NEW YORK (VINnews) — A team of construction workers has discovered a gold hoard worth an estimated $10 million during renovation work at the site of a former Belgian brewery that is being converted into a shelter for homeless people.

The treasure was discovered last week in the city of Dendermonde, when a drill became lodged in a gold bar, according to local police. The gold had reportedly been hidden in a bag beneath the stone basement floor of a 19th-century villa built in the 1890s for the brewery’s former owner, Theophilus Van Assche, local police officer Katrien Braem said.

The eight-member construction crew included an 18-year-old student working a summer job who was the first to notice the gold. The workers contacted their employer and police to report the discovery, which included gold coins and gold bars dating from the Victorian era.

Police said their teams collected and catalogued the treasure before immediately placing it in a highly secured federal vault.

Photographs released by police showed 49 gold bars arranged on a table at the construction site, along with hundreds of gold coins collected in a builders’ bucket.

The historic site, which has been almost completely demolished, is being renovated by the social welfare organization CAW Oost-Vlaanderen. Workers discovered the gold while installing sewage pipes for new shelters that are planned for the property.

The ultimate fate of the treasure remains unclear. Legal proceedings may be required to determine whether ownership belongs to descendants of the Van Assche family, the organization carrying out the renovation, or the workers who discovered the gold.

Dendermonde police, in the Flemish region of Belgium about 29 kilometers northwest of Brussels, have warned would-be treasure hunters to stay away from the site.

Police said all of the discovered gold has been removed, while the construction area contains several dangerous pits.

“It appears that various treasure hunters are eager to visit the site,” police wrote in a statement. “Perfect advice: it really is pointless.”

The discovery comes at a particularly lucrative time for the precious metal. Gold is currently trading above $4,400 per ounce, after more than doubling in value over the past several years.