Aussie specker finds massive gemstone on evening walk

A Queensland amateur prospector has claimed his biggest find yet after excavating a precious gemstone during his evening walk.

Matt Betteridge found “an absolutely massive” 834-carat Australian sapphire near his home on fossicking land near Rubyvale in Queensland’ Gemfields while on a “bit of evening specking (looking for sapphires with a torch)”.

Mr Betteridge told the Today show on Monday morning that his family “were stoked” with his find.

“When I got back to camp we put it on the scales and my wife and I yelled 800 carat! We couldn‘t even comprehend the size of it,” he said.

Mr Betteridge shared the moment in a TikTok video, scraping back dirt and trying to pull the gemstone out only to realise it was too big and required more excavation.

“Holy dooley … No way!” he exclaimed in the video.

“Holy dooley … what the hell.”

He said the result of the excavation was “an absolutely massive” 834-carat Australian sapphire.

“Look at the size of the crystal there,” he said in the clip in an ecstatic voice.

Mr Betteridge claimed the sapphire was “very roughly” worth about $12,500, telling followers on TikTok he was ”beyond stoked”.

“So chuffed I can’t even explain,” he wrote.

“The rain unearthed it that little bit … I thought it was going to be an average-sized stone until I couldn’t pull it out,” he said.

When asked if the sapphire would be put on jewellery, he said “this one will stay as a specimen”.

“It does have some facet-grade material inside here and you would have to destroy the specimen to find out how much it’s worth and that’s not for me,” he said.

“I think I will keep it as it is,” he said.

With so much rain recently, gem hunters like Mr Betteridge are out in force, believing they have a better chance of spotting the lucrative gemstones after heavy rain has washed away topsoil.

“All the speckers are out covering ground, even in between the showers,” Mr Betteridge said.

“We are all for getting people out here to have a go. Just grab your permit in town here and have a go.”

The region is believed to be one of the largest sapphire-bearing areas in the world.