DEMOLITION workers have found about $20,000 worth of silver bullion bars buried beneath a suburban Perth house.

[FONT=Verdana]A New Zealand man known as Junior, who works for demolition company Groundworks Demolition, was tearing up a concrete slab on Tuesday at the demolition site in Como, in Perth's south, when he uncovered some PVC pipes.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Junior made the startling discovery after looking inside the pipes.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"He rang us up and asked what silver was worth," Groundworks manager Jeff Hawkings told AAP today.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"I said, 'What do you want to know that for?"'[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Junior then took the 11 bars of silver to Mr. Hawkings at the Groundworks workshop in Welshpool.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Mr. Hawkings took the haul to police later that day, saying he too had been motivated to do "the honest thing".[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Police, who believe the silver is worth about $20,000, are now making inquiries to find the booty's rightful owner, believed to be a previous occupant of the house.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"If the owner has died, then it would go to the next of kin," a police spokesman said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Mr. Hawkings said the Groundworks crew would make a claim if a next of kin could not be found.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"We got the salvage rights signed over to us in a contract when we took over the job," Mr. Hawkings said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The new owner of the property, who bought it to redevelop the site, might also put his hand up for a slice, Mr. Hawkings said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"If it's up for grabs I dare say he will have a crack at it too."[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]And if the Groundworks crew do get a slice?[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]"We'll have a nice little Christmas party or something," Mr. Hawkings said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Silver was today worth $16.42 an ounce. [/FONT]