{"id":941856,"date":"2026-10-26T19:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T19:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941856\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T19:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T19:30:23","slug":"amateur-prospector-discovers-gold-nugget-worth-150000-on-outback-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941856\/","title":{"rendered":"Amateur prospector discovers gold nugget worth $150,000 on outback station"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sounds of excitement fill the air as an amateur prospector digs his hands into red, rocky dirt.<\/p>\n

What he comes up with is something he hopes isn’t “a painted rock”, but instead a gold nugget worth about $150,000.<\/p>\n

He had been digging for several days on Mount Stuart station near Tibooburra, in the north-western corner of New South Wales.<\/p>\n

But he said the discovery was one of persistence, after having nearly walked past the nugget.<\/p>\n

Loading…’The machine was squealing’<\/p>\n

The lucky prospector, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been fossicking for years and is familiar with coming up empty.<\/p>\n

“You dig lots of rubbish \u2026 lots of lead bullets, old timer’s nails, horseshoes, everything,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Metal scraps are the most common find for prospectors. (ABC Broken Hill: Kristina Rosengren)<\/p>\n

He was finishing up a day of searching in mid-October, when he stumbled across a signal with his metal detector, the Gold Monster 2000.<\/p>\n

“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,” the prospector said.<\/p>\n

“It might have been on the first or second scrape I just seen this bright yellow dot in the centre of the hole.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A lucky Broken Hill prospector has dug up a gold nugget worth about $150,000.\u00a0 (ABC Broken Hill: Kristina Rosengren)<\/p>\n

The gold nugget specked with quartz weighs more than 1,200 grams, with testing showing about 940 grams is pure gold.<\/p>\n

On spot price, it is worth between $150,000 to $160,000.<\/p>\n

But with plans to sell the nugget to a collector, the price could be pushed as high as $200,000, according to the prospector, who has nicknamed his precious find the “Tibooburra Spud”.<\/p>\n

Prospecting a popular pastime<\/p>\n

In his 20-odd years selling prospecting supplies in Broken Hill, Greg Spangler has only seen one other person find a gold nugget that weighs more than a kilogram.<\/p>\n

It is more typical to find gold flakes or smaller nuggets weighing only a few ounces.<\/p>\n

“We have a fictitious club [called] the Ounce Club \u2026 but not many people [are] in the ‘Kilo Club’,” Mr Spangler said.<\/p>\n

\"Greg<\/p>\n

Greg Spangler says more people are taking up prospecting as a hobby. (ABC Broken Hill: Kristina Rosengren)<\/p>\n

Despite the rarity of discovering a nugget worth six figures, Mr Spangler believes a surge in gold prices has drawn more people to the hobby.<\/p>\n

“It’s got a lot of people interested,” Mr Spangler said.<\/p>\n

Gold prices soared to new heights this year, peaking in January at almost $8,000 per troy ounce (or 31.1 grams). While the price has since dropped, it is still sitting favourably at $5,700 per troy ounce.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

The nugget has been affectionately named the “Tibooburra Spud” by the prospector who found it. (ABC Broken Hill: Kristina Rosengren)<\/p>\n

Beyond the chance of an instant boost to your retirement fund, Mr Spangler said there were other benefits to the hobby, including exercise, fresh air and a bit of quiet.<\/p>\n

“You get up in the morning, you’re the first one to see the sunrise \u2026 it’s very peaceful,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Just another pastime you can involve the whole family in.”<\/p>\n

More gold in Tibooburra<\/p>\n

Gold prospecting around Tibooburra, which dates back to the late 1880s, is a major drawcard for many tourists.<\/p>\n

Today, fossicking on the Tibooburra Common, an area surrounding the remote township, is currently banned while Native Title permissions are being pursued.<\/p>\n

But at least two stations in the region, Mount Stuart and Gumvale, allow fossicking for a fee.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The lucky prospector found his $150,000 nugget with the Gold Monster 2000.\u00a0 (ABC Broken Hill: Kristina Rosengren)<\/p>\n

And Mr Spangler said for anyone looking to have a go, there could be plenty more gold to be found.<\/p>\n

“[It could] keep going forever and ever, because every time it rains, other people find gold where they didn’t before,” he said.<\/p>\n

As for the prospector, he has just one tip for would-be fossickers: “Just keep walking, keep swinging [and] keep digging every target.”<\/p>\n

More news from Broken Hill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sounds of excitement fill the air as an amateur prospector digs his hands into red, rocky dirt. What…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,54886,196210,5284,130531,6268,509098,509096,130535,509095,196229,227901,85,509094,509097],"class_list":["post-941856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-broken-hill","tag-fossicking","tag-gold","tag-gold-nugget","tag-goldfields","tag-greg-spangler","tag-gumvale-station","tag-metal-detector","tag-mount-stuart","tag-prospecting","tag-quartz","tag-sports","tag-tibooburra","tag-tibooburra-spud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}