Soaring prices spark Australia gold rush

Record gold prices and social media lure a new generation of fortune hunters, as demand for mining permits surges in Victoria, writes Melanie Burton from Melbourne

- Melanie Burton

Damian Duke, 39, during a metal detector training session. 'Where prices are now, you do have the chance of striking a life-changing piece of gold,' he said.

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

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 was around 0.2 of a gram of gold, worth about A$40 ($26.58, or about 850 baht).

“But to me, it’s worth a million dollars,” said the 63-year-old, who had 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-square-kilometre “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 TV show Aussie Gold Hunters, and a love for the outdoors, according to Reuters interviews with a dozen 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, according to Leanne Kamp, joint owner of Lucky Strike Gold, a prospecting shop in Geelong.