A father and son prospecting duo have unearthed a gold nugget worth more than $10,000 in a remote river on the West Coast of the South Island, a discovery they said was like winning the lottery.
The first sign of something unusual was the urgent beeping of their metal detector, said gold prospector Anthony Thom.
“It got louder, louder, louder and then we thought, ‘well it must be junk’, because you don’t get a screaming target like that.”
The hobbyist, exploring a remote West Coast river with his son Dillon, said the signal was so strong he assumed it was an old can or a bit of steel.
Instead, the pair made a “once in a lifetime” find.
“Jammed right in the crack of the solid bedrock there was just this massive nugget,” said Dillon.
“It was pretty exciting, most excited I’ve ever been definitely.”
At 40 grams, the piece is colossal dwarfing the tiny flakes of gold usually found by prospectors.
It has an estimated value of $7,000 in gold melt alone and could fetch as much as $12,000 as an individual specimen.
Footage taken on the day shows both men in a state of euphoria, screaming and shouting in a remote forest.
“It’s like you’ve won the lottery, it’s not even about the value it’s just you’ve actually found a piece of gold that so many people dream of,” Dillon told 1News.
“I know so many prospectors that have never found anything close.”
Anthony and Dillon Thom discovered the rare 40g nugget in a remote river. (Source: 1News)
That claim was backed up by Development West Coast chief executive Heath Milne.
“It’s pretty rare to find a nugget of that size, in fact we haven’t heard of one like that for many, many years.”
The pair filmed the entire adventure for their YouTube channel, called The Sluicers.
Their passion began six years ago when Dillon, then aged 12, first laid eyes on a metal detector.
He saved up for a year to buy his own and was hooked from his very first gold flake.
“All I can think about every week is, ‘when can I get back to the gold fields, when can I go mining’, and it’s a real fever, there is no cure to it, the more you find the more you want,” he said.
But nothing in Dillon’s collection compares to the latest nugget, and despite its value, he is determined not to sell.
“Really nothing compares to the memory and having that tangible piece, so the only situation I’d ever sell it, is if we found something bigger,” he said.
His dad was not so sure.
“I thought about selling it,” Anthony said.
The discovery could start a new gold rush, but those wanting to follow in the pair’s footsteps will have to find their own way.
Asked where they found the nugget, both men grinned.
“Nah, no chance, mate,” Anthony said.
“In the South Island, possibly on the West Coast of the New Zealand, that’s all you’re gonna get,” Dillon said.