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00:01Right hand down a little bit.
00:04Yep.
00:06Yeah, try that.
00:09Right hand down.
00:11Whoa!
00:12Good work.
00:14What a day to do this, just after it poured down with rain.
00:17Yeah, it's not a real good scenario,
00:19but the old fella wants it moved,
00:21so that's what we're doing.
00:23Confidence, I've got this.
00:25Because it's so top-heavy,
00:27it's going to do this stuff.
00:29OK.
00:30So we just need to be nice and steady.
00:32Slow, yeah.
00:33Without this sucking that dirt up from all the way underground,
00:36we're ****.
00:38Here we go, Sam.
00:42Slowly.
00:44Straighten your wheels.
00:46Keep going.
00:49Whoa!
00:50A little bit more.
00:57Whoa!
00:59That's not going anywhere.
01:01Nah.
01:02Just let us head for a minute.
01:05How bad is it, Les?
01:06Solid ground on this side.
01:08If you go back any further, that's not going to go over the hole.
01:10Yep.
01:11Right where it is.
01:12I'm surprised that we got that all in one go.
01:13I was actually quite nervous about it all happening.
01:15Now we've got to go move the digger and everything and start digging in the ground where there's no opal and we'll probably get killed.
01:19Nothing wrong with that.
01:20Nothing wrong with that.
01:21Yeah.
01:22What's wrong with that?
01:23Grawan.
01:24Outback New South Wales.
01:25Outback New South Wales.
01:26A remote, off-grid community of 200 people living in camps, scapegoat.
01:28I'm surprised that we got that all in one go.
01:30I was actually quite nervous about it all happening.
01:32Now we've got to go move the digger and everything and start digging in the ground where there's no opal and we'll probably get killed.
01:39Nothing wrong with that.
01:42Grawan.
01:47Outback New South Wales.
01:49A remote, off-grid community of 200 people living in camps scattered across the desolate opal fields.
01:57Righto Les, are you ready to do this?
01:59Yep.
02:00You alright with them?
02:01Yeah.
02:02You need help?
02:03No.
02:04You sure?
02:05No.
02:06So what we're about to do now is put some blocks under the wheels and lower the pipes underground and they run all up that shaft into the blower, sucking that dirt up from all the way underground.
02:16At Robbie's claim, the Bushmen, Rod Manning, Les Walsh and Sam Meehan have returned to the most dangerous mine they've ever worked.
02:29For some strange reason Les wants to go back up to where we were before and there's no talking sense to him.
02:34We were working up there on the road and we were getting opal up there, we were getting good opal but the roof collapsed on us and nearly killed us.
02:41Hey, Rod, Rod, are you okay?
02:43So there is opal here.
02:44You joke.
02:45How good's this?
02:46But how much is it going to cost you to find it?
02:50Rod wants to get out of this claim but we're staying a little bit longer just to make sure that there's nothing just in front of us.
02:58And if it don't work, that's it, we'll pull out.
03:01I know it's under there somewhere.
03:03That'll do us.
03:05So I guess we go downstairs and drag that elbow over, eh?
03:08Yeah.
03:09I hope Robbie's has opal here.
03:13It is a lot of work to pull all your gear up and then start again.
03:18It's gonna need to come up to there.
03:20Yeah, you go up and take it up.
03:22In the last season we agreed that Les was gonna stay on the surface and do maintenance.
03:26You know, it is dangerous underground and he's done these years of hard work.
03:31Doesn't seem like I'm gonna retire at the moment.
03:35That'll do.
03:36We haven't found any money that would be useful enough to retire on.
03:41Down a bit more.
03:43Unfortunately, opal is rare and it's hard to find.
03:46You know, you gotta have that passion for it.
03:49Sam's a good one, you know.
03:51She's addicted to opal like the rest of us.
03:53That's it.
03:54Oh, nice.
03:55I'm a third generation miner.
03:57My grandfather was a miner and so is my dad.
03:59If we don't make money, we can't buy diesel or keep on digging.
04:03We don't even have money to buy food to eat.
04:05We gotta get the digger out of here.
04:08Just grab a hose each.
04:10We wanna move the digger 60 or 80 feet, something like that.
04:13It's a bit tippy tippy just there, Les.
04:16It's a bit rocky.
04:18The digger is extremely important.
04:22It is amazing how much more dirt you can move with a digger than you can with a jackhammer.
04:27Very soft here, I don't know.
04:29Yeah, it's just digging further in.
04:31You get one side go into the soft ground and then it over balances.
04:36And if you're on the wrong side, the arm will wipe you out.
04:40Whoa!
04:41Jeez, I thought she was going then, Les.
04:44Rob's trying to turn around the digger.
04:47Problem is that there's not enough room and we don't want the digger to tip.
04:52Just give me a little bit more pipe and that's it.
05:01Sam?
05:02Just get out of there, mate.
05:04Cause there is a chance I'm gonna tip this.
05:06I reckon this claim's prospected.
05:16I've had enough of it.
05:18I know.
05:19I know you wanna get out.
05:20Dust everywhere.
05:21No level to follow, just little blobs of stuff.
05:25Yeah.
05:26But more importantly, no colour.
05:28Well, there's another cut over there and there's a road in between.
05:33Cause that hasn't been prospected yet.
05:36What do you wanna do about that?
05:37Just sink a hole down.
05:39Sink a shaft down.
05:40That's easy enough.
05:41You can use that logic everywhere.
05:42There's lots of roads all over the place.
05:44No, I still think we should give it a go.
05:46I'll show you.
05:47I'll go pick a spot.
05:48Alright.
05:49They left it all in the middle.
05:50Yep.
05:51Alright, where do you want this bloody shaft?
05:58I reckon.
05:59How about, about here?
06:03We'll get David with his drill.
06:06Yeah.
06:07If you want.
06:08Alright, I'm sorry I'm negative.
06:10I'll support ya.
06:11You gotta go with your gut.
06:13Just one last shot.
06:14Yeah, okay.
06:15Go on.
06:16Okay.
06:17Hurry up.
06:18Alright.
06:19Coober Pedy, South Australia.
06:22Scarred by over a century of mining, it's where an estimated 85% of the world's opal has
06:30been found.
06:31Here, the opal lovers.
06:33Renee Everest.
06:34I'm making a nice dusty pole of dirt.
06:37And Dan Meesey.
06:38I'm getting in a ways too, gotta watch this.
06:40Are kicking off the new mining season by drilling a 12 metre shaft under the road on their black
06:47flag claim.
06:48That spot is the only spot that hasn't been mined yet.
06:53Still has virgin ground.
06:54I've got a really strong gut feeling about this one.
06:57And hopefully I'm right in this occasion.
07:00Black flag's an old field.
07:03It's somewhere a lot of opal's been found.
07:05Digging virgin ground, alright, we could hit money at any time.
07:07We've worked it pretty hard with doing trenches and looking around.
07:10It's not looking too great.
07:12It's ugly, dusty, softer.
07:15You wouldn't even think there's opal in that.
07:17Yeah.
07:18I know.
07:19Well that's why I want to go up on the road.
07:20Try up there.
07:21Dan and I, we've got a bet on at the moment.
07:24If we find opal, Dan pays for dinner.
07:27If we don't find opal, I pay for dinner.
07:29It's not easy just to say, let's drill a shaft.
07:32The worst problem is there's more time and money spent doing it, but maybe there could
07:37be opal.
07:38So, sometimes you've got to follow through with gut feelings.
07:41Got the potatoes?
07:42Yeah, I'll peel them.
07:43Yep.
07:44I'm good at that.
07:45You are much better cook than me though.
07:47I just like food.
07:49Life's been really good since I moved to Coober Pedy, but we have to meet our target,
07:55otherwise I won't be able to stay and I'll have to go back to Adelaide.
07:58I do quite a lot of horse riding, dressage, horse riding coaching, so there's a huge lifestyle
08:04change for me.
08:06To escape Coober Pedy's scorching 45 degrees Celsius temperatures, Dan and Renee live
08:13in a dugout home carved into the earth.
08:16Living underground, it's a lot darker and we're really remote, so it's a lot harder to
08:22get fresh food and it's really expensive.
08:24It costs a lot with transporting the food up here.
08:27Last season wasn't good for us at all.
08:30We were nowhere near target.
08:32I can hear a knock in the diff.
08:34So how much is that going to cost?
08:3520, 30.
08:3630 grand?
08:37Yeah.
08:38We have to find opal, that's how we make money.
08:40To maintain Renee and I both living and working together, target again this season is 300,000.
08:45Really that's minimum with two of us on board.
08:48Look at that monster.
08:49Oh wow.
08:50How old is it?
08:5150, 60 years old at least, yeah.
08:54What a weapon.
08:56David's got a lot of experience operating drills.
08:58He's a long term opal miner, great guy.
09:01Mr David.
09:02Thanks for giving us a hand.
09:03Absolutely.
09:04Hi Kat, how you going?
09:05Good, how are you?
09:06Good thanks.
09:07Hi Kat.
09:08This is an old drill built from many pieces over the years.
09:10We've just finished putting this drill back together so it owes me quite a bit of money.
09:14I reckon this is the spot.
09:16Right in the middle of the road.
09:17If there's a million dollars down there I'll divert the road, no problem.
09:20I'll fix it.
09:21So I think we need to go to 40, 35, 40 at least.
09:2430 or 40 feet.
09:25Is percentage an option?
09:27Look if you reckon the signs are good, I reckon we could do 15%, what do you reckon?
09:31Alright.
09:32Two years mate.
09:33Easy.
09:34We'll pay David 15% on the opal that we find.
09:37So it will be worth his time as long as we find opal.
09:41David's prospecting drill has a corkscrew tip that bores through layers of fixed sandstone
09:47and can lift the displaced rock and dirt to the surface.
09:51We at least need this shaft 30, 35 ideally.
09:55We're thinking the level's 30, 31 so we need to go past it.
09:58How long is this going to take?
10:00Because it doesn't look like it's going down into the ground.
10:03Nah, it'll be a couple of hours.
10:04A couple of hours?
10:05Yeah.
10:06It'll be sort of into like 10 minutes.
10:07Nah.
10:08So once it gets deeper and the dirt spins out we've got to pull the dirt away.
10:11This season I'm up here full time.
10:14It's double the manpower but with me learning more and getting more experience in the machinery
10:19really helps Dan out.
10:21But hopefully David's going to let me have a go in a minute.
10:24We're probably deep enough now that if you wanted to have a try you'd be more than welcome to.
10:30Renee's come a long way from where she started not knowing anything about mining
10:34to now knowing a lot more about opal and getting on all the tools.
10:38Hand on here.
10:39Yep.
10:40Full pull.
10:42And watch your head come out of the ground.
10:44Oh, here we go.
10:45Bit of ribs.
10:46Yep.
10:47And now off the clutch.
10:48Yep.
10:49Beautiful.
10:50That's the fun part.
10:51So...
10:52Full down.
10:53Yep.
10:54Nice and steady off the clutch.
10:55That's it.
10:56Oh, cool.
10:57I did that.
10:58That's right Dan.
10:59You did it.
11:00You did well.
11:01You're going alright.
11:02You're going good.
11:03Wee.
11:04Down, down, down, down.
11:05I didn't like the sound of that David.
11:06Well, we've just blown a hydraulic hose.
11:08I haven't broken it.
11:09Yeah.
11:10Yeah.
11:11Yeah.
11:12Yeah.
11:13Yeah.
11:14Yeah.
11:15Yeah.
11:16We've just blown a hydraulic hose.
11:17I haven't broken anything, have I?
11:19I don't know.
11:20Are we going to go have a look?
11:29Look at that.
11:30What do you reckon?
11:31There's opal there.
11:32Well mate, these wires are crossing over.
11:34I still don't reckon you're finding opal.
11:35I reckon you're just finding some water.
11:37I don't know.
11:38Kangaroo piss down there or something.
11:40Normally points to where the ground fob's going to be.
11:43And generally we find the best opal in the steepest spot of the hill where all the water just
11:47drops.
11:48We chuck a hole down here, eh?
11:49Have a look.
11:50Yeah.
11:51X marks the spot.
11:52Let's get this season kicking.
11:53Hell yeah.
11:54Yeah.
11:55Yeah.
11:56I got my tooth bucket sitting in the back of the truck right now.
11:58We're going to need that to break the first bit of ground.
12:00Yeah.
12:01Straight back mate.
12:02Yeah.
12:03About there mate.
12:10Hey man, what the hell?
12:12****.
12:13You alright?
12:14Yeah.
12:15You had one job mate.
12:16No.
12:17Something's broken.
12:18I'm going to pull this switch apart.
12:19Give me a minute.
12:20Give me a minute.
12:21Andamooka, South Australia.
12:25This hostile landscape was once a remote sheep station until the 1930s when the discovery
12:32of opal brought a rush of fortune hunters to the region.
12:36Is that hitch on?
12:38Nah.
12:39And now the Mooka boys, brothers Matt.
12:42How about now?
12:43And Koza Kathigan.
12:44Nah.
12:45What the hell?
12:46Have begun their season with crippling machinery failure.
12:53The quick hitch allows you to take the bucket on and off and change your bucket to your ripper
12:57and things like that.
12:58If I can't hold a bucket on that hitch, then we can't dig.
13:01Man, this is the only machine we've got right now, so.
13:04Yeah, last year was an absolute disaster financially.
13:07We only pulled in about $11,000 all year.
13:10So we literally walked away with nothing in our pocket.
13:13All right, bro.
13:14I'm just going to go whack a few things around the hydraulic pump.
13:17Get some solar noise.
13:18Just tell me if that opens up again, eh?
13:20All right.
13:21Our dreams are kind of just slipping away from us.
13:23I mean, we don't even have enough money to keep a whole team here at the moment.
13:27Last season left the Mooka boys a man down.
13:31Team leader and chief mechanic Leif Tanza.
13:34Leif's moved down south for his business.
13:36He's got another contract down there, so we're both trying to be the mechanic.
13:39A lot easier when he was around because he'd just jump in and fix it.
13:42Is that good?
13:43Nah, nothing's happening.
13:44Leif with his business has a lot of bills to pay.
13:47So, unfortunately, unless we have a really big win, we're not going to have him here for most of the season.
13:52Season target's $200,000 this year.
13:55Bit optimistic, but we've been out here for a few seasons now and haven't made any money.
13:59Got my missus and two kids there at home, so really down in the dumps.
14:03Last year definitely gave us a big scare with having to rush my daughter out of here.
14:07Aria's virus turned into bronchitis in the lungs, so I had to leave Cosi all by himself.
14:12We ended up about 800km away in Adelaide Hospital.
14:16The Royal Flying Doctors has definitely saved my daughter's life.
14:19I just found the fuse bot.
14:21I'm just checking the solenoid fuse which is blown.
14:25Right, eh?
14:26We've got another 15 amp fuse in there.
14:28Yeah.
14:29Big problem like this, it's hard to know what it is.
14:32We don't know where to start looking, but a fuse, a fuse I can do.
14:35Thanks, mate.
14:36Well, we can get this quick hitch working, then we're back digging, and I'm happy.
14:41Good.
14:42All right.
14:47It's working now, mate.
14:49You're building.
14:51This whole hill is untouched.
14:53The other three quarters had a lot of opal, fossils, all sorts of stuff.
14:57So we're hoping this untouched ground is holding something really special.
15:02The Mooka boys are open cut mining a 50 by 100 metre claim, one of the last remaining patches
15:11of virgin ground surrounded by heavily worked mines.
15:15There's a cut just on the other side of this hill with a bit of a tunnel in there.
15:19It comes up on the border of our claim.
15:21Way back in the day, you know, a lot of people just started camping underground when it gets
15:25too hot.
15:26The main level we're looking for is this one down here that's got the round rocks.
15:32They're from when the big glacial ice sheets pushed over the top of it.
15:36That's why they're all rounded.
15:38Some of them, they will go underneath the glacier and they'll crack.
15:41The opal deposit form a line of opal straight through the crack in that rock.
15:45So as soon as you start hitting some of them rounded rocks, that's a level that could produce opal.
15:50Just looking for a bit of material that they might have left behind.
15:54There's a couple of pieces here.
16:04No colour in it, but they've got some weird looking holes in them.
16:07I'm wondering if they're fossil.
16:10There's been a lot found around this area.
16:12It's got me fascinated.
16:15A hundred million years ago, the Eramanga Sea covered one million square kilometres of
16:22Central Australia.
16:24This was the domain of giant marine reptiles.
16:28Over millennia, silica rich water filled the voids left behind by their decayed skeletons.
16:35And eventually hardened to form opalised fossils.
16:39How's it going?
16:40Got some material down there.
16:41Yeah?
16:42Pretty much sitting on top of the mud level.
16:43What do you got?
16:44Yeah, it's got some holes in that in it.
16:45I don't really know what it is.
16:46Oh, mate.
16:47A bit of colour to that too, isn't it?
16:49Is there?
16:50A bit of greeny-bluey.
16:51I just can't quite tell if it's a bone or not.
16:53Yeah, that's what I'm thinking coral reef for.
16:55We need to go find someone smarter than us to have a look at this.
16:58Yeah.
16:59Oh, good job though, mate.
17:00Yeah.
17:01This year, we are starting with absolutely nothing in the kitty.
17:05So we really need some sort of wind.
17:07Otherwise, I don't even know if we'll make it through this season.
17:13Sam?
17:14Just get out of there, mate.
17:20This dirt here in the floor is so soft.
17:23I'm digging over this side.
17:24It wants to tip over on us.
17:27Is the digger tipped?
17:28We've been in a bit of trouble.
17:30It's going straight on its side.
17:31We have to get it back up.
17:34You know, this is about nearly two tonne.
17:36And these are horrible to put back on their feet.
17:39We tipped one over 20 years ago.
17:41We actually had to get a drill, drill a hole down to lift it up.
17:44So what Les is actually doing is swinging off this side of the digger
17:48to put a little bit of weight on that side.
17:50Every little bit counts, you know.
17:52It doesn't need to be much at times to stop it from overbalancing.
17:55Ah, now she's right.
17:59Oh, we're around the corner.
18:01We sure are.
18:03See, it knows, just like I do.
18:06There's no bloody opal up here.
18:09The Bushman's Les Walsh is refusing to give up
18:12on the dangerous and crumbling Robbie's claim.
18:16Righto.
18:17What do you reckon about from here and sort of go straight?
18:20Yeah, well, you've got us up here, so you may as well tell us where to dig.
18:25Mine partners Rod Manning and Sam Meehan are giving him one last chance to find Opal.
18:32We've been here for so long, we haven't made much money.
18:34It's tried to kill us a whole bloody time.
18:36I just want to get out of here.
18:37I don't want to work here anymore.
18:40I don't know Opal.
18:41Let's get out of here.
18:43Well, well.
18:46We'll go home.
18:47That's easy fixed.
18:49I will admit the roof does look a little bit better here than what it does down there.
18:52We do have a fault running through the roof and sort of starts to swing in this direction.
18:57But I'd way prefer to see it here in the wall than up in the roof.
19:02Rod wants to get out of this claim, but we've got to find some Opal to pay for another claim.
19:08And if that doesn't happen, well, yeah, I don't know what's going to happen after that.
19:13At the end of the day, we've got to do something to keep digging.
19:16I don't know how to do anything else at this stage, you know.
19:20Same with Les.
19:21I really feel it with young Sam, but she's tough.
19:24She's got the right ticker.
19:26She knows what this lifestyle's like.
19:29Get green.
19:30Rod.
19:31Hey?
19:32Get green.
19:33You never know what's behind it, and that's the best colour we've seen so far, really.
19:35Really, it is.
19:36And we'll see if it develops into anything else.
19:38Yeah, sounds good.
19:40Opal mining isn't just about digging dirt to find opal.
19:43Reality is, is that you have to take out a lot of dirt off the blower pipes.
19:48These pipes go all out that shaft into the blower.
19:51So any rock that'll fit in a 10-inch pipe, this machine will suck it to the surface.
19:57Just, you're 20 times quicker.
20:00I might get you to get a bit of time in on the diggy.
20:03I'm gonna fly up and check whether that truck's getting close to being full.
20:06Yeah, no worries.
20:09It's super exciting being able to jump on the digger and learn this side of it.
20:13You don't always get the opportunity to do this, so it's fantastic.
20:16And it just shows me kind of what I want to work towards.
20:19I've got a jackhammer and a pelican pick at the moment, and I'd much prefer a digger and blower eventually.
20:23Throw in the truck, lads!
20:29Just can't get it started.
20:30It's fine to know, but nothing's firing.
20:36It's the hard part about all these little breakdowns.
20:39While we're trying to start the truck, we're not getting any close to the open.
20:42We're just sitting around to bugger all.
20:44Down to fuel.
20:45Down to fuel.
20:46I put diesel in this the other day.
20:49I think we've been milked.
20:52Yeah.
20:54They come through overnight, and they siphon all the diesel out of your tanks.
20:59We've got three drums of diesel left, and then some lowlife comes along and steals a little tiny bit of diesel we've got.
21:04If we go find a little bit of opal in those next drums...
21:10Let's go see the oracle, eh?
21:12These are fossils.
21:13It's going to be worth thousands.
21:14Just in pieces, mate.
21:16Yeah.
21:17We do need a paycheck, so we come down to see the oracle, Peter Torbus.
21:21He's got the best collection in town of fossils, so it's definitely worth running them by him, just in case we've got something good here.
21:29Now, Pete, he owns the museum, and, yeah, he's a miner.
21:32Been here a long time mining, so, yeah, he's seen a lot of stuff come out the ground.
21:38We've got it here.
21:40Oh, that's what we're looking for.
21:42Yeah, look at that.
21:43Wow.
21:45Peter, how you going, mate?
21:46Hey, guys, how you going?
21:47Yeah, good, thanks, mate.
21:48There you go.
21:49I just noticed that new big painting you've got in here.
21:51It's a plesiosaur.
21:52It's a swimming dinosaur.
21:54100 million to 120 million years old.
21:56Yeah, excellent.
21:57You know, when you find them, they're normally in a pile of all bunched up.
22:00It's not going to look exactly like that in the ground.
22:02Nah.
22:03Nah.
22:04Nah.
22:05Well, we've had a little bit of a find in the old tunnel.
22:07So we thought we'd come and show you what we found.
22:09All right, I'll have a look for you.
22:10Thanks, mate.
22:11If it's a bone, you'll see structure.
22:13A lot of proper bone structure that you can see.
22:16You'll see the bone end.
22:18A really good piece can go for $10,000, $20,000, $30,000.
22:22Who's the excited one?
22:24I'm hoping.
22:25I'm hoping.
22:26You're wrong.
22:27Oh, man.
22:28Sorry to say it is potch, and it's not a fossil.
22:31Yeah, they're worth nothing.
22:33Potch is what we call common opal, but it has absolutely no colour.
22:37A bit disappointing this morning, but we've got a lot more to dig.
22:40OK, this is a bone.
22:41This is a plesiosaur rib bone.
22:43It's been broken, but you can see the bone structure when you look directly on the end.
22:48You know, like a lamb chop.
22:49Yeah, yeah.
22:50Stuff like that.
22:51Right.
22:52And this is worth, you know, $5,000, maybe more.
22:54Well, we really appreciate you sharing your wealth and knowledge, mate.
22:57No worries.
22:58That's all right.
22:59I thought we might have had a quick win.
23:00You know, we haven't got any big money just yet, but it's still worth the hunt.
23:03So we're going to keep looking and just hope we can come across something.
23:07Dig, dig, dig.
23:08Let's get into it.
23:09That's right.
23:10Yeah.
23:11Me and Matty have worked together for a hell of a long time.
23:14You know, I like working with me brother.
23:16So, yeah, hopefully we can make something out of this and keep it going.
23:20We've got about halfway down to where we want to be.
23:23About 17, 18 foot, but we still need to get to 30.
23:26So we've got a fair way to go.
23:34What's going on?
23:35What's that?
23:36You're kidding me.
23:37Don't see nothing?
23:38I'm using this truck to haul the dirt out of the hole.
23:43I can just try and get everything out with a digger, but every time I bring a load up,
23:48I've got to slowly drag it back out the hole again, which means instead of taking 10 minutes,
23:53it's going to take maybe an hour.
23:55We just can't do that.
23:56We just can't do that.
23:57This poor digger cannot handle that.
23:58How hard did the move do it?
24:01Can you just grab me the spinner roll or something, man?
24:07Where are you going?
24:08Where are you going?
24:09I'm going.
24:10This is .
24:11It's all right.
24:12I'm trying to fix the truck.
24:13It's not going to go.
24:14It's going down the hole.
24:15I need to get this shaft down, don't we?
24:16We need to get him done.
24:17We haven't made any money for the season yet.
24:18It's opal mine, isn't it?
24:19Yep.
24:20It'll be a couple of hours, maybe an hour or two fixing that.
24:22We're not finding opal at the moment because we've blown a hose on the drill.
24:26So that means it's not looking good.
24:27The issue we've got here is when you put these reusable ends on, you've got to skive the rubber
24:45back to bear the steel braiding.
24:48But when we do that, the steel braiding is spreading apart because it's just so old and
24:51tired.
24:52I reckon I've got a roll of this hose at home.
24:54It's just going to waste time.
24:55Let's go back to your place.
24:56Let's do it.
24:57In this environment, good pet is not real friendly on anything.
25:00So they dry out and get sort of perished and crispy.
25:03We've cut a length of hose.
25:04We've put the two ends on.
25:06As long as that seat's home pretty well, we're back in action.
25:10We've lost a bit of time today.
25:12We've pretty much exhausted all of our finances from last year because we didn't reach our
25:17target.
25:18So hopefully this season we have a much better season and be not in the red so much.
25:22Well then, we better keep drilling.
25:24Yes, you should.
25:25We better get stuck into it.
25:27I understand where Dan and Renee are coming from.
25:30It's tied always at the start of the season so hopefully we can get some opal in here and
25:34make some money again.
25:36That's him.
25:37Beautiful.
25:41Opal is what I'm committed to.
25:42I have to keep going.
25:43It's what I want to be doing.
25:45I want to be successful for Renee and I and Renee does as well.
25:48So I'm always on the hunt for an amazing opal.
25:52Hey George, how are you going?
25:54Yeah, good, good.
25:55I've just got a customer looking for some dark base material.
25:58I'm just wondering if you've come across anything.
26:00I don't have anything right now but I'm actually working down Black Flag so if we get something
26:05we'll give you a call.
26:06Excellent.
26:07Thanks.
26:08George runs a shop in town.
26:10Good friend of mine.
26:11That would be a big win for us to find some dark material to offer.
26:14Dark base opal is seriously valuable so I'm hoping we can find something to offer George's
26:20customer.
26:23Dan.
26:24What's that?
26:25That's opal.
26:27Is that from there?
26:28Yeah, I just picked it up in.
26:29So that would have come up out of that last lot.
26:32When you're drilling holes like this it's not easy to see any opal in what we bring up so.
26:38I might know what I'm talking about after all.
26:40You might have done alright.
26:41I mean it's only pots but it's nice material.
26:43Yeah.
26:44That just stalled out.
26:49What did you do?
26:51Nothing.
26:53I grabbed something.
26:55Come over here.
26:58Look what's happened.
27:02See that?
27:03Oh.
27:04There's bloody old drives under there.
27:05We've broken into old drives.
27:06There's a big hole.
27:07They've done underground workings and your so called good spot did it right on top of them.
27:12Does that mean there might not be any opal?
27:13Well if there was it's likely they took it all out.
27:15It's already gone.
27:17Just no money again.
27:21Down to fuel.
27:23I put diesel in this the other day.
27:25Yeah.
27:26So we've been milked.
27:29Someone's siphoned the diesel out the tank.
27:32There's always low life around and will come around and do it.
27:35Of course we're right on the main road.
27:37They get a bit desperate so they go around and start stealing diesel off you.
27:41And I think the **** have done me too.
27:45Well we'll give that another try Les.
27:48Without funds to replace their stolen diesel.
27:52He's going now.
27:53The Bushmen have to find opal before their remaining supply runs dry.
27:57We've got to have the truck going to chip dirt.
28:00If you don't chip the dirt we're not going to find any opal.
28:04Very simple chain of effects.
28:07Alright.
28:08I guess we've got to find Les's load.
28:10Yep.
28:11Les is still very confident there's something in here.
28:13This claim isn't particularly producing very much.
28:16But the reality is even to go get a new claim and move our machinery.
28:20We need to find opal to get money to be able to make that move.
28:24Oh.
28:25We're hitting steel band up there.
28:27Yeah.
28:28Steel band is highly compressed clay and silica.
28:32And it's supposed to be about 50 times harder than concrete.
28:36Where the natural fractures in that steel band are.
28:39They're filling up with common opal with no colour in it.
28:42Hold up there for my...
28:45Oh.
28:46That's a bit of purple there Rod.
28:47Bit of colour.
28:49There is too Sam.
28:50Give it a bit of a scrape but I think it's just going to be...
28:53Oh.
28:54Oh there Sam.
28:55What's going on here?
28:57I need to get the jackhammering on.
29:00Yeah.
29:02Oh I got it.
29:03Oh.
29:04Got it?
29:05Oh.
29:07Oh.
29:08One piece.
29:09One good piece.
29:10It would have had to have been in that little pocket there.
29:12You can see where it's right underneath that feeder so...
29:15That should be...
29:17Here.
29:18Theoretically?
29:19Theoretically it should be here somewhere.
29:21Found anything yet?
29:23Well can you smell it can you Liz?
29:25Yeah.
29:26What are you doing down here?
29:27Sam just found a really nice little bit.
29:29Good I told you it was here.
29:31We got one piece.
29:32One piece is better than no piece.
29:35Mmm.
29:36Oh ho ho.
29:37Oh ho ho.
29:39We're getting there we're nearly got enough to buy a drum of diesel then.
29:41Yes.
29:42Well that's good.
29:43Oh ho.
29:44Oh ho ho.
29:45Oh ho ho.
29:46We've got two drums of diesel now.
29:48Yes.
29:49I'm absolutely cheering.
29:50I'll go down here mate.
29:51Not much going on up the top of the hill today so...
29:52Nah I'm sick of that truck bro.
29:53I don't know what I'm doing here.
29:54You know I've found those pieces in here in the level so...
29:55Well I'd really love to see some over mate.
29:56So I'm keen.
29:57We're hoping to get a good run out of the truck and yeah sort of let us down today.
30:01It was always a bit easier with Leif around because he'd be able to tweak a few things and get
30:03it running but yeah that's just how it is.
30:04This is a really old tunnel down here but there's really nice ground so obviously the guys got
30:28something out of here before so let's just hope they left something behind.
30:33Yeah, I'll show you exactly where I pulled those pieces out.
30:36Of course, he found some opal here earlier,
30:38so the best thing we can do is grab some picks,
30:40come down for a dig, see if we can find some more down here.
30:43There's been a lot of fossils found around here,
30:45so that's what we're coming for.
30:46They can be worth a lot more money, even if they are just pots.
30:49If they are a fossil, somebody will buy the fossil off us.
30:52See that little, little pocket there?
30:54Yeah.
30:54Here's your pick, mate.
30:55Thanks, mate.
30:56You're a legend.
30:58I'll just stand back and look for any bit of shaking from the pick.
31:02Two foot, three foot above what he's digging there.
31:05You worry that everything's had time to dry out
31:07and it can drop that whole section down.
31:11It's not the easiest ground, is it?
31:13You want the blacklight to have a run over it?
31:15The blacklight's a UV light.
31:17Anything white shows up.
31:19So with opal, because it's the silica, it'll shine that silica up.
31:22There's little bits of trace.
31:25I've just seen something.
31:26Oh, yeah, look at that.
31:27Yeah, right, eh?
31:28Look at that, bro.
31:29That's a decent-sized piece.
31:31There you go, let me leave it out.
31:33There's a light.
31:33Look at it.
31:33You can see if it's got colour.
31:35There's got to be more.
31:36It might have a little bit of colour in it.
31:39Not too sure.
31:40Come on, it's going vertical.
31:44Oh, yeah, look at that.
31:45Standing right up there.
31:46God, this has got to be colour.
31:47Come on.
31:49Hey, bro.
31:50Remember how Pete was showing us those bones?
31:52Oh, what?
31:52Yeah.
31:53Does that have the lines on it?
31:55Feels like a bone.
31:56Yeah, I was thinking a clam or something.
31:57That's the other bit you handed to me first.
31:59Oh, look at that.
32:01That looks like a bone.
32:03Yeah.
32:06Oh, man.
32:07If that's a bone, what do you say?
32:09Like, five, six grand?
32:10Yeah, it looks like this has got the lines on it.
32:12Let me check the rest of the wall, bro.
32:14Hold that.
32:15We just found a little parcel.
32:17Pretty sure we've got one little fossil bone in there.
32:20Not sure exactly what it is, but...
32:21Oh, we might have actually just had a bit of luck
32:24come out and got what we're looking for.
32:30Not the outcome we were hoping for.
32:31No.
32:32Give us a bit of time to check it out.
32:33Beautiful.
32:34Thanks, David.
32:34Thank you very much.
32:35Yeah, thanks, thanks, David.
32:36No worries.
32:37Thanks, Kat.
32:37Thanks, Kat.
32:38Until next time.
32:39Yep.
32:39Pretty deflating that we've hit these underground workings.
32:44Possibly all the opals gone now.
32:46We've been out here all day as well.
32:49So, yeah, it might be just another waste of time.
32:52I'll have to explain to you how this works
32:53because you haven't put ladders down before.
32:55Yep.
32:55When we lower one down, we then clip the other ones to it.
32:59Now get the pipe ready.
33:00That steel pipe is what holds the ladder.
33:03I'm pretty nervous about going down there.
33:06I'm not actually sure whether I'm going to do it or not yet.
33:09It's a big deal for someone their first time going down ladders.
33:12The worst thing that happens is she leaves the footing
33:14and she goes down and it's not just the hit at the bottom,
33:17it's all the stuff you bounce off going down the shaft.
33:20All right.
33:21I'm just going to go for it.
33:22The more I think about it, the worse it's going to be.
33:24I'll just do what you're doing.
33:26There'll be a little bit of dust falling.
33:28Oh, dear me.
33:29It's pretty scary, Dan.
33:30I don't know how you do this.
33:32When you get into the ballroom, the open area,
33:34your ladder doesn't push against the wall.
33:36Just be aware.
33:37It's going to be a bit more wobbly.
33:39Oh, wow.
33:39It is opening up, isn't it?
33:41Today was about getting the shaft down for an AI.
33:43I didn't really have much faith in it, but Opal's got no rules.
33:47If she gets a feeling, we've got to follow on with it
33:49because we don't want to have ifs, buts and maybes.
33:52So what type of equipment were they used to...
33:55Well, some tunneling machines are made to fit down the small shafts
33:57like we just drilled.
33:58Maybe they dropped it down one of those and it's been covered up.
34:01All right.
34:01So which way first?
34:02I can go down this way.
34:05Oh, they've done some blasting.
34:06So that's old fuse from the explosives.
34:09Oh.
34:09That fuse would have been when the shots went off
34:11and pushed the dirt out.
34:13Yeah.
34:13See here, look.
34:14Put a bomb in there and then they've never cleaned it out,
34:16so we'll shovel it out.
34:18I'll do the bulk of it, then you can clean him out, eh?
34:20Yeah.
34:22Rather than handing in, they'll put a couple of shots in underneath.
34:25But it looks like they put the bombs in
34:26and really haven't dug around.
34:28Oh, well, hopefully that works well for us, though.
34:30Yeah, I'm going to have to jackpick in there.
34:32The most important thing is that we're actually finding Opal
34:36and selling it to be able to make a profit and keep me here.
34:38I just want to get that black light.
34:40I got the black light.
34:42Okay.
34:43Oh, wow.
34:44Look at that.
34:47Hey.
34:48Oh, my God.
34:48Dan, look, that's got green in it, I reckon.
34:51Oh.
34:51You found more.
34:53I'm going to hand them back, then we'll have a look, eh?
34:55Yeah.
34:56That's good colour.
34:58Oh, my God.
35:00All right, do you want to sit up and have a look?
35:02Oh.
35:03Look at that.
35:06That's a huge piece.
35:07Look at that.
35:08Oh, my God.
35:09What a size of that.
35:10That is sparkling.
35:12Dark base.
35:13Good colour.
35:14That is excellent.
35:15Come on.
35:16Your spot was all right.
35:17High five.
35:19High five, whatever.
35:21You did well.
35:22Go get the bucket.
35:24I'll keep digging.
35:24All right, let's hope we've got something for Pete, eh?
35:33That looks like a bone.
35:34That's exactly what he said.
35:35So let's just hope this is going to be a payday, bruv.
35:38Well, what are you reckoning, you know?
35:39Like...
35:40Yeah, I don't know, mate.
35:43I don't know what we're going to ask.
35:45I really don't think there's much money in this stuff.
35:47No.
35:48What a value is going to be in this bad boy, man.
35:51I'm thinking, like, six and a half grand.
35:53Yeah, we'll go six and a half and...
35:55I don't know, the lowest, three and a half, eh?
35:58Anything in the middle is going to be a damn good bonus, mate.
36:00If it is what we're thinking.
36:02I hope it is, mate.
36:03Let's go make a deal.
36:09How you going, Pete?
36:10Hey, guys.
36:10How you going?
36:11Good, mate.
36:11We went and dug out more of that level when we first found stuff.
36:15Yep.
36:15Found all this.
36:16We're hoping maybe there's something there.
36:18Yep.
36:18I'll have a look at it, but I can see from here it's not too much at the moment.
36:22It's just pieces of pot.
36:24Well, we did find one more thing as it turned vertical.
36:27Okay.
36:27We found this sitting right up top.
36:34Well, I can tell you straight away.
36:37There's the humorous offer.
36:38Please see a sword.
36:39It's obvious that it's a foodie.
36:41No worries, you know, so, yep.
36:43Yeah.
36:43If you can find the rest of it, then you've just about got your retirement fund.
36:47Yeah.
36:48The Mooka boys have an opalised fossil of a plesiosaur flipper, weighing 42 and a half grams.
36:56Yeah, what sort of price are you after?
36:57Well, we're hoping we can maybe get six and a half grand.
37:01Yeah.
37:02We will be pouring all the money back into digging.
37:06If it had a bit more opal and stuff like that, yeah, I think it could be worth that much
37:10Look, I'll do four and a half.
37:13Four and a half.
37:15That's it.
37:17That's money, man.
37:18We need money right now.
37:20Mate, we'll be happy with four and a half, mate.
37:22Thanks for helping us out, mate.
37:24This puts us back in action.
37:26We'll go and fill the diesel tanks up, and we'll get out there and start digging again.
37:33Who wants a sausage?
37:35One sausage, thanks, sir.
37:38Thanks a lot.
37:40Start of the season's always hard.
37:41It's always sausages and no steaks, but we found our fossils, so I'm pretty happy.
37:46Some good vibes for the start of this season, that's for sure.
37:49Now we've just got to find some more.
37:50Hopefully enough money to bring leaf home.
37:52That's what we're aiming for.
37:54Sucks that the truck broke down, but we made it happen anyway by going down that hole and having a scratch around,
37:59so it's a real chance game, but you've got to keep pushing through even when things go bad.
38:04Cheers, bud.
38:05Cheers, bud.
38:14Hey, Sam.
38:15Les.
38:16What?
38:16Hermit is on his way.
38:18Okay.
38:19Bring the bucket down here, and we'll clean it up a little bit, eh?
38:21Bye-bye.
38:23In need of a rapid sale to stay in business, the Bushmen have asked local opal dealer Herman
38:30Creller to buy direct from the mine.
38:33Rod wanted to get out of here, but I talked him into staying for another week, so I keep
38:39on his wheel about that.
38:43That sounds like a knock on the door.
38:45So it does.
38:46I know Herman the German loves blue.
38:49He's always said to me, if you get blue, give me a ring.
38:51Ah, it's good to see you.
38:52Mate.
38:54I suppose I'd better put my hard hat on.
38:55You'd better put your helmet on, mate.
38:57I've been dealing with Herman for a lot, a lot of years.
39:00We've sailed to him a fair bit, so I reckon he'll pay top dollar for it.
39:04Okay.
39:05You've phoned me.
39:06I'm here.
39:07What you got?
39:08Mate.
39:09What?
39:10I've been up here 55 years.
39:12I spent 30 years underground mining, six years gouging with a candle and a pick.
39:17Put a bit of light on that for Herman.
39:19Oh.
39:21Honestly, mate, that's just come out of the wall.
39:23My favourite colour plate.
39:25Oh, dear mate.
39:26I know.
39:27The Bushmen have crystal seam opal, featuring blues and purples.
39:33It's in the rough and weighs one kilogram.
39:37How good is it?
39:37Oh, mate.
39:39What did you use explosive for?
39:41Bloody crowbar?
39:42It's all broken up.
39:44What did you do to it?
39:46He's right, you know.
39:46That's great.
39:48What's the lowest you'll take for it?
39:51A lot.
39:51How about five grand?
39:55You're saying 5,000.
39:57Now, this is not five.
39:59If you'd like to take two and a half thousand, all you've got to do is go back onto the digger
40:07and dig out more, and then phone me again.
40:09Two and a half thousand dollars.
40:11Two and a half thousand's better than no two and a half thousand.
40:14If it's as crazy as bad as it is, then it's not worth it.
40:19All right.
40:21You got it, Dale.
40:23You didn't want the handshake.
40:24You wanted the dough.
40:27No dough, no dough.
40:31The sale's a sale, you know, and two and a half thousand dollars are going to buy us
40:35enough diesel to keep on mining.
40:40Thank you, Sam.
40:41Yeah, old fella.
40:42Thank you, mate.
40:43And there's even one for me.
40:45Oh, good.
40:46Cheers.
40:46Cheers.
40:58Wow, look at that, Dale.
41:00Which one do you think's the king's doing?
41:01I think this dark red here.
41:03Need to clean it back and have a good look, but that big red bar there.
41:06I can't wait to get it home.
41:08This is exactly what George's customer wants.
41:11How much do you reckon we should ask for it?
41:15I wouldn't take less than 40.
41:1740 grand?
41:18We'll start higher, but I'm walking out if he's not giving me 40.
41:22It's right at the start of the season, so we really need to kickstart it.
41:25We did so poorly last year.
41:27For me to stay and live and work with Dan full-time, we really need to make this sale today.
41:34Hey, George.
41:34Hey, man.
41:35Good to see you.
41:35You too.
41:37Yeah, nice to see you again.
41:38You've got something pretty special to show you.
41:40Oh, you had some luck this year.
41:41A bit of luck.
41:42See what you got.
41:43I run a small family business in Cumberpede.
41:46Mum and Dad have been mining since 1973, and Mum decided to open the shop in 1987 because
41:51she was sick of having no money.
41:53And after that, that allowed us to keep mining.
41:55Wow, that's nice.
41:56Yeah, look at that.
41:56That's amazing.
41:57That's so good.
41:58Dark base too, like you said, your customer's wanting.
42:00Yeah.
42:00The opal lovers have a parcel of crystal opal on a dark base, including a high-quality
42:08kingstone.
42:10All feature the full spectrum of colours, are in the rough, and weigh a total of 142 grams.
42:18Now, this is amazing, this stone here.
42:20Yeah, yeah.
42:21Is that your favourite stone, Dan?
42:22Yeah, that's a beautiful stone, yeah.
42:23Yeah, I mean, you can see what that's going to cut.
42:25What sort of money are you asking for this?
42:28Look, there's bright, dark material.
42:3245.
42:3345.
42:35Look, I don't want to offend you, but I don't quite see 45 there.
42:39I think the lowest we'd come down would be 40.
42:4240?
42:42Yeah.
42:43I'll tell you what, how about 25?
42:46No, 25 just isn't enough.
42:48Yeah, look, sorry, guys.
42:49It's nice stuff, but...
42:50Look, I'm 25.
42:53What are you doing, Dan?
42:55This comes out.
42:56What, you need to take a piece out?
42:57Yeah.
42:58I'm not leaving...
42:59Sorry, George, but he knows what that'll cut.
43:04All right, done.
43:05Deal.
43:05Done?
43:05Thanks, George.
43:06Done.
43:06All right, thanks, George.
43:09Appreciate it, mate.
43:10You'll just know where you go.
43:12That stone I'm really set on, I can see 30 grand coming out of that stone once we've cut it.
43:16So that's an awesome kickstart to our season.
43:19It's really good to have some money in the bank now.
43:21In theory, we should be able to get about $55,000 in total.
43:25So my gut feeling was right.
43:27Time for a celebration.
43:29Ah, there we go.
43:30Oh, look, Dan.
43:31Ooh, look at that.
43:32Beautiful.
43:33Lucky I won the bet.
43:34You were playing tonight, wasn't it?
43:35Yeah, I'll give it to you.
43:36I'll admit you...
43:37Found lots of opal, made a bit of cash, made a bit of money.
43:41That's just the start of it, I'm sure.
43:43You lost fun.
43:43Cheers.
43:44Cheers.
43:44Cheers.
43:44Cheers.
43:45Cheers.
43:45Cheers.
43:46Cheers.
43:46Cheers.
43:46Cheers.
43:47Cheers.
43:48Cheers.
43:49Cheers.
43:50Cheers.
44:17Cheers.
44:19Cheers.
44:19Cheers.
44:19Cheers.