Tyler Mahoney said the discovery, by a prospector in Western Australia, showcases the exciting potential of the gold mining industry.
Correction: An earlier version of this story suggested Tyler found the nugget herself. In fact it was an unnamed prospector out of Meekatharra.
A young Aussie woman, famous in the domestic prospecting industry, has shared an incredible gold find reportedly found among the red dirt of the Aussie outback, saying it’s worth about three times the value of her car.
Tyler Mahoney’s family are in the gold mining business and she’s been gold prospecting since she was a child, living 20 minutes from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia — where a large number of gold mines are located.
Over the weekend she shared a video on social media to her more than 262,000 followers on TikTok, showcasing the 20-ounce nugget, said to be worth $130,000.
“Look at that… that is a true representation of Aussie gold. Massive, covered in red dirt and high purity,” she said online.
Tyler, who starred in the reality TV show Gold Rush, often documents her own gold finds to showcase the triumphs of her work. Last year she found a nugget worth $35,000 armed only with a metal detector, and she often finds small nuggets that fit the palm of her hand worth $7,000.
Gold continues to be a booming market
Tyler, who runs a gold dealership and says she buys “million in gold a year”, has also made a living looking for gold in the outback and often spends her days driving an excavator or separating gold from dirt using a heavy duty machinery.
She previously told Yahoo News she believes the industry has “stood the test of time” and this is why there continues to be an appetite for Aussie gold.
“Gold is pretty much in every Australian state, but Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland are the three biggest producers,” she explained. “We’re pretty lucky that we’ve got gold pretty much everywhere and Australians, we are known for our big gold nuggets.
Gold mining has changed drastically since the first Australian gold rush in the 1890s, however, Tyler believes gold, which is currently valued at over $5,000 an ounce, is still a good investment and suggests anyone who finds large nuggets to “hold on to them as long as possible”.
“It’s changed in just about every aspect since then. Obviously, we’ve got a lot more technology now. It’s also getting a lot harder to find,” she said. “It’s also changed in that women are a lot more accepted in the mining game now”.
