THERE’S gold in them thar hills as Scotland celebrates the second big find in a week, triggering gold rush talk.

A nugget of gold was discovered in a river in the Southern Uplands, which is thought to be the most significant find in Scotland in the past 70 years.

The 20-carat golden nugget, which weighs about 18.1g, has an estimated value of £10,000 and was discovered by a Canadian man during a gold panning course near Wanlockhead in the Lowther Hills.

The gold panning course operates out of Wanlockhead’s Museum of Lead Mining.

Museum trustee Gerard Godfrey said: “We are absolutely delighted with such a significant find. No doubt there will be a mini gold rush once this gets out but we are happy with that.

“We welcome responsible panners to the area and have all the equipment and information necessary for experienced or novice enthusiasts.

“There is now no doubt that there are some very large pieces of gold in these hills, which are just waiting to be discovered.”

Vast deposits of gold were also found at a secret location in the hills of South Ayrshire and mineral exploration teams say they have uncovered a “major find” worth up to £2.5 billion.

The find lies a few miles from a village and gold exploration experts drafted in from Ireland believe that up to 3.5 million ounces could be extracted from rock.

SNP MSP Chic Brodie, who helped broker the deal to bring the gold experts to Ayrshire, said: “This is incredible stuff.

“It once again highlights the potential of this region and hopefully leads to some great things in future.

“My principal aim has always been to bring jobs and more investment to the table for Ayrshire and I was delighted to facilitate this exciting development.”

The lucky gold panner from Canada, known only as John, who found the prized nugget at Wanlockhead almost threw it back in the water but thought he had better check it out with his instructor Leon Kirk first.

He said: “We were a few minutes into panning when I found the nugget with a bean tin, an underwater viewing tin with a glass base.

“I saw the piece lying just under the surface of the water and picked it up. It didn’t look like much and I was just about to throw it back when I thought I should double-check with Leon first.

“I said ‘is this gold?’ and couldn’t understand his excitement.

“Looking at the size of the piece I still can’t believe it’s such a big deal but it’s very interesting to watch the reactions.”

Kirk said the last significant find of Scottish gold was a third of the size, weighing in at 6.1g, and was found in the area in 2002.

He added: “I like to tell my students that everyone goes home with a flake or two of gold, but this is exceptional.

“I always knew there were sizeable nuggets in these hills but in my decades of panning have only found very small pieces or flakes.”

“This is such a major discovery that people will be talking about it in 30 years’ time.”

Gold nuggets of this size are extremely rare in Scotland and any that are found command a premium price.

Mr Kirk said: “I am over the moon. This find leaves a really positive message that there are still big nuggets out there to be found just a few inches beneath the water.”