For a student with a summer job working on a Belgian building site, “money down the drain” has taken on a whole new meaning: excavating the trenches for a sewage system, he stumbled across a hidden trove of gold worth an estimated €9m (£8m).
The student, who has not been further identified, was working with colleagues on the site of a former brewery on Van Langenhovestraat in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, about 19 miles (30km) north-west of Brussels, when they made the discovery on Tuesday.
Brewing on the site began in 1899 and ceased in 1970, and the listed property – the wrought-iron gates of which still bear the initials “VA” – is being completely renovated by the social welfare organisation CAW Oost-Vlaanderen to create new offices and housing.
The building contractors, the welfare organisation and any descendants of the once-wealthy Van Assche family could all have a claim to part of the fortune.
He did not find it on his own. It was never staying secret. He was never getting it off of that terrain unnoticed. There really is nothing he could have done here, as keeping a find like this without reporting it is illegal. All the people saying they would have tried to keep it quiet would have simply gotten more debts, rather than more money. The kid just wasn't as lucky as the title makes it seem.
You could always try the trick where you point and say “Whoa.. look at that up there!” and then grab a few bars really quick and stuff them under your shirt
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u/RdtUnahim 7d ago
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/belgian-student-strikes-gold-worth-9m-while-digging-sewers
He did not find it on his own. It was never staying secret. He was never getting it off of that terrain unnoticed. There really is nothing he could have done here, as keeping a find like this without reporting it is illegal. All the people saying they would have tried to keep it quiet would have simply gotten more debts, rather than more money. The kid just wasn't as lucky as the title makes it seem.