A father and son gold prospecting duo say they have no plans to sell the gold nugget worth more than $10,000 they discovered in a remote river on the West Coast of the South Island.
Dillon Thom and his dad Anthony told 1News that finding the “massive” 40g nugget was akin to winning the lottery, and were filmed screaming in euphoria on their YouTube channel The Sluicers.
“We couldn’t believe that this was happening to us. It was just this moment of pure joy,” the 18-year-old told Breakfast.
“[We spent] five to six years gold prospecting, and the dream of finding something like this all coming to fruition in a matter of seconds. It was unbelievable.”
He said he had been “obsessed” with gold prospecting since he saved up to buy his first metal detector aged 12.
The nugget has an estimated value of $7000 in gold melt alone and could fetch as much as $12,000 as an individual specimen.
Asked whether the pair had plans to sell the “once in a lifetime find”, Anthony responded: “Probably not.”
“It’s really the moment and memories it has with it — it’s probably family heirloom. If we got a bigger one maybe [or] more exciting we might, but that’s unlikely,” Dillon laughed.
Anthony said the “quality time” spent tramping on the West Coast with his son gold prospecting was an “amazing way to connect”.
“I remember as a kid, I didn’t enjoy going on dad’s fishing trips and all that normal stuff but, as soon as we started gold prospecting together, it was just another level of enjoyment. A real mission with a joint goal in mind,” Dillon said.
“He goes from being just my dad to my best mate when we’re out there.”