It contained 83 ounces - or about 2.6kg - of gold which is worth A$240,000. The man, who was equipped with a cheap metal detector, found the 4.6kg lump while prospecting for gold in an area known as “the Golden Triangle” between the towns of Bendigo and Ballarat.

An Australian prospector has found £130,000 worth of gold in a huge chunk of quartz that he dug out of the ground in the state of Victoria.