Construction Workers Find Mystery Stockpile of Gold Worth $10M While Digging Sewage System

Construction workers in Belgium struck gold on a job site — literally.

Police in the city of Dendermonde announced in a Facebook post on Thursday, August 13, that workers found a large amount of gold during a groundworks project and shared photos of nearly 50 massive gold bars and a bucket full of gold coins estimated to be worth about €9 million (roughly $10 million).

According to a report from Belgium outlet VRT, the workers were laying groundwork for a sewage system, literally going from muck to riches. Thinking their day would be dirty and without incident, the gold was a welcome surprise.

“Our first reaction was actually disbelief, amazement. We certainly hadn’t expected to find gold,” Kobe, an 18-year-old student and construction worker, told the outlet. “We stumbled across it while carrying out groundworks to lay a pipe for the sewerage system.”

The site manager quickly took control of the scene and called authorities to determine what to do next with the discovery.

Kobe answered what many are likely thinking — why didn’t they keep the money?

“That’s what I thought too,” he explained. “Of course, we did briefly consider keeping it. But it’s simply too much money. If it were a few thousand euros, it might be feasible. But €9 million – you simply can’t keep that hidden.”

Although he hopes for a finder’s fee, at the moment no one knows who the gold belongs to or what it was doing underground in that specific location. So, any money going to the construction workers would have to be determined by the owners, if they’re ever found.

In their Facebook post, police warned would-be treasure hunters that not only have they completely cleared out the area of any remaining gold, but the site itself is fenced off and very dangerous for any civilians to wander around looking for treasure that’s likely not there.

“So definitely do not take any unreasonable risks!” the post added.

The post concluded by noting that they hope the treasure ends up in the right place and that it can “change the lives of many people in a positive way!”