An abundance of gold still lies undiscovered in central Victoria and advanced detection technology means anyone can find it, says one of Australia's leading gold prospecting gurus.
Doug Stone, a goldfield mapmaker and author, said the gold rushes of the nineteenth century only "picked the eyes" out of gold deposits in the region and prospectors will be digging up precious nuggets "for another 1000 years".
A Victorian man this week revealed he found a 4.8kg hunk of quartz, with traces of gold weighing nearly 76 ounces, at a riverbed in Ballarat about three weeks ago.
With gold now fetching $1610.67 per ounce, the man — who is keeping his identity and location of the find secret — can expect a windfall of about $120,000. (Read more here)
Mr Stone said the gold discovery is among a steady flow of finds, particularly from the "golden triangle" of Bendigo-Ballarat-Stawell, since metal detectors were introduced to Victoria in 1979.
"There'd have to be over 1000 ounces a year found in central Victoria alone," Mr Stone, a 63-year-old former mines geologist from Euroa, said.
"We don't hear about a lot of the big ones, because people don't want the publicity — they only want the publicity when they go to sell it."
What you need to prospect
Fossicking for gold in Victoria is open to anyone with a Miner's Right permit, available from the Department of Primary Industries at $30 for two years.
There are more than 3000 current permits in Victoria, with 500 of these issued out of Ballarat.
Prospecting is permitted at certain types of public land as well as private land with the owner's consent.
Unlike the gold rush days, there is no government tax on what prospectors find.
"The original prospectors stuck to creek lines and traced some of the gold up to quartz reefs on the hillsides," Mr Stone said.
"But there is still all this virgin land between the gully lines and the hilltops they didn't touch. And instead of turning over thousands of cubic metres of soil [to search for gold], today you can sweep an area with a [metal detector] coil on the ground and listen for a signal."
The top metal detectors, which cost up to $6500 and can find deposits at a depth of up to one metre, are popular among retirees who travel around Australia looking for gold as a hobby, said Mark Day from E. E. Day & Sons, a power tool business in Ballarat.
But prospecting seems to be a recreation for all ages, and the man who recently dug up the precious chunk in Ballarat — he is known only as "Caz" — went public "to give some encouragement and hope to others that there are still some big pieces out there", said Cordell Kent of Ballarat's Mining Exchange Gold Shop.
"There's still gold for people who get out and work slow and low — moving very slowly with their coil close to the ground, listening for faint, deep sounds," he said.
Mr Kent is bracing for a patch of gold fever in Ballarat — but Caz apparently is taking some time out.
"He's quite happy to sit back and have a break while everybody goes mad in the bush."
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