospector has unearthed a gold nugget worth an estimated $150,000 after almost walking straight past it in outback New South Wales.
The anonymous digger had spent days searching Mount Stuart Station near Tibooburra before a faint signal from his Gold Monster 2000 metal detector grew stronger.
'It wasn't a loud signal for the size of the piece that it is [but] once I got down to 100 [millimetres] or something like that, the machine was squealing,' he told the ABC.
'It might have been on the first or second scrape I just seen this bright yellow dot in the centre of the hole.'
The prospector, who nicknamed the gold nugget the 'Tibooburra Spud', said the discovery came after years of fossicking.
'You dig lots of rubbish … lots of lead bullets, old timer's nails, horseshoes, everything,' he said.
Tests showed the 1218 gram quartz-speckled nugget was made up of about 940 grams of pure gold, with the digger believing the $150,000 to $160,000 find could sell for up to $200,000 to a collector.
Footage of the discovery captured the prospector's disbelief as he brushed away the dirt to uncover the gold nugget.
An Aussie gold hunter is $150,000 richer after digging up a nugget in outback New South Wales despite almost walking straight past the spot where it was buried
The digger had spent days searching Mount Stuart Station near Tibooburra before a faint signal from his Gold Monster 2000 metal detector grew stronger
'Have a f***ing look at that,' he said, laughing in astonishment and sounding out of breath.
'Have a look at that, I can't believe this.
'Oh my God, that is solid f***ing gold, holy holy s***.
'It's not even that deep, it's probably probably only 400 [millimetres] deep.'
Greg Spangler, who has been selling prospecting supplies in Broken Hill for about 20 years, said gold of that weight was extremely rare.
'We have a fictitious club [called] the Ounce Club… but not many people [are] in the 'Kilo Club',' he said.
The discovery comes at a good time, with the value of gold reaching unprecedented levels in January, reaching almost $8,000 per troy ounce, or 31.1 grams.
Although prices have cooled since then, the metal remains worth about $5,700 per troy ounce.
That isn't the only incentive to dig for gold though, with Mr Spangler saying there were other benefits as well.
'You get up in the morning, you're the first one to see the sunrise… it's very peaceful,' he said.
'Just another pastime you can involve the whole family in.'
