Those who know Lynnie Hindle know how much she likes gold.

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For strangers, the giveaway is the glow-in-the-dark miner's pick that hangs off her key rings.

She has been prospecting since she was eight years old, initially looking for opals and gemstones.

But now, she is all about searching for gold, which is fitting for someone who lives on the outskirts of Victoria's infamous golden triangle.

Taking in Avoca, Castlemaine and Wedderburn in central Victoria, the region is renowned for the gold rush it produced in the 1850s and '60s.

"It's always like 'eureka' even when you find a little bit, because gold is gold no matter how big or small it is," Ms Hindle, the Bendigo president of Victoria's Prospectors and Miners Association, said.

Hobby prospector Lynnie Hindle says there is a 50kg nugget out there with her name on it. ( ABC Rural: Brett Worthington )

She said while the benefits of finding gold were financial, the joy was in the community of prospectors who treated mining as a hobby.

"It's fun to get out with everyone," she said.

"We have a few snags on the barbie and after tea we'll sit around the fireplace, have a few frothies and talk about all our finds that we've found, whether that's lead shot or a nice big nugget."

To mine for gold in Victoria, prospectors need a so-called miner's right.

It is a permit people buy from the Victorian Government for about $20 for permission to search, and keep, gold found on public land.

Victorian miner's rights purchases 2005 2014 2015 Online 739 3,391 6,939 Hard copy 2,640 2,000 3,460 Total 3,379 5,391 10,399 Source: Victorian Government

Permits rose from 3,379 in 2005 to 5,391 in 2014. But within a year, miner's rights almost doubled to 10,399 in 2015.

"You'll always see prospectors in the bush," Ms Hindle said.

"You always see their car parked on the side of the road and they give you a wave. They're swinging their detector. You don't bother them, you just wander off in your own area.

"It's funny how gold affects people. It can break up relationships where you could have had a really good friend, and all of a sudden they can fight over a 20 gram nugget.

"Gold does funny things to people."

Mark Hyde does not believe people looking for gold can get rich overnight. ( ABC Rural: Brett Worthington )

Benefitting from renewed interest in gold

Mark and Ronda Hyde know all too well about the renewed interest in gold.

They met through the Bendigo prospecting club and, now married, own Gold Prospecting Australia, a company that runs prospecting tours across the country.

Mr Hyde uses a soup ladle in his efforts to find gold. ( ABC Rural: Brett Worthington )

"It's just hard sometimes. Even regulars will miss their emails and will ring up two weeks too late and say 'I want to get on such and such tour' and we say 'Sorry it's full, you can go on the cancellation list'," Mr Hyde said.

"[They're then] hoping someone pulls out or gets very sick.

"People will ring us every month and say 'Has anyone dropped off that tour? I want to get on it'."

Mr Hyde and Ms Hindle agree three factors are driving the region's modern gold rush.

They say the stereotype of prospectors being grey nomads or retirees is no longer the case, and point to examples of couples in their 20s trying their luck at mining.

Another factor is the savviness of metal detectors and their ability to find large nuggets, like a recent 4.1kg discovery in central Victoria.

But they say the major driver is the price of gold, which has skyrocketed this year.

Prospectors believe there is still plenty of gold around Bendigo. ( ABC Rural: Brett Worthington )

Global uncertainty prompts gold price surge

Gold, as financial analyst Tim Treadgold puts it, loves trouble.

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He argues gold benefits during uncertain times — as nervousness rose at the prospect of Donald Trump shifting into the White house, the gold price rose.

It then went on to skyrocket immediately after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Gold prices went on to nudge record-highs in July and August before settling back in the months afterwards.

The reason institutional investors looked to gold, analysts said, was thanks to nervousness about global currencies, and fears stock market declines could be on the horizon.

While gold is a low-yielding investment, it is safe, and a tool investors use to hedge their risks.

Demand falls as prices rise

ABC business analyst Alan Kohler crunched the numbers in September.

He found demand for gold jewellery had fallen as global gold prices rose.

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"It doesn't look like the gold is being put on fingers or worn around necks," he said during his ABC TV nightly finance report.

"The price is being driven higher this year entirely by investment demand through exchange traded funds, which have to be backed by bullion in a bank vault."

The beneficiary of the renewed interest is the gold miners, which prompted some to get creative to capitalise on the conditions.

In what is believed to be an Australian first, shareholders in Resolute Resources could this year get their dividends in gold instead of cash.

The whole idea, according to chief executive John Welborne, was to improve the image of the contemporary gold industry.

Modern prospecting a far cry from gold rush days

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Regional centres like Bendigo and Ballarat have continued to expand since the gold rush days.

Today, they are Victoria's third and fourth largest cities.

But where Ms Hindle lives and prospects, near Heathcote, about 30 minutes from Bendigo, the landscape is a far cry from the gold rush days.

The population has diminished and the bulk of pubs have closed.

"The main street of Heathcote, which is High Street, is the widest street in the southern hemisphere," she said.

"Back in the gold era days, in the 1850s and '60s right up to the '90s, the population was something like 60,000 and had 22 pubs.

"But now we've got two pubs and probably a population of 6,000."

Lynnie Hindle says people will find gold if they are persistent. ( ABC Rural: Brett Worthington )

Hoping for a life-changing nugget

Mr Hyde and Ms Hindle laugh at the suggestion that people can strike it rich overnight.

They say people pick up a detector overestimating their abilities and the likelihood of finding a giant gold nugget.

"They think they are going to come out with us and in their first-ever day of having held a detector, discover this $500,000 piece of gold," Mr Hyde said.

"They come out and say 'I want to go where the big gold is' and we look at them and say 'If it was that easy we wouldn't be doing what we're doing'.

"It's not that easy. To find a big nugget is a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

For Ms Hindle, she jokes that she selfishly hopes the increasing numbers of prospectors will stay away from Heathcote, which she regards as an underrated area.

But even if they come, she remains optimistic there is a "50kg nugget with her name on it".

"I just think there is still a lot of gold. It hasn't all been found and I think you've just got to get out there yourself and you've got to walk over it, you've got to find it," she said.

"It's like anything. You're not going to get rich really, really quick, but if you're persistent and passionate and patient, you will find gold."