‘On the edge of giving up their work’: Screeching gold price stokes WA prospecting renaissance

Matt ‘Dusty’ Cook spends more time than he ever thought he would counselling customers who are utterly hooked on the rush of gold hunting to give it some thought before quitting their jobs. Gold fever has even got to some his more seasoned prospecting network, who would normally have packed up for the summer to avoid the searing heat of the Goldfields, but are “staying out there because the gold price is just unbelievable”. Dusty’s prospecting gear shop, the aptly named Finders Keepers, became so inundated with queries and customers over the past 12 months that he’s opened up a new shop in O’Connor. During that time, gold’s screeching run has broken record after record, with an ounce crashing through the $US4000 an ounce threshold in October. The precious metal’s rise and fall is especially relevant for WA and Kalgoorlie, the historic town famously founded on a rush of prospectors in the late 1800s who in turn lifted the mining and survival supplies businesses needed to support them. “I started in ‘99 prospecting around Kalgoorlie and I was a young feller at the time, and I was getting $10 a gram of gold. And now it’s $200-plus a gram,” Cook explains while tipping a small vial of his latest finds on the counter. ”These are the little pieces here I found a few weeks ago when I was up in Kal. Those little bits of gold there would be worth about $700, so it does not take long to add up.” Asked to visualise a prospector and one might conjure up a bearded older gentleman in tan boots, but the gold price has broadened the demographic of enthusiasts in age and gender. So much so that a pink pick axe has become a best-seller at Finders Keepers. “We get so many ladies coming in,” he said. “It’s not just blokes, heaps of ladies are getting into it. And we thought let’s try some pink stuff and they are the biggest selling out of all of them. “They’re way better than the blokes at prospecting generally, because they’ve got lady luck, and with the beginners they get beginners’ luck as well.” A quick peruse at prospecting groups on social media show pages flooded with questions from beginners wanting to know what detector to buy, where they should start looking, and asking more seasoned hunters to give feedback on their latest finds. Mark Lawrie is Vice President Engineering at Minelab, a South Australian company that has been designing and overseeing the manufacture of gold and metal-finding kit since 1985. He says all of their products have been selling well in the latest prospecting fervour, and that social media has brought more visibility to an activity that is usually done out in arid areas away from the general population. “It’s a lifestyle choice. Spending a month or more, some people are out there for the whole season of six months across winter, camping out in the bush in very remote locations swinging our products and finding their fortune,” he told The West Australian. “It definitely helps when the price of gold is up, that’s for sure. “You go out there and you might swing around and not find much, and then, bam, you hit something amazing, and the adrenaline rush that you get with that can hook a lot of people.” While the allure of being able to make some extra cash is acknowledged as a big driver behind the prospecting frenzy, it’s not the only reason people take up the hobby, with many enjoying the idea of self-sufficiency or simply switching off. “There’s a bit of a trend of being a survivalist and getting out in the bush and being closer to nature and not thinking about work or what other problems are going on in your life,” Mr Lawrie said. “When you’re concentrating — particularly gold detecting — you have to listen for the sound of that faint nugget that’s down at quite a depth. So if you’re not concentrating full time on doing that, you probably won’t find much gold. “But the beauty of that is by concentrating on that activity for many hours at a time, you’re emptying your head of all the other things in life that are probably bothering you.” Over in the Goldfields, the new prospecting surge has also buoyed business for Richard — who did not wish to provide his last name — of Natural Gold Nuggets and Jewellery Kalgoorlie. The shopfront buys primary gold mostly in the form of WA gold nuggets which are then resold domestically and internationally, and also makes bespoke jewellery from the finds people turn in. “The higher gold price has led to a noticeable increase in people looking to sell gold nuggets and primary gold locally,” he said. “We generally find that there are two types of retail customers at the moment, those that think the price will keep going higher, and those that are more reserved in their judgment and believe it is already over-valued, which is reflected in our sales.” This past school holidays he said the outlet had enjoyed a “clear increase” in visitors keen to learn more about gold nuggets and prospecting, particularly from beginners. However the growth has been somewhat dulled by higher purchasing and operating costs, as well as softer international sales due to US tariffs and freight costs. And with the high gold price brings opportunists, and as a result Kalgoorlie’s own gold theft-busting squad — the century-old Gold Stealing Detection Unit (GSDU) — has been ramping up its presence on mine sites and encouraging companies to make sure their security systems are up to scratch. Damen Tasker, a managing director at Kalgoorlie business Built by Geoff which provides specialist security and fencing solutions for miners, told The West Australian he has “never been busier, we are flat sticks”. That includes installing electrical partitions, strict swipe card access, fences that can’t be scaled, and even number plate recognition technology to check whether certain vehicles have clearance to enter site. “It’s mostly the big mining companies at the moment. Start-ups . . .are now upgrading their security, obviously in milling areas where there is high concentrations of gold in the material. I think it (the gold price) has made us busier, but more in the sense that smaller miners are growing quicker.” Safety is also crucial for budding prospectors, and Mr Cook of Finders Keepers is working on launch courses to make sure new starters know how to venture out into the bush safely and legally. As for what’s next for the gold price he can’t be sure, but if it keeps going could be tempted to join the hoards of people who he says are “on the edge of giving up their work”, adding: “If it gets up to $10,000 I’m closing this door and I’m going out there for myself.”