Travel to Australia, and watch this real life documentary, of people mining the Opal gemstone.
Season 5 has 8 episodes.
See our other videos, for the latest, HIGHEST QUALITY episodes of the Australian series Aussie Gold Hunters, Gem Hunters Down Under and MORE!
Season 5 has 8 episodes.
See our other videos, for the latest, HIGHEST QUALITY episodes of the Australian series Aussie Gold Hunters, Gem Hunters Down Under and MORE!
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TVTranscript
00:00On Outback Opal Hunters, racing to break a month-long opal drought, the Bushman's 50-50
00:12partnership is on the line. I want to really do something to impress the partners. We bloody
00:17will need it at the moment. After weeks of delays, the young guns finally move on to
00:23their new claim. But gaining access for their heavy machinery becomes an epic dig all of
00:30its own. There's no shaft in that bit of dirt. I feel like I've buggered this whole thing up
00:34for us. And Pete and Sam's trusty alloy claim finally runs dry. That's it, I've had enough
00:41of this. Forcing them to scavenge through century-old mines for prized black opal.
01:23I don't know whether to love it or hate it. 11 metres below the unforgiving ground of Ploughboy's
01:32claim, 74-year-old Les Watts and 59-year-old Rod Manning have hit concrete like sandstone.
01:45Let's have a look. Yeah, we're really hoping that this turns into something up through here
01:54because we bloody will need it at the moment. A new 50-50 partnership with mine owner Martin
02:00Hutchison is putting the Bushman under increased pressure to find opal. Come on,
02:06you bastard, you've got to get better than this. I want to really do something to impress the
02:13partners. Every day I tell them I'm close, I'm close, I'm close. And it's just not happening
02:20for us, you know. It's not doing us any favours, it's not finding any colour. I mean,
02:26its traces are good, but it's all too thin. You can't do anything with it. So we need stuff at
02:34least a quarter of an inch thick with good colour bars in it. Until that happens, well,
02:39we're not going anywhere. Halfway through the season and big dreams of setting Les up for
02:47retirement have so far failed to deliver. Meagre opal finds and major machinery breakdowns have
02:57left them with little to show. You've got to halve it and then you've got to halve it again for me
03:02and Les. We need more. This season targets a bloody important one because I really made
03:10me mind up that this year, you know, the old fella's got to be sent off the right way. We're
03:16a bit behind where we should be at this stage of the season, and it's no good just getting a stone
03:22or two here and there and a bit of trace. We need to find some decent bloody opal here. So hoping
03:28for a massive big pocket of beautiful colour. That's what we're hoping for. You know, you got
03:36to put your mind back 120 million years too. That's when it was formed, and it was formed by
03:43water. So you've sort of got to be chasing where water had flown millions of years ago. So you're
03:49looking for all the signs that water could have been carried down your face and what brought that
03:55water down in the first place. I reckon I've got a major fault coming in down the bottom here.
04:01Yeah. I suppose you could call it a little bit of detective work. It's here somewhere. It does feel
04:08like that sometimes. Making the mining even more challenging, their 50 square metre plough boys
04:17claim is proving to be the toughest they've ever tackled. The digging down here, it don't get any
04:24harder. Yeah, it's bloody hard on the digger. Tough on everything. Tough on us. But I've not seen
04:35ground as hard as this in a level. It's damn hard stuff. Well, that's a bit disappointing, lads.
04:46Promises you the world and then doesn't deliver a bloody thing. But you can't give up. Gotta keep
04:52on plodding on because one day. Yeah, mate. One day.
05:04Oh, what happened here? What was that? We got a missing tooth. What? Bloody tooth broke off.
05:13Oh, bloody Nora, Liz. It just tore out and cracked out. Does it ever end? No, it's getting worse.
05:33This week's all about getting into the new mine. The mine itself actually belonged to a man who
05:38pulled out a $100,000 fine. So yeah, we'll definitely be chasing more of that.
05:45Hopes are running high for the young guns with their new claim, a 50 square metre proven mine
05:50that's been untouched for 10 years. Well, this is the only way in and out of the mine.
05:55Yeah, this is it. One shaft, whole area. Their first task is to get their essential mining
06:02equipment into the 14 metre deep mine. Each of our pieces of machinery is over a tonne.
06:07So it's going to be a massive challenge. 125. That's the box. How long's a digger? 170. That's
06:15with the arm. Like, look at the size of the hole. I know. It'd only barely fit in the collar anyway,
06:20so we'd have to take the whole sides, this corner and that corner, all the way down.
06:25We're going to have to stand on the edge and just jackhammer out the sides. But damn, like,
06:28that's going to be dangerous, man. And it's a big drop if something does go wrong.
06:33So I'm looking down this hole and there's just no way the digger's going to fit through there.
06:37Let alone the loader. In only their second season, the Young Guns have massively scaled up
06:45their operation. With the help of an investor, they've forked out $62,000 on machinery.
06:53But the bigger machines have come with bigger problems.
06:58Wow. And there we go. That roof just moved. Their powerful new digger exposed structural
07:05weaknesses in their world's end claim, forcing them to abandon it.
07:12What we need is a bloody excavator, but... Your dad does have an excavator.
07:17I mean, I'd rather not ask him. He's always helping us.
07:20I know. I would neither, but if we paid him fuel and everything...
07:25Once again, another hiccup and we're going straight back to Graham.
07:29We've got really no other choice. He's got the machinery and we've got the
07:32cash. So if we can strike a deal, it's definitely our best option.
07:37Our season earning so far is at $37,000. We've still got a long way to go to make $100,000.
07:43We're hoping this new mine is the one that's going to pay off for us.
07:47How are you guys? How are you going?
07:49Jamin's father, Graham, has mined in Whitecliffs for 28 years.
07:53What are you guys doing down here? What's broken now?
07:56Nothing. We have hit a bit of a problem though.
08:00Yeah. We've come over to the new mine and none of our gear is going to fit down the shaft.
08:06You'll have to just jackhammer it out bigger.
08:08I don't think we're going to be able to do that.
08:10So what do you want from me?
08:14You want my machine to come and dig for you. It's not going to be cheap.
08:18The boys have set themselves up to run independently, you know,
08:21but they still keep coming back for help all the time. So I mean,
08:24a bit of tough love doesn't hurt. A bit of reality for them, really.
08:28You know, this will use up to 40 litres an hour of diesel,
08:31let alone all the other expenses. So yeah, look, I'll do it for 300 bucks an hour.
08:38I mean, we don't really have a choice at this point. We've got to take it. No choice.
08:43It's going to need to be a really big, long decline and that's going to cost in the thousands.
08:50The Younguns want Graham to dig a decline,
08:53a dirt ramp that will allow them to walk their machines into the mine.
08:58We want to be digging over here and this is where the Exmarx or Spotline is.
09:03To minimise digging costs, they're aiming to hit an old vertical shaft
09:08back filled with loose dirt, which should be easier to excavate.
09:13Went underground and plotted a map of all our drives underground. The drive stops there.
09:19You reckon?
09:19Yes.
09:20If we get down there and find it's like, you know, five metres somewhere else.
09:24We're spending money for Graham to come out here. If it doesn't hit straight away,
09:27we're in it for a whole lot more.
09:30All right, guys. What do you got for me? JC will run you through it. He's done all the measuring.
09:34Yeah, we surveyed underground and it came out exactly right. There's the end of the drive.
09:40It all rests on you, JC.
09:43I'm like 100% sure that that's the shaft. It'll break straight in.
09:47Worst case scenario is I'm out and this decline is going to be completely in the wrong spot.
09:53We've got much bigger stakes this season. Just having an investor changes the whole game.
09:58We need to be pulling out even more opal just to be covering cost.
10:23JC, where's the shaft?
10:27Is it not like right under here?
10:29There's no shaft in that bit of dirt.
10:32That's like exactly where we measured to.
10:35If we're playing battleships, that's a miss.
10:37Like this, this point right here.
10:43Now that there's no shaft there and Graham's saying to me,
10:47you know, where is it, JC? I feel like I've buggered this whole thing up for us.
10:52So what are you 100% sure on?
10:55I don't know how the shaft can't be there.
11:06We're on our way to our claim, which is about 25km north of the ridge. It's called Aloi.
11:12We had a nice stone come out a couple of months ago,
11:16but just absolutely nothing ever since. So I've just about had enough of this claim.
11:20It's not paying.
11:22Sam's had to take on a few more shifts at the club. He works as a bartender there.
11:29It puts a strain on his relationship with his partner.
11:32He works all day with me for nothing.
11:35Then he's got to go to the club and go straight away and work till midnight.
11:41Aloi was good to us for a little bit. It produced a bit of opal,
11:45but ever since then it's just gone dead.
11:48If we get another good hit, he might even be able to quit his other job.
11:54Righto, I'll see you down there.
11:57After three months without a payday, Pete Cook and Sam Westra are on the verge of
12:02abandoning their 50-square-metre Aloi claim, a mine they've worked for the last two years.
12:09We're over digging dead dirt and just pouring the diesel into it. So we've come down here
12:15just to see if we can't fluke a bit before we try something new.
12:20Halfway through the season, they've found $49,000 of their $100,000 season target.
12:26It started off pretty good, but it's just gone quiet.
12:30We need it to change. We've got to turn it around.
12:33Most of their $49,000 find has been poured into growing their mega wash plant operation
12:40in the hope of processing dirt from other miners for a percentage of any opal found.
12:46But the return on investment to date, zero.
12:50You sort of wonder what you're doing sometimes, just keep throwing money after it.
12:57The digger just went off. I'll go up and have a look.
13:02Our power supply is playing up. Residual current device is tripping out. Sam's just resetting up.
13:09There must be a short somewhere because it won't stay on.
13:15Can't go mining until we fix it, basically.
13:22If the three-phase isn't working, that's the end of mining for today.
13:29Nah, something's broken.
13:31Okay, that's it. I've had enough of this.
13:35We'll go to another claim, mate. We've got that open cut in town that I want to try.
13:39This ain't playing the game.
13:41It just shows you how a small problem could just wreck your whole day.
13:54Yeah, it's busted that bloody boot.
13:56Clean in half, Les.
13:57Yeah, yeah.
13:59Clean in half.
14:02Rod and Les have suffered a critical breakdown on their 2-tonne digger.
14:06Well, that's not something I just have laying around, Les.
14:10It's not.
14:12Those teeth go into what we call boots that hold them in there.
14:15We've had that much pressure on the tooth that it's broken one of the boots in half.
14:22Oh, watch their fingers, Les. Watch your fingers.
14:25Yeah, nearly broke two of them.
14:27Well, that's why they give you five of them.
14:30Oh, you ****!
14:35You old prick, you done that deliberate.
14:38Where'd you get it caught?
14:40Tooth dropped on it. Old freaking thing.
14:44It'll be up to Les to fix the digger tooth.
14:48With 40 years experience as a rigger and 20 years spent collecting scrap at his yard,
14:54he's the ideal man for the job.
14:57Last time you had that welder going here, it didn't end up real good, mate.
15:02It didn't.
15:03Do not blow yourself up.
15:07At the end of last season, Les suffered third-degree burns
15:11when a welding spark ignited a petrol canister.
15:14I've got nothing around here to blow myself up with.
15:17Yeah, well, that's good.
15:19I learnt my lesson.
15:20While you're doing this, you know, our man has been annoying us
15:23to go and get his goat for the sausages.
15:26Yeah.
15:27I might go and try and roll a goat while you're doing this, hey?
15:31Yeah, righto. Yeah, not a problem.
15:33Righto, mate.
15:34Righto, gotcha.
15:36Living 70 kilometres from the nearest shop,
15:39Rod supplements his meagre food supplies with goat,
15:43a feral pest introduced to Australia over 200 years ago.
15:47You live in the middle of nowhere, you know,
15:49like it's hard to get meat and stuff like that.
15:53There's heaps of it running around out here.
15:56I don't enjoy killing things, but I do enjoy eating.
16:09Right through there.
16:12Let's see.
16:12You bastard.
16:33We could be looking just in this area here.
16:36JC has measured the amount of meat that's in this area.
16:40JC has measured underground and tried to transfer it to the surface,
16:45but, you know, when we're scratching the top off,
16:47we're not finding the shaft that he's claiming is there, you know,
16:50so we might have to do a bit of a quick remeasure,
16:53just use a different technique.
16:54Usually that will get us close enough.
16:57Freaking measurements.
16:59Based on JC's calculations,
17:01the young guns have been paying mentor Graham $300 an hour
17:05to dig in the wrong spot.
17:07Rodeo.
17:09Coming.
17:10They're trying to cut a 14-metre decline into their new mine.
17:15Basically, where's my straight line?
17:19You know, I'm certain that I've measured it right.
17:21I don't know what this could be.
17:23What I need is for you to put your light on that there.
17:28When you go up?
17:29Yeah, I'm going to go up and line it up from the top.
17:34The old-school method, just pace it out by feet.
17:40Well, yeah, we're a little bit off.
17:43Where's the point?
17:45Not where you said.
17:49According to Graham, JC is two metres too far south.
17:54Their target is an old vertical shaft.
17:59Backfilled with loose dirt,
18:01Backfilled with loose dirt,
18:03it should be easier to dig and connect directly to their underground mine.
18:11Oh, we've broken through.
18:15That must be it then.
18:18Woo, we're through.
18:24It's not going to take too much longer to get the rest of it done.
18:31Oh, hey!
18:34Hey!
18:36Oh, for **** sake.
18:39Oh, looks like we've just done a hose by the look of it.
18:41A lot of oil.
18:44I mean, that's probably just wrecked the day.
18:46How's that happened?
18:48I mean, if it's a hose, I mean, we could be down for a week out here.
19:00You bastard.
19:08On the hunt for wild goat to stock his pantry.
19:12That bullet.
19:14Bushman Rod Manning's list of breakdowns now extends to his rifle.
19:20Miss firing all the time doesn't help.
19:22Firing pins not contacting properly.
19:25Oh, for **** sake.
19:50Oh, they're good, hey?
19:52Yeah, goat curry with sweet chilli.
19:55Oh, you ripper.
19:58Well, who'd ever thought you'd be here making bloody goat sausages, girl?
20:01I don't know.
20:02Hey?
20:03Life is definitely different now than what it was when I was younger.
20:06Until they met 23 years ago, Rod's wife Amanda lived a world away from the opal fields.
20:13My parents were motel managers and resort managers.
20:17Gone from personal chefs to...
20:19Wasn't a personal chef, Rod.
20:21Did you or did you not have a chef?
20:23Yeah, my dad.
20:24No.
20:26Her parents thought she'd probably marry a millionaire or, you know, someone important.
20:35When we got together, I guess it was a bit of a shock for everyone, you know,
20:39because like Amanda was very much a city girl back then.
20:43When I first come out here, there were a lot of things I didn't like.
20:47See, I grew up with toilets inside, not out.
20:51Yeah, I used to go down the mine with Rod all the time.
20:55We worked good together.
20:56Yeah.
20:57I'm sure she's probably the best wife I've ever had.
21:07The old fella's got us out of trouble yet again.
21:10Thanks to Les' supply of scrap metal, he's welded a new boot for the digger's claw.
21:16Very good. Looks all right too.
21:18Yeah, ready to go back underground.
21:20We've sort of got the old fella heading in the right direction now to be able to retire.
21:27So we've just got to keep on digging.
21:29Just got to find it for him.
21:31All right, Les, that's it, mate.
21:32All right.
21:33Crank her up.
21:34Let's get in and find our fortune, mate.
21:36You ready?
21:37Yeah, mate.
21:44Man, that's hard.
21:50Good to see you, mate. We'll be digging some gems in no time.
22:03That's it.
22:08Desperate for a change of luck, Pete and Sam have ditched their aloe acclaim
22:13for one of Pete's other leases, a 100-year-old open-cut mine
22:17four kilometres from Lightning Ridge.
22:20Hopefully our luck changes and we can actually move some dirt.
22:25But open-cut mining requires heavy machinery with high running costs.
22:31The area's called Old Knobbies and they've been mining here for over 100 years
22:35and a lot of good opal came from this area, but it's mined out.
22:41It's too dangerous to go underground, so the only option now
22:44is dig down through all the old workings and see if the old time has left us anything.
22:54We're just going on spec.
22:55We don't know.
22:56There's opal there.
22:58Of course I'm hopeful.
22:59You've got to be hopeful or you wouldn't bloody even do it.
23:02We've got a 32-tonne excavator here with what we call a sieving bucket on it
23:06or a skeleton bucket, so it's got large holes in it
23:10that let the dirt through but keep the real big rocks inside the bucket.
23:15We want to avoid the big clumps and this has the perfect attachment to do that.
23:21The mined earth has been exposed for decades to the intense 40-degree temperatures,
23:26baking it hard.
23:28The bigger the rock, the harder it is to clean in their agitator wash plant.
23:33We just want the nice 50mm down size material
23:37and that should wash pretty easy through our agi.
23:40Once sifted, the finer dirt is loaded into the truck with the regular bucket.
23:47Nice and quick, we do two loads in a couple of hours
23:50instead of mining where you'd get one load a day.
23:55Really hoping there's some gems in it and our luck changes a bit
23:59and we can walk away with a few dollars.
24:04What's that in there, Pete?
24:05Old drive, I think.
24:07Yeah?
24:09Let's have a look.
24:10Yeah, an old belly drive, mate.
24:12Broken through in here.
24:14Yeah.
24:15She's a little bit risky but...
24:18Well, you can have a quick look, I suppose.
24:23Well, these are the old drives that the old timers dug.
24:27They call them belly drives for a very good reason.
24:30They're crawling around on their bellies.
24:32They've done a hell of a lot of work in there.
24:38Oh yeah, look at this.
24:41Oh, what have you got there?
24:44An old pair of opal steps, mate.
24:46Bloody hell.
24:47Look at the rust on them.
24:49Look at this, an old spider.
24:52An old what?
24:53Spider.
24:55They'd poke it in the wall like that and a little candle there
25:00and that's all the melted wax.
25:02Look at that.
25:03Tough old buggers in them days, mate.
25:04They really earned their opal.
25:06Yeah.
25:07I don't want to go in any further.
25:08It's a bit dodgy, mate.
25:10A bit dangerous.
25:10I think we'll just use a machine from here.
25:14Yeah.
25:22I can feel it's damaged just there.
25:25The hose is split.
25:26It's a bloody nuisance.
25:28Beset with problems at their new mine,
25:31the Young Guns $300 an hour excavator has just blown a hydraulic hose.
25:37We're so close now.
25:38Like, we've broken through into the drive.
25:40We're pretty much ready to, you know, rip it back and get the ramp down there
25:44so we can get all our gear underground
25:46and then just to have this curveball thrown at us.
25:50Yeah.
25:51How you going?
25:52Yeah, I'm good.
25:53I've actually just blown a hose on the excavator.
25:57Jesus.
25:58It's only an auxiliary hose, so it's doing nothing.
26:00So I reckon you should be able to fix it for us.
26:02Five kilometres away, back in Whitecliffs,
26:07Graham's father and Jamin's grandfather, Pop,
26:10is a 47-year opal mining veteran and expert on bush repairs.
26:15Like a little metal plate to sit in over the top of that.
26:18We better put a bit of a nipple on it and locate it so it stays in the middle.
26:21That'd be a good idea.
26:22He's got all the equipment for doing just such a job.
26:25Take that, you hot little hand.
26:27I'll make room.
26:28The leak is in a back-up auxiliary hose.
26:32Well, I hope this works.
26:34Graham's solution is to bypass the hose with a simple plug.
26:39Oh, look at that.
26:40It's like as if it was made for it, isn't it?
26:42We'll be working again in half an hour, 20 minutes.
26:44Thanks, Dad.
26:45See you, Pop.
26:46Thanks, Pop.
26:49Oh, looking good.
26:50I mean, that's just fitted up nicely.
26:52It seems to be holding.
26:57After all the dramas we've had so far this season
27:00with breakdowns and things going wrong,
27:02it was good to see something get fixed the same day it was broken.
27:13There you go, boys.
27:14There we go.
27:15He's all done.
27:17Yeah.
27:17I'm glad.
27:18I'm glad.
27:19I'm glad.
27:19There we go. She's all done.
27:21Whoo!
27:23The decline has taken five hours to dig
27:26and cost the young guns $1,500.
27:29But the excavator arm isn't long enough
27:32to dig out the final section.
27:34That needs to be at least seven, eight foot deeper.
27:39It's left to the boys to finish the job with hand tools.
27:45It's been a massive day for everyone.
27:47We're not really moving as fast as we'd like to.
27:50I'm not really sure what we're going to do,
27:52but we need to come up with a different strategy tomorrow.
28:11The area that Pete's pegged this new claim
28:14is a really good hold area.
28:17The old-time miners were only mining with a pick and a candle,
28:20so there could be a lot of opal they've missed.
28:25I really need a payday to keep the spirits up.
28:29I hope to get three trucks into the Aggie today.
28:32That's my plan.
28:34We need to find a bit of opal.
28:36It's been a long time between drinks.
28:40Pretty excited about nailing it all out.
28:47Designed and built by Pete,
28:49the mega wash plant has a drive-over hopper
28:52connecting to a movable conveyor belt,
28:54which carries the mined dirt to the waiting agitators.
28:58It's not working!
29:00Not working.
29:01The motor's running. I need to have a look.
29:07Whoa!
29:09Yeah, it's jamming.
29:11Belt's not going around.
29:13This is ridiculous.
29:15It should just work. It's been working.
29:17If we can't get this fixed,
29:19I'll have to shovel all three trucks out.
29:24All right, we've got some of this, mate.
29:26A spray-on adhesive should give the rubber belt more grip.
29:31The dirt's built up.
29:33The dust has built up underneath the roller
29:36and stopping it going round.
29:42Yes! Thank God!
29:45That's better. That's how it should work.
29:50We should be back after the third truck going in by now
29:53and we're still on the first one.
29:57Now to feed the agis with 60 tonnes of mined earth,
30:0115 tonnes at a time.
30:03The exact same dirt that started an opal boom 100 years ago.
30:09I've got high hopes for it,
30:11but we won't know until we have a look.
30:16BEEPING
30:27Whoa, whoa!
30:29That looks a good piece.
30:31Got red and everything in it.
30:33With their digger repair,
30:35the Bushmen have finally hit promising opal trace.
30:38This one's going to tell us whether we're rich or not.
30:45Ho, ho, ho!
30:47Les, Les, Les!
30:49It come true?
30:51I think it's going to happen for us.
30:59Oh!
31:01Ho, ho, ho! Look at that!
31:03Look at the golds and the bloody reds.
31:07Haven't seen a piece that good for a long time.
31:09It's got to be a couple of grand in that, Les.
31:11Let's hope it continues, Les.
31:13Of course, that's big and that's cheesy.
31:15Ha, ha, ha, ha!
31:19Whoa, whoa, whoa!
31:21I think you dropped a heap of stuff on the ground there, mate.
31:24Eh?
31:25Colour.
31:26Oh, there's a bit, look.
31:28Oh, yeah. Look at that.
31:29Oh, that's all right.
31:30Oh, there's another bit.
31:32Pickle me grandmother, Les! Look at it!
31:34Yeah.
31:35Whoa! Ha, ha!
31:37That's good colour.
31:39I tell you what, Les,
31:41when you look in this bucket,
31:43I reckon it'd have to be
31:45between 12 and 15 grand, wouldn't you?
31:48I'd reckon, yes, because that's worth a fair bit in that.
31:51I know Brian's kicking about.
31:52I might see if he's interested in this, eh?
31:54OK, yeah, that sounds all right, yeah.
31:57We're pretty low on money,
31:59so that pocket's just coming in time.
32:04Keen for a quick sale,
32:05the Bushmen arrange to meet local buyer, Brian Gray.
32:10How are you blokes going?
32:12Brian does also do a bit of mining himself,
32:15but he got busted up pretty bad in a quad bike accident,
32:19so he's not been able to mine for a couple of years or do anything.
32:24All he does is buys and sells,
32:27put it on the wheel and polish it up and resell it.
32:32Rod and Les have crystal opal in the rough.
32:36Its colours are varied, with attractive reds and yellows.
32:40Its weight, 650 grams.
32:43Ah, jeez, I'd have to have 14, 15 grand for them, so...
32:48Their partnership deal will see them get 50% of the sale.
32:52Negotiating with opal buyers is pretty much always the same.
32:56They're feeding bastards that want everything for nothing.
33:00That's why I've got my Lucky Selling hat on.
33:02Surprised me how much money you're thinking of getting out of it.
33:07It's $22,000.
33:10Oh, really?
33:11Only because you're a good fella.
33:14I'm about eight.
33:15Come on now, Les.
33:17Les, get a bit fed into me here.
33:19It's me you're talking to.
33:21Look at the pieces like that, look at the colour in that.
33:24I'll come down to 20.
33:27Work with me here, you know, like...
33:29What do you reckon?
33:30Yeah, that doesn't sound too bad.
33:3318.
33:34And that's it, I'm not going any lower, so...
33:36Will you take a check?
33:37No.
33:38No way.
33:39No way.
33:40Say 60.
33:41No, let's say 18.
33:46All right.
33:47All right?
33:4818.
33:4918.
33:50Good on ya.
33:51Les, proper money.
33:52I didn't think we were going to get that much money.
33:56It's a special deal this week.
33:58There's some sausages for you.
34:00Sausages as well.
34:01Goat sausages, wild goat sausages, mate.
34:04Wild goat sausages.
34:06Bye, mate.
34:07Not a problem, mate.
34:08Thank you for that, and we'll catch you later on.
34:10I got a little bit more than I wanted, so I was real happy with it.
34:14Les and I are going to go and get some more sausages.
34:17I'm going to go and get some more sausages.
34:19I'm going to get some more sausages.
34:21I'm going to get some more sausages.
34:23I was real happy with it.
34:25Les and Rod's share of $9,000 brings their total
34:28at the season's halfway mark to just over $50,000.
34:33It's going to keep us floating for a little bit longer,
34:36but we're pushing hard to find that big pocket.
34:39That's getting better.
34:43I want to send Les off all right.
34:45You know, he's got to be starting to take it easy.
34:49It's there somewhere, and we'll get it.
34:53We'll get it.
35:02All right, boys.
35:04Here we go.
35:05Well, we've got a lot left to do.
35:08Still struggling to open up access to their new claim,
35:12the young guns have been unable to mine all week.
35:16We need to find something,
35:17otherwise we're just throwing money into this hole
35:19and we're not seeing any reward.
35:20There's a trace that we can at least start digging.
35:22Keep us all running for the next couple of days
35:24while we dig out this bloody ramp.
35:26Let's go. Let's do it.
35:27The entrance to the mine is only big enough
35:29to carry in hand tools.
35:31Bloody jackhammers again.
35:33The plan is for JC and Noah to start hunting opal,
35:38while Jamin keeps opening up the decline access ramp.
35:42We've really got no other options.
35:44We need to see this mine paying us back a little bit.
35:47Yeah, mate.
35:50When we knew the other mine was finished up,
35:52we started scouting out other areas.
35:55This was one of the mines that we ended up coming into
35:58to see if it had potential,
35:59and we found opal trace all through the walls.
36:03Right here.
36:04Look at that.
36:05Hopefully this is the one that turns big.
36:21Hang on, hang on.
36:22What's that?
36:23What's that there?
36:24You got a bit?
36:25Yeah.
36:27A little bit of flash, a bit thicker.
36:29Yeah.
36:38Holy shit.
36:40What have you got?
36:41Dude, look at that.
36:42What have you got?
36:43It's like glow-in-the-dark or something.
36:45That's like glow-in-the-dark.
36:51Whoa.
36:55That's a bloody stone right there.
36:57This is the mine.
36:58This is the young gun's ticket.
37:00What's going on? Are we rich yet?
37:02Oh, we're not rich, but...
37:04Look at that bit.
37:05It's the best stuff in here so far.
37:07That's good. That's a good sign.
37:09Not a lot of value in what they've actually found,
37:11but they've found us the first point on the road map to opal.
37:15That's good.
37:16We can just move the digger straight in here
37:18as soon as we get that ramp done and just start working.
37:21I'm pretty stoked right now.
37:23This is the spot.
37:34This is the moment of truth.
37:36Come on, baby.
37:38I'm just hoping to see colour everywhere.
37:44From the 100-year-old open-cut mine,
37:47Pete and Sam have washed 60 tonnes of opal dirt
37:50down to just four tonnes of stones.
37:53A few bits and pieces of opal come down.
37:56Even this bit might be a cutter, so that's great.
37:59I can't wait to get this back into town, into our tail-out room.
38:04After three dismal months of losing money,
38:07their entire season could be decided by what's in these one-tonne bags.
38:18Plenty of material, just arch everywhere.
38:23Just got to get that big one, mate.
38:25Where's the big one?
38:26Yeah, exactly.
38:28It's trying.
38:29It is?
38:30It's trying.
38:31Keep looking.
38:36Ho, ho, ho.
38:37What have you got there?
38:39Oh...
38:40What have you got?
38:41Show me.
38:43Oh!
38:44Oh, wow.
38:46Oh, wow.
38:47Look at the red.
38:49There's a gem there, for sure.
38:51That's good.
38:56It's on, mate.
38:57It's on.
38:58Oh, look at that.
38:59We're on money, mate.
39:00This is fantastic.
39:01Just the start of something.
39:05Hang on.
39:06I think we've got the granddaddy.
39:08Holy shit.
39:09Look at that.
39:12Look at the size of it.
39:13Yeah.
39:15Boom, red.
39:16Oh!
39:19We've got what we call the king stone,
39:22the best stone in our parcel.
39:24And, you know, these come up two or three a lifetime,
39:27if you're lucky.
39:28Definitely, it'll face this side.
39:30It'll be a beautiful big blue stone there.
39:32But the other side's got a grey skin over it.
39:35I'm just a bit concerned about that grey skin on top.
39:40Yeah.
39:41How far down it goes into the colour.
39:43It's a bit of a problem,
39:44because I reckon we'll probably get an offer of 10 grand or more for it,
39:49as it is, so that's guaranteed money.
39:52Or we risk taking the top off it,
39:54and if it's full of sand or the holes go too deep,
39:58it could turn into just three or four, five grand.
40:03I think I'd rather take the risk,
40:04see if I can get a bit more than that for it.
40:07To maximise their return, they're turning to Vicky Buckross.
40:11Hi, guys.
40:12Hello, Vicky. How are you going?
40:13And Andrew Kemeny, who buy and cut stones.
40:17Andrew is renowned for his unusual technique of opal carving in freeform,
40:22using a precision rotary power tool.
40:25So come and see Andrew, guys.
40:27Thank you.
40:28Andrew.
40:29Hello.
40:30Pete and Sam are here with some pretty nice opal.
40:34Hello, fellas. How are you going?
40:35How are you going, mate?
40:36Good, good.
40:37Let's have a look.
40:39So the colour under that cap looks absolutely spectacular.
40:43And what we need to do is we need to very, very gently
40:46start taking some of that cap off.
40:48Yep.
40:55When that stone was getting carved, I was probably nervous.
41:01There she comes already.
41:04I think once you just started revealing that colour underneath that scum,
41:09we just knew it was going to be a gem.
41:11Oh, wow.
41:12It's got a...
41:13It's just got amazing sort of those linear lines in there.
41:17They're just stunning.
41:18Just to think it's been underground 100 million years.
41:21Yeah.
41:22And if you didn't do that to it, it would never be seen.
41:27Partly rubbed, this black opal knobby weighs nine grams or 45 carats.
41:33It's double-sided, adorned with brilliant blues and fiery reds,
41:38a rare and highly prized find.
41:41That's incredible colour.
41:45Wow, some beautiful red.
41:47Yeah, the blue...
41:48That's amazing.
41:49The blue's the back of it, eh?
41:50Yeah.
41:5145 carats.
41:52Yeah, just under 45 carats.
41:54What are you guys thinking?
41:573,000 a carat.
41:58Yeah, right.
42:00I hope I'm not too cheap.
42:02Yeah.
42:03You're never too cheap, Peter.
42:06Sam.
42:07Yeah.
42:14Like, I've had a really good look at it.
42:16The best I could offer at this stage would be 55,000 for the piece.
42:20Wow, that's a great offer.
42:22Yeah.
42:23That's good, yep.
42:24And then you've got the other parcels.
42:26Yeah, those two there.
42:28One was 10 and one was 8.
42:30Yeah.
42:31You'd be looking at about 73,000 in total.
42:35Yeah.
42:36That's been great.
42:37Excellent.
42:38Vicky's offer gives a certain $73,000 for this opal parcel,
42:43but Pete is holding off on accepting the offer.
42:46That's just the minimum I'm going to get.
42:48I believe I will get more than that.
42:50Yeah, I'm stoked.
42:51I am wrapped.
42:54Seeing this sort of quality material come out from a new claim,
42:57if it keeps producing like this, the sky's the limit.
43:01If it keeps going like that, I'll be able to retire at 22.
43:06This season, we had a target of $100,000.
43:10We've smashed it.
43:11We have.
43:12We've got it.
43:13We've smashed it.
43:14We have.
43:15We've got 122, I think.
43:18I'm very, very pleased with that.
43:22Such a buzz being on opal.
43:24It's just the best feeling you can have with your clothes on,
43:27I reckon.
43:43I reckon.
43:44I reckon.