Leon found gold in them thar Dumfries hills

LEON KIRK was born with gold fever.

A treasure-obsessed youngster, Leon spent his early years in Swaziland, Africa, where he loved to search rivers for colourful gemstones.

But gold was his passion. It stayed with him long after his family moved back to Castle Douglas, Dumfriesshire.

Leon was in his early 30s when he properly took up gold panning as a hobby.

That was in the ’90s when Scotland’s small gold-seeking community was secretive and close-knit.

With no Internet, Leon found struggled to research his craft.

Undeterred, he knocked on the door of The Lead Mining Museum in Wanlockhead, where he now teaches gold panning courses.

They helped him procure a basic pan, and then the plucky prospector headed into the wild mountains of Tyndrum, rumoured to be a mecca for Scottish gold.

Leon taught himself through trial and error and panned almost every weekend in his first year.

That dedication paid off. His first big haul was four grams of small gold pieces, just enough for one ring, collected in Tyndrum over one weekend.

Over the next 20 years, Leon perfected the technique of panning, spending up to six hours at a time searching river beds for a glint of gold.

A gold panning natural, Leon’s greatest find was in 1999 when he plucked a 15g nugget from a river in Tyndrum.

He remembers proudly raising it above his head, shouting: “I’ve found the nugget of my dreams!”

With no commercial mining industry, the purity and rarity of Scottish gold make it four times more valuable than the commercial stuff.

Selling smaller pieces has helped Leon fund his hobby and launch a successful gold panning equipment website.

Last week, the 52-year-old took part in the World Gold Panning Championships in Moray.

Up against the best in the world, sadly, Leon failed to strike gold.

Despite going out in the first round, he still wowed everyone he met with his huge nugget of lucrative Scottish gold.

The nation’s top gold hunter is still patiently searching our rivers for his next big plunder.

But he admits discovering even the tiniest flake of gold still gives him a buzz.

It seems there’s no cure for gold fever.