With the price of gold and silver at record levels, prospectors around the country are cashing in their gold chips.
Story + Photos Mandy McKeesick
Gold hunting is not easy. Even getting to these hills behind Gladstone, Qld, has not been easy; sucking mud has clutched at vehicles, tyres have narrowly avoided stakes and pinstriping has been added to the paintwork. The prospectors have slipped down washouts, teetered precariously on rocky slopes, bush-bashed along wrong creeks, consulted satellite images and reconsidered life choices. Finally, they have arrived at a breathless gully, where the ferocity of the sun is matched only by the smothering humidity.
But Donnie Pascoe is smiling. “We’re on,” he says theatrically to Ellie Jones, a bewildered wanna-be gold hunter. With warbling metal detectors in hand, they scour a ridge, looking for water-worn gravels and old-timer scratchings, indicators of riches dreamt.
Donnie, trading as Pascoelads Prospecting, is a gold guru. During the cooler months he wrangles heavy machinery to mine on his lease, 1880 Gold, near Clermont, and teaches people how to prospect. But even on his off months he is chasing the mesmerising metal, which brings him and Ellie to this inferno.
Gold is enjoying a boom, not because of new finds but because of the soaring price. The gold price, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce, reached US$2,000 for the first time in 2020, as people turned to precious metals during COVID uncertainty. The price hovered around or slightly under US$2,000 until the beginning of 2025 and then it doubled in less than 12 months. The price is expected to keep climbing.
This story excerpt is from issue #167
Outback Magazine: June/July 2026
