Soaring prices spark gold rush for new generation of fortune hunters in Australia

In the hinterlands of Australia’s historic goldfields, Ms Vicki Plumridge jumps for joy when she digs a small golden nugget out of the earth.

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The retired retail worker was learning how to use her new metal detector when it started bleeping by the moss-covered ruins of a building. After Ms Plumridge dug the nugget out of the shallow dirt with a plastic trowel, a guide estimated it to be 0.2g of gold, worth about A$40 (S$34.50).

“But to me, it’s worth a million dollars,” said the 63-year-old, who bought the detector only a few days before. “My heart is singing.”

Ms Plumridge’s story is becoming more common, as hobbyists flock to Australia’s 9,600 sq km “golden triangle” in the heart of Victoria state, known as one of the world’s most prospective regions for gold nuggets.

Prospectors have been spurred on by record gold prices, social media, the success of the TV show Aussie Gold Hunters and a love for the outdoors, according to Reuters interviews with gold hunters.

Ms Plumridge’s detector - Minelab’s Gold Monster 2000, which she bought for A$2,999 - sold out across the country within weeks of its Oct 20 launch, said Ms Leanne Kamp, joint owner of Lucky Strike Gold, a prospecting shop in Geelong. “It’s a great price point, and we have seen a big jump in sales, partly because the gold price has got everyone's interest,” said Ms Kamp, who has led prospecting tours since 2007.

“We get a lot of internationals... we have some Germans coming. Germans love the gold. The Swiss seem to love the gold too. And we have some coming over from the US,” she added.