Travel to Australia, and watch this real life documentary, of people mining the Opal gemstone.
See our other videos, for the latest, HIGHEST QUALITY episodes of the Australian series Aussie Gold Hunters, Gem Hunters Down Under and MORE!
See our other videos, for the latest, HIGHEST QUALITY episodes of the Australian series Aussie Gold Hunters, Gem Hunters Down Under and MORE!
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00On the final week of Outback Opal Hunters...
00:03Bloody A, if we can!
00:04..the young guns risk it all
00:06in the last scorching days of the mining season.
00:09It's less than a one-in-a-million chance
00:10to find one of these things.
00:12Searching for rare $500,000 pineapple opal.
00:16Did you hit that? Oh, fuck!
00:18No! No, no, no, no!
00:20These are so friggin' hard to find,
00:21and you've just smashed the first one in two years.
00:24Well, watch out, right? I'll rip your top off.
00:27Be careful.
00:28The Boulder Boys take on deadly ground...
00:31Bit of slab up here, mate. Don't come here.
00:33..desperate to find new opal before the season ends.
00:36Just see a cliff, see?
00:37That's too dangerous.
00:40..and the Bushmen...
00:41Major problem.
00:43..face life-threatening injuries.
00:45Forget the season and what we need.
00:47It don't matter.
00:48Our life's worth more than anything.
00:51MUSIC PLAYS
01:14It's tough this lightning season,
01:16and it's hard to cope,
01:18late in the season and it's hard to keep going when the temperature's up there all the time.
01:2547 now, 47 a bit more and it's still climbing. You know, this time of year, you've got to
01:33work to the elements.
01:36In the searing summer heat, Bushman Rod Manning and Les Walsh are battling to start their
01:4220-year-old blower, vital for sucking opal dirt out of the mine.
01:47The big blower and the big machinery, it just won't handle it. It boils the oil in the summer.
01:55You need to work earlier and only short. It's not really a decision that you have to make.
02:02You know, the heat makes it for you.
02:08Son of a bitch!
02:15Jesus, Les.
02:16The Bushman season has been a tough one, but the end of the road is near.
02:23After eight months, they're just $1,500 short of their season target.
02:28Always hungry, mate. Always looking for opal.
02:32We went such a long time without any money. You've got to find her.
02:36Oh, beautiful!
02:38I want to look at it. I want to see how pretty it is.
02:42I'm still waiting to get enough money for another car.
02:45You just take it day by day.
02:48I'll probably have to buy a pushbike instead.
02:51For 74-year-old Les, the thrill of the hunt...
02:55Some nice bloody colour there.
02:56...is as strong as ever.
02:58Oh, it feels really good if you get a real gem piece.
03:02Oh! Oh!
03:04Your heart leaps and you get in there and dig it out.
03:08Yeah, old Les and his yelling.
03:11Green diamonds!
03:12He'll always yell out, and you've got to stop, and he'll bugger eyes about,
03:16and hopefully he's digging out colour, not just bloody colourless potch.
03:25These spinners have been sitting in the toolbox in the back of the ute,
03:28and you can hardly hang on to them. They're that hot.
03:30To get back on the job,
03:32first, the Bushmen need to get the blower engine started.
03:36Yeah, we run out of fuel the last day that we work,
03:39so I'll have to bleed it.
03:42Bleeding is manually pumping diesel through the fuel lines
03:46to remove air that stops an engine starting.
03:49Like this old girl, she can be a real bitch to prime.
03:52I'm going to start the motor, so...
04:06Yes, we're going.
04:09All right, we can go to work now.
04:12Close as we are to the target, we're fast running out of time.
04:16It's getting to the stage where the machinery's not going to work
04:20if it gets much hotter.
04:36Ladies, I love them all.
04:39Here's to the ones that I recall.
04:42No more ladies until we find the opal.
04:45We've got a week left, so, you know, hopefully we can.
04:49Bloody hell, if we can, we can smash it.
04:52450km further inland,
04:55extreme summer temperatures are hitting the young guns even harder.
04:59They have only days before the mining season shuts down.
05:03This week is all about, you know, finding that opal
05:05and to make this season target our number-one priority,
05:08we have to hit that.
05:10If we don't hit it, then it's going to be that much harder
05:12for me to get the boys back out next season,
05:14which I definitely want to do.
05:16Whitecliffe's ultimate prize is rare pineapple opal,
05:20formed by a complex process where crystal becomes opalised,
05:24the best fetching up to half a million dollars.
05:27It's less than a one-in-a-million chance to find one of these things,
05:30but if you find one, that really just pays for all.
05:34This week is the decider, and what we find this week
05:38is going to determine whether or not we come back next season.
05:43These guys are living out here with very little.
05:46I've seen the struggle, I've done it myself,
05:48so I know they're doing it pretty tough.
05:50It's getting pretty hot out here in their camp, down their mine.
05:53I got a bit of a proposition for you.
05:55Yeah?
05:56Might help yous out a bit.
05:58Let's say you bring your loader and that fancy drill
06:01down and drill a few holes in your floor.
06:03I just want to check out a bit of a deeper level.
06:05I think that your machine will be the way to do it.
06:09Say hello to my little friend.
06:12Yeah, there we go.
06:13Two weeks ago, the young guns gambled $700
06:17on a 1.5-metre drill to connect their two mines.
06:21Another!
06:23Mentor Graeme now wants to use it
06:26to drill into the floor of his own mine.
06:29This is a bit of a chance for him to get down
06:31into a bit of deeper, cooler ground.
06:33Hopefully find a bit of opal for him.
06:35I could probably swing a bit your way,
06:37if that makes it a bit sweeter for you.
06:39Yeah, anything that gets us a little bit closer
06:41to our season target is definitely appreciated.
06:43We all like the chances of your mine.
06:45That's definitely paid off for you in the past.
06:47It's been a good bit of ground.
06:49How about I see my way clear to 20%?
06:51You know, what we find for the day.
06:53Sounds good, definitely.
06:55See you down there.
06:56Yeah, we'll bring it straight over.
06:59That mine is probably the best mine in Whitecliffs.
07:02It's produced everything from pineapples
07:04to fossils and some really good seam opal.
07:07So I feel like if we can get in there,
07:09have a bit of a dig and see if we can't make our season target,
07:12we've got this one last chance to find a bit of opal,
07:15make everything all right
07:17and go home with a bit of money in our pockets.
07:20This looks like a weapon, boys.
07:22A lot of good potential with this.
07:24So I've got a few good spots for you to look at.
07:27Right here, there's actually...
07:29there's a fault line running through the ground.
07:32There was actually traces just here
07:34running down into the ground just here, into the floor.
07:37Just drill out this little patch anyway.
07:39Yeah.
07:40Be worthwhile having a bit of a look at straight up.
07:42Cool.
07:43See ya.
07:44See ya.
07:45See ya.
07:46See ya.
07:47See ya.
07:48See ya.
07:50On a 20% cut,
07:52the young guns will need to find a total of $50,000,
07:56more than they've found in their entire season,
07:59just to hit their target.
08:02The drill's actually chewing through the floor with no worries
08:05and hopefully, you know, that's where we hit some money.
08:08Can probably bust out ten holes probably every hour,
08:12so we'll keep carting through the ground
08:15and see if we can't pick ourselves up a nice little bit of opal.
08:22Come on, boys. Where is it?
08:24Yeah, mate, you're drillings.
08:27Oh, there you go.
08:28Damn.
08:29Nothing in it, so...
08:31I've heard people say, you know, you have to drop 1,000 holes
08:33just to find one with colour in it.
08:36900km to the north, in tropical Queensland.
08:40Yeah, it's starting to warm up now, right?
08:44Well, suddenly it's coming.
08:46Yeah.
08:47Aaron Grotchen and Ron Selig
08:49are facing both soaring temperatures and monsoon rains,
08:53signs the end of the mining season is just days away.
08:56She's over 40 today, Ron, putting her weight.
08:58You reckon?
08:59Yeah.
09:00Their valuable dragonfly claim has already been hit hard.
09:04Or do we just run away and leave it?
09:06Nah, pump her out. Pump her out.
09:08Despite this, the Boulder boys have had a good season.
09:11Shangri-La! We got a car!
09:14Whoa.
09:15Now, that is nice colour, Ron.
09:17We've reached our target.
09:18I've got enough money to do the maintenance,
09:20just do all the jobs that need to be done.
09:22I'm not going to leave opal until I find a million dollars.
09:25I'm not going to leave opal until I find a million dollars.
09:28But 95% of dragonfly has been mined out.
09:34Let's eliminate some things, Ron.
09:36All that middle bit's dug out here.
09:42We've only got that little corner down here to have a look at.
09:48This real hard yellow band there we couldn't get through last year,
09:51me and Greg.
09:52Tips?
09:53Yeah, tips.
09:55We couldn't get through last year, me and Greg.
09:57Tips?
09:58Oh, it's only about 15 foot.
10:00All right, give it a go.
10:02We can only try.
10:03Well, that's really our only option.
10:06The last corner of the claim was abandoned for being too tough to dig.
10:11With few options left, it's the final place this season
10:14Aaron and Ron have a chance of finding opal.
10:26I'm a little bit excited about this spot
10:28because this part of the dragonfly produced the best opal.
10:32I want to put a test hole in here.
10:35If we don't have a look, we won't know.
10:38After first clearing loose topsoil,
10:40their 35-tonne excavator must dig through concrete-like sandstone
10:454.5 metres below the surface to reach the opal level.
10:50There's a hard band there, Ron.
10:54That's the teeth ripping through the really hard sandstone.
11:06And why it's very hard is all the silica's gone down
11:09and it's crystallised into a concrete silica sandstone.
11:14So once we get through that, then we can get to the level
11:17So once we get through that, then we can get to the level
11:19below where the rocks would be.
11:26How's it going?
11:36Hard concrete, isn't it?
11:39But no chance of going through that, right?
11:48Ah!
11:53Still good podge.
11:58At their Bondi mine,
12:00the bushmen are grinding through hard sandstone walls
12:03before extreme summer heat shuts them down for three months.
12:09I'll see if I can pull a bit out of the bottom.
12:11I might have to move forward, mate.
12:17I still think there's dollars there.
12:19I still reckon we're going to get a good patch in here somewhere.
12:24The floor looks good.
12:26What I was thinking, we'll take out the roof
12:29and then we'll come back and dig the floor up.
12:32I'm not going to be able to make a real wide drive
12:35just coming in here.
12:37As long as we can get in.
12:39Getting the digger closer to the mine face
12:41means first clearing mined rock
12:43via their massive vacuum pipe, the blower.
12:56Ah, just having some troubles with the blower.
12:58I'd say there's a rock somewhere up the...
13:01..up the shaft.
13:05The task of unblocking is left to 74-year-old Les.
13:11I'll go and check the bends up there.
13:15Yeah, Les, you know, he's a bit of a bloody marble, really.
13:19He is slowing down a little bit,
13:21but, you know, he can fly up that ladder quicker than I can.
13:27He's an ex-rigger and he's used to working heights and climbing.
13:30He's got three parts monkey in him, I reckon.
13:36You've got to go and do something. You get up there and do it.
13:40Climbing a ladder, don't waste any time.
13:45They give it a flogging around with a hammer to shake it loose.
13:51You can hear it when she lets go.
13:53She goes down that tube at 100 mile an hour.
14:03Yeah?
14:06Hey?
14:08Righto.
14:16Just black. Black and grey.
14:19Down below, Rod has discovered some promising opal trace, or potch.
14:25I'd sooner be digging potch than not digging potch.
14:28Potch is opal. I'm just missing the colour, that's all.
14:31Yeah, it's the right formation.
14:33Yeah, with this right there and the light there.
14:37Yeah, see the way it comes down here in the red stuff?
14:39Yeah.
14:40And I've got seams here, big seam there,
14:43one coming down here and intersecting twice there.
14:47Yeah.
14:48And more coming down from up here.
14:50This looks really, really good.
14:53Well, if we don't get something out of that, you know.
14:56We'll get something here. It may not be in this spot.
14:59I know, but yeah.
15:00This drive we're going to do all right. This ground's brilliant.
15:03I think we ought to have a jackhammer up there in the morning,
15:06just see what it's bloody doing.
15:07Yep.
15:08Couple more days digging, it'll tell the tale.
15:24We've got to get through that hard bed and have a look what's underneath it.
15:28With monsoon rains that will end their mining season
15:31potentially days away,
15:33the Boulder Boys are struggling to break through a hard layer of sandstone.
15:37It's time for a new weapon.
15:43We can't get through that hard stuff with the excavator,
15:46so we're just going to try and drill a series of holes through it
15:50and it might help the excavator break it up.
15:52By the look of it, it's got to be about a foot and a half thick.
15:56Bit of luck we get some apple under it.
16:04The 35-kilo jackhammer is powered by compressed air
16:08from the 26-kilowatt compressor.
16:17Its force to a single point
16:19is more effective at penetrating the rock
16:22than the 35-tonne excavator.
16:26We've just drilled about 50 holes in there.
16:28It might just help it.
16:30We've got to give it a go
16:31because every time we're scratching, we're only getting about an inch.
16:33By doing these holes, it might be quite a bit more.
16:50We've punched through to just the clay level.
16:53Not what I was expecting.
16:55See how it's got all that yellow in it?
16:57There's no rocks.
17:00No good.
17:04Absolutely gone.
17:07OK.
17:10This final corner of Dragonfly Claim has proven worthless.
17:14I haven't got many ideas left where to go.
17:16I just want to try and get a bit of a buck.
17:18Aaron has just one choice left.
17:21Dangerous old workings near the flooded pit.
17:25Scattered with loose rocks and landslides.
17:28It's too unsafe.
17:30We can't do that bit.
17:32But we can take this little area here.
17:34I'll build meself a bed there
17:36so the excavator can take that last little bit into the wall.
17:41For the end of the season,
17:42this is our last chance to make a bit of money.
17:50All right, we'll drop another one there.
17:52First hole's unsuccessful,
17:54but the drill's actually chewing through the floor with no worries,
17:57so that's something.
18:00With just days left of the mining season,
18:02in mentor Graham's mine,
18:04the young guns are hoping their 1.5-metre drill can make them rich.
18:11All right, boys.
18:17Again, another hole.
18:19Nothing in it at this stage.
18:22I reckon we go back and just do the rest of this
18:24and just cover all this stuff.
18:26The ground looks all right, but I don't know.
18:28I reckon maybe we could go straight ahead.
18:32Hey, guys.
18:33I don't know, dude.
18:34Wait, did you... I just hit something.
18:36Look.
18:37Look at that.
18:38What is that there?
18:39Ooh!
18:41Look at that.
18:42Ooh!
18:43We got some seam, baby.
18:45Not even in the bloody hole.
18:46Hold on a sec.
18:47Holy...
18:48That looks a bit interesting.
18:49What is...
18:50What's going on?
18:51Dude, look at that.
18:52That is a big old bit of opal.
18:54There's little bits all over it.
18:56There's colour in it, but it just looks like, you know, some...
18:58What's in the middle?
18:59Yeah, it's like colour all around the outside.
19:01It's like a burning or something.
19:02Dude, look at this.
19:03Look at this.
19:04What the hell?
19:05Ooh!
19:09Did you hit that?
19:11I think so.
19:12I don't know.
19:17Tell me you've not broken a pineapple.
19:21Intact opal pineapples can be worth $500,000.
19:25Broken, they're worth a fraction of that.
19:28Oh, my God.
19:30Yeah, I think we're going to have to go and get Dad.
19:32Is that actually a pineapple?
19:33I think we're going to have to go and...
19:34To me, it looks like it's a pineapple.
19:36I can't see it being anything else.
19:38Like, look at that.
19:39It looks like a point coming straight off the side there.
19:42I've never seen seam like that.
19:44We need to go get your dad.
19:46Yeah, we need to go get him.
19:48Let's not do anything else.
19:50Bloody hell.
19:58Way to go.
19:59I was hoping you were going to get something there.
20:01Yeah, we broke it with the shovel.
20:03Yeah.
20:04You're a bit further up than I wanted.
20:08Jesus.
20:11Hell, J.
20:13That's not seam, is it?
20:14It's not seam at all.
20:16No?
20:17No, you've just struck a pineapple.
20:25You've struck a good pineapple.
20:27Oh, Graham, I'm so sorry.
20:30Yeah, we didn't mean to.
20:32We were just clearing away some dirt and we just...
20:36You know, I've dug two frigging years down here
20:39without finding anything like this.
20:42These are so frigging hard to find
20:44and you've just smashed the first one in two years.
20:58If the rocks run into that sandstone piece there,
21:01we should be able to get some colour.
21:06So we can see the rocks that side, we just hope they run into it.
21:10With monsoon rains ready to hit,
21:13Aaron and Ron are making a last-ditch effort to find Opal
21:16on the dangerous edge of the flooded Dragonfly Pit.
21:21The ground's changing a little bit as we go up.
21:23We've got a band of rocks and we've got the sandstone dropping hard.
21:27We're hoping they meet as we go in.
21:30Well, that's what you need to find Opal.
21:32You need sandstone on top of the boulders.
21:43Big one there in front, yeah.
21:46Is he the one, Ron?
21:55There you go, that's got pot in it.
21:57It's a pipe.
21:59It was originally a tree root.
22:03Some of these we get basically full of Opal about that size, or bigger.
22:09So we're looking for the ones that have got Opal in them.
22:12This one hasn't.
22:15Not quite there yet, Ron, we're getting close.
22:18Pipe Opal can form when cavities left behind by tree roots and branches
22:23are filled with silica-rich water that over millions of years becomes Opal.
22:28Yeah, we've got green here, look at this.
22:30In their best form, they can be worth up to $25,000 a gram.
22:36That's pipe Opal.
22:38Must have been old bits of debris, old sticks and that,
22:40and they fill up with Opal.
22:42There's some nice colours in them pipes.
22:44Yeah.
22:47We're hoping to get some bigger ones.
22:53I can't see anything right.
22:55Well, I can see, but it makes it hard.
22:58If them pipes come on, we need the sun on our back anyway.
23:01We do.
23:02The setting sun has put the mine face in shadow,
23:05making the pipes hard to spot.
23:08Well, we've got one, two, three, four little pipes.
23:11It's all right, look, it's a start.
23:13It's alive.
23:14All right, well, we might as well call it quits today.
23:17Yeah, I can't see anything.
23:18We need a bit more, I hope we need.
23:26This morning, Les didn't turn up to go to work.
23:33He said he burned himself.
23:36In remote outback New South Wales,
23:38Rod's just received news Les has been injured in an accident.
23:44What's happened is probably serious.
23:48If they weren't serious, he'd have been at work this morning.
23:57How you going, mate?
23:58Oh, yeah.
23:59All right?
24:00Good.
24:01So you got a few burns on your face, old fella?
24:03Yeah, a bit on the lip there and a bit up the side.
24:06Where else are you burnt, mate?
24:07My arm.
24:08On the arm?
24:09Just on the arm?
24:10Yeah.
24:11Just that one arm?
24:12A little bit on this one, not much.
24:14Legs are all right?
24:15A couple of spikes on the legs.
24:16A couple of spikes on your arm.
24:19Pull your shirt off, actually, if you can,
24:22because it doesn't look too good to me, mate.
24:24Your bloody hand's all swollen up, your face is all swollen up.
24:30You all right?
24:31Yeah.
24:32OK.
24:38Well, that's not a little burn, Les.
24:41Les has suffered third-degree burns.
24:44The accident happened over 24 hours ago.
24:47He's received no treatment.
24:49That's not good, mate.
24:51Your leg's like that?
24:52No.
24:56Well, your legs are like that.
24:58Look, that's not just a little burn on your leg.
25:00That's not too bad.
25:01Not too friggin' good, neither.
25:04See, that's all burn skin, Les.
25:06See how you're blistering?
25:08So how exactly did you do it, mate?
25:10Well, I was using a grinder,
25:13and there was a drum with a couple of gallons of petrol in it,
25:17and the lid wasn't on it.
25:19Yeah, and I just went whoop and a fart went out.
25:22Yeah, no, come on, jump in the car.
25:24Major problem.
25:25Yeah, this isn't just a little burn.
25:28Nah, this is good, mate.
25:29You go on the doctor's if you need to.
25:34The nearest hospital's in Lightning Ridge, 70km away.
25:39Jump in the back.
25:41After picking up Rod's wife, Amanda,
25:43it's over an hour's drive on rough dirt tracks.
25:49You feeling all right with yourself?
25:51You don't feel different?
25:52No.
25:53Don't feel funny?
25:54No, I feel good.
25:56He's a stubborn old bastard.
25:58He won't go to hospital or do anything like that unless he's dying.
26:06Hello.
26:07G'day, how are you?
26:08Good, how are you?
26:09We've got a bloke with some burns.
26:13OK, what time did this happen?
26:15Yesterday.
26:16Couple of days ago.
26:17Les is 74 years old.
26:19He's had a few heart problems.
26:21Come through this way, thank you.
26:23I'm definitely worried about him.
26:25Burns are a serious bloody thing.
26:28It can lead to all sorts of complications
26:30and that's, I think, what they're worrying about,
26:32because of his age and a lot of other things,
26:34is the complications that they bring.
26:37You know, I worry about infection
26:39and I worry about him not looking after his wounds.
26:42I worry a lot about him.
26:44They're going to fly him to Sydney.
26:46Are you joking?
26:47I just spoke to the nurse in private in the room there.
26:49Bad, I thought it was bad.
26:51She said that...
26:54..she said at best he'll be staying here,
26:57but more likely they're going to fly him straight to Sydney.
27:12All right.
27:13I am so sorry.
27:15It is what it is.
27:17We'll see what can be salvaged from this.
27:20OK.
27:21In their first ever mining season,
27:23the Young Guns have just smashed a rare pineapple opal
27:27worth potentially half a million dollars.
27:30Start digging around here.
27:32I mean, if you hear any frigging clinking sounds,
27:34for God's sake, stop.
27:38I left the boys down the mine for five minutes unattended
27:42and they've just gone and smashed the first piece
27:45that I've seen in two years.
27:48In the last days of the season,
27:50hitting their $60,000 target
27:52rests on digging what's left of the opal pineapple in one piece.
27:56Disappointing that they found it with the end of a shovel
27:59instead of the end of the screwdriver that I like to use
28:02and just take them out without breaking them.
28:04But obviously as you dig, just keep listening for that sound.
28:09This is it. It's about ready to pop up.
28:11All right.
28:12OK.
28:13You want to see what we got?
28:15All right.
28:16Here it comes.
28:17Oh, look at that.
28:19Holy crap.
28:20Oh, here we go.
28:22Oh, no!
28:24No, no, no, no, no, no!
28:27That is really...
28:29Yeah.
28:30..disappointing.
28:31Disappointing.
28:32Oh, jeez.
28:33Look at the colour that is in there.
28:37God dammit.
28:38Oh, look at that. OK, see, it's just come apart.
28:40God dammit.
28:42Still, in my experience,
28:45I do know where you can get pieces like this,
28:48then you can find a better piece.
28:50It's now just a really go-slow process through this ground
28:54and hopefully we can pluck out some better, fuller pieces.
28:58Let's get a big pineapple, eh?
29:00Let's do it.
29:01Let's get a proper one.
29:02Cool.
29:04So I'm going to bring the digger in.
29:07Basically, I can only just take the top off
29:10and the whole rest of the level gets dug with a screwdriver.
29:13So it's the only way that I've managed to find these
29:16without smashing them to bits.
29:18Alright, you can jump up there and start digging the level.
29:24Slow process now of just simply screwdrivering at it
29:28and trying to uncover it.
29:31Is this the top here?
29:32Yep.
29:33Alright.
29:34Any piece will be sitting on that.
29:36Yep.
29:37It'll be in there.
29:47I'm starting to get a blister or something in the centre of my hand there.
29:50But some of it's really hard trying to get through.
29:53So I'm just going with the easiest stuff at the moment
29:55and I'll use that little pick just to kind of chip through the last bit.
30:00Oh, I'm on a really hard bit.
30:08Oh.
30:10What have you got?
30:11Well, look, there's a little tiny bit of maybe blue.
30:15Is that a point?
30:16It is.
30:17Is that a point?
30:18Is that a point?
30:19Jay, well done, buddy.
30:21Woo!
30:22Is that really one?
30:23Holy...
30:24Dude.
30:26Way to go, Jay.
30:27Alright, you know what to do, so...
30:29I found a pineapple.
30:31Way to go.
30:32Ding dong, ding dong.
30:34That's so hectic, dude.
30:35That's so hectic.
30:36Don't smash it, man.
30:38Just take it out the back and then we'll just lever it up and...
30:42Just put your hand over that spot there.
30:44This spot?
30:45Yeah, good.
30:46I would rather hit your hand than the pineapple.
30:51What do you reckon, now?
30:52Yeah, just go in underneath.
30:54Is that enough underneath?
30:56Yeah, just go in, see how the whole area is moving
30:59and until eventually the idea is to get up without any pressure.
31:04There, it's up.
31:05That's it.
31:07It's up.
31:08Here we go.
31:09Here we are.
31:11Millions of years.
31:13Carefully.
31:16Look at that.
31:17Holy moly.
31:18Pineapple, baby, pineapple.
31:21There we go.
31:22That's it.
31:23That's it.
31:24Pineapple, buddy.
31:25Way to go.
31:26Holy shit.
31:27Well done, Jay.
31:28Smashed it.
31:29No worries.
31:30Found a pineapple.
31:32Holy shit.
31:44Oh, look at this.
31:45What?
31:46Hey, that's a nice colour.
31:49That's a nice colour.
31:50Hey.
31:51Look at the green.
31:52Looks like a pipe.
31:55In the soaring heat of the final days of the mining season,
31:58Aaron and Ron have struck rare pipe opal.
32:01The pipe can be worth big money if you get it.
32:06That's a good chunk, Ron, eh?
32:08It is.
32:14Watch out, Ron.
32:15I'll rip the top off.
32:16Be careful.
32:20The ground they're on is highly dangerous
32:23and the further they dig into the side of the pit...
32:25No, go down there, Ron.
32:28..the more deadly it becomes.
32:31Oh, I can't go any further. I'm hitting a big wall.
32:33It's too unsafe.
32:35You don't want to rock head, Ron.
32:37It's a sheer cliff, see?
32:39Too dangerous.
32:4515 metres above them, tonnes of loose earth and stone.
32:57Just be careful there, mate.
32:58I am.
33:04I'll just try to get this little bit out.
33:06All right, mate.
33:09Just...
33:13Oh, look at that.
33:16Electric blue, Aaron.
33:17Yeah, nice colour, isn't it?
33:19You might even cut a little stone out of that, eh?
33:21Yeah.
33:22That is nice. That's gem green.
33:25Hey, that's not bad, that.
33:28Hey, that's got red everything in it, Ron.
33:31Beautiful colour, boy.
33:35Just watch out here. There's a bit of slab up here, mate.
33:37Yeah, I know. I saw it.
33:38Don't come here.
33:39We've got to strip the top again, which won't happen this year.
33:42Need a dozer.
33:44You can't mine a place like that.
33:47It's too dangerous to work underneath it.
33:50Can't do any more here.
33:55End of the season for me and Ron.
33:58I'm going to go home now and have a look at my table we got.
34:11Ooh.
34:12That's nice colour, isn't it?
34:13Look at that.
34:14I think that might be a king stone.
34:16Red, green.
34:17That's beautiful, that one.
34:19You're going to get more than 10 carat out of it.
34:22The Boulder boys have found pipe opal.
34:25It's in the rough.
34:26There's 400 grams with bright greens, blues and flashes of gold
34:30and highly valued red.
34:32Hey, that's not bad, that.
34:34Oh, you've got to start at 5,000, yeah.
34:37Would have been a bit better, Ron,
34:38if we'd found a bit more then in the season, mate,
34:40but beggars can't be choosers, mate.
34:48The season's over.
34:50Ron's taking a well-earned break.
34:53I'll go back to the coast and spend time with family.
34:57I haven't seen them for a while.
34:59Got another little grandkid coming, I don't know,
35:01boy or a girl, so it'll be interesting.
35:03Going to be sweet.
35:05Make sure you come back.
35:06I'll come back, don't worry.
35:07I can't run the show by myself.
35:09Hey, look, as soon as it cools down a little bit,
35:11I'll be straight back.
35:13Well, I think we've done very well this year.
35:15We're starting to get a bit of a routine going,
35:17so let's just plod along and get it done.
35:20Working well together, mate.
35:21All right, so I've got a little surprise for you in that case.
35:24Have you?
35:25Well, you've been doing other things.
35:29Where'd you score that?
35:31Out of the drum.
35:33Ron's secretly been cutting up stones from Aaron's reject pile.
35:38I thought that was all rubbish in there, eh?
35:40Look at the greens and everything here.
35:42Electric greens that we can get a stone out of.
35:45Yeah.
35:46Look, that one there.
35:47Oh, that one.
35:48Now, you get a stone out of him, what are you worth?
35:52An additional 2kg of rough, blue-green boulder opal.
35:57It's got to be about $10,000, Ron.
35:59So, are you happy with that?
36:01Bloody hell, I am.
36:02There you go, see?
36:05The value of the boulder and pipe opal is around $15,000,
36:10bringing their season total to $119,300.
36:14That's a much better way to end the season, mate.
36:21We set out to find opal this season and we found it.
36:24Oh, that's a nice colour.
36:26Bloody look, that's electric.
36:30We've got money to fix a few things up and try and find some new ground.
36:35Let's see what happens.
36:36You've done real well.
36:37No worries, mate.
36:38Enjoy yourself.
36:39Oh, he's a good friend, eh?
36:40He's good to have around the camp.
36:42It's harder to find good partners than find opal, really, sometimes.
36:48Hadn't been a bad year.
37:04So, what have they told you, mate?
37:05What are they going to do with you?
37:06They're going to fly me out.
37:08They're going to fly you out?
37:09Yeah.
37:10They're going to fly you down the burn unit, which I'm pretty sure is at Concord.
37:14You'll be down the big smoke.
37:17An ignited petrol can has left Les Walsh in a serious condition with third-degree burns.
37:24He's a lot worse than he thought he was.
37:29The burns are very severe.
37:31He was so badly dehydrated, his kidneys were packing at him.
37:36Forget the season and what we need, you know, it don't matter.
37:42A life's worth more than anything.
37:45You've got to stop doing those stupid bloody things, Les.
37:48I know.
37:50But I guess at your age, if you haven't learnt by now, you're never going to.
37:54Well, that's probably right.
37:57It's just the way he is.
37:59He's just a tough old rooster that doesn't like hospitals.
38:02He's just a tough old rooster that doesn't like hospitals.
38:07But that's silly.
38:08He should have come to a hospital with that.
38:11No matter what, he's not coming home.
38:14The season's ended for Les.
38:17I would imagine he's going to be out of action for quite some time.
38:23I'd say that's Les's plane up there coming in.
38:26They'd be the flying doctors.
38:36Les is a good mate, you know, and we spend a lot of time together.
38:39I spend more time with Les than I do me missus.
38:42I'm definitely worried about him.
38:45The injuries he's got are very serious.
38:57Keeps coming in.
39:01He's not answering.
39:03You know, everything was sort of going so well,
39:06and then the old bugger's gone and hurt himself.
39:09So I'm sort of wondering how he is, wondering what's going on.
39:15I guess it's the unknown.
39:18I wouldn't have a bloody clue what's going on or what the future holds.
39:22It's been a hell of a ride this year.
39:26It's sort of a bittersweet, I suppose.
39:39Well done.
39:40Thanks for letting us in your mind, Graeme.
39:42Oh, yeah.
39:43Well done, brother.
39:44That's fantastic, Graeme.
39:46So good.
39:47That's insane.
39:48In the final dig of their rookie season,
39:50the young guns have uncovered an elusive pineapple opal
39:54that could save their entire year.
39:57This one here held together, like, quite well,
40:00so we've still got to see, you know,
40:02what we've actually got out of this piece.
40:04But, you know, I've got high hopes for this one here.
40:08Let's clean it up.
40:12The value is in the undamaged pieces,
40:15so, you know, we have to work really hard to keep it intact.
40:19Under Graeme's watchful eye,
40:21Jamin will attempt to clean the pineapple.
40:24Highly fragile, the safest way is to sandblast it.
40:28Alright, so watch your head.
40:32Can't really tell too much right now
40:34if it's going to be fully together.
40:36Just keep it up nice and close.
40:40It's definitely some really delicate work.
40:42It's very fine tools and a fair bit of concentration
40:45just to make sure I don't pull off any points.
40:48But there seems to be a little bit of a flush of colour,
40:50so I've just got some really high hopes.
40:54Look at that crystal structure. That's amazing.
40:57That is ridiculous. Look at that.
40:59Look at what you're holding in your hand.
41:01Dude, we've got a pineapple. Oh, my God.
41:03We got one. That's insane.
41:05Take it outside and we'll just see... Alright.
41:07..what we've got.
41:10Check this out, boys. This is a big bad boy.
41:12Check it out.
41:15Ooh!
41:17Look at that!
41:19That is looking good.
41:21Now, a lot of people dig all their life
41:23and never find anything like that.
41:25Meant to be, hey? Yeah, way to go.
41:27I'm so happy for yous, you know, so see yous along the way.
41:31What do we reckon it's worth?
41:34The deal with Graham is the young guns get 20% of any opal found.
41:39For them to hit their season target,
41:41they need this pineapple to be worth at least $50,000.
41:46This piece, you guys, is actually really special.
41:49This piece, I think, just looking at it,
41:52could be as much as...
41:56..$70,000.
41:58Oh!
42:00$70,000!
42:02Yep, absolutely.
42:04That is ridiculous.
42:06It's all worth it.
42:08That's your treasure hunting coming true, isn't it?
42:10Absolutely. That's our exceeded expectations.
42:12In one hit. In one hit.
42:17Pineapple opal is unique to White Cliffs
42:20and is highly prized by collectors.
42:22This stone weighs 200 grams,
42:25making it worth approximately $70,000.
42:28That's us hitting our season target.
42:30That's our season target. We've done it, guys.
42:32We've done it, boys. Woo-hoo!
42:34No more working a dead-end job in summer.
42:36Young guns!
42:38Woo!
42:40Look at that, boys!
42:42Oh, yeah! Look at that.
42:44That's five figures in one go.
42:46Ha-ha-ha!
42:48Yay! Yay!
42:50Season target!
42:52It's been a crazy experience, you know.
42:54This whole thing has been really, really life-changing,
42:56I would say.
42:58Definitely beat back out bigger and better next season.
43:00We did it!
43:02We did it!
43:04We did it!
43:06We have to go through hardships,
43:08you know, with having no money at all,
43:10with having barely any food,
43:12which is going wrong left, right and centre,
43:14but we stuck together and we pulled through.
43:16Look at it!
43:18Cheers, boys.
43:20It's just been absolutely awesome.
43:22Couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to come out here and do it with.
43:24Young guns!
43:26Can't wait to get back,
43:28stuck into it next season.
43:42Yeah.