Thanks to soaring gold prices, amateur gold prospecting is on the rise in Australia. Old prospecting towns are seeing new faces, and there’s a renewed buzz in the country’s historic gold fields.

Record gold prices have given many Australians a renewed glint in their eye. Industry figures suggest there are two to three times more amateur prospectors than before, working in the ‘Golden Triangle’ gold fields of south eastern Australia – all in the hope of striking it rich.

The “Golden Triangle” covers some of the richest alluvial goldfields in the world. Heavy rains in the region have washed more nuggets and gold dust into rivers and streams.

Gold buyer, Darren Kamp, says large nuggets, like this 22 ounce monster, are a rare find.

Darren Kamp, Gold Buyer, said, “While his brother has having a rest, he decided to have a bit of detecting and, yeah, he found this piece. There’s about 22 ounces of gold in it, worth about 40 thousand (USD) dollars.”

During the gold rush of the 19th century, thousands of hopefuls travelled to Australian gold fields to seek their fortunes.

Now, the leisurely way to track the precious bounty is by using metal detectors to find the hidden nuggets.

Local retailer, Mark Rowland, says his store is selling on average three metal detectors a day.

Mark Rowland, Local Retailer, said, “I have had a few people who have either lost their jobs or decided they want to do something new and thought ‘Hey, we’ll go out into the bush, detecting.'”

In the neighboring town of Donelly, Tony Mills says prospecting can be profitable, even with a meagre daily haul.

Tony Mills, Resident, said, “Even one gram is worth now roughly about 55 US dollars. So,two grams a day – 100 US dollars – not bad.”

Australia’s gold production increased 10 percent year-on-year in the 2011 financial year.
Source: http://english.cntv.cn/20110912/103311.shtml