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00:00All right, off to work, son.
00:04That's pretty excited for today.
00:06Well, that's good then, because we've got a lot of dirt to feed, I tell you.
00:09Just got to get into it, hoe in, make sure it gets done.
00:15Yeah, it's just so weird that, you know, like, he's having one to get picked up,
00:19because he doesn't usually do this.
00:23I've never had to pick him up for work, you know.
00:27I'm a bit worried about him.
00:30Come on, Bosco.
00:37Bloody hell, mate, what have you done now?
00:40Oh, trying to push the bloody ranger on the weekend.
00:46Torn calf.
00:47Torn calf?
00:48Ah.
00:50Mate, I don't think we can have crushes out on sight, man.
00:56Not out mining, anyway.
01:00We'll be all right, because I'm coming out.
01:14Take it easy, Ben.
01:15I don't want to see you getting hurt any more than what you already are.
01:18Yeah, I know, mate.
01:18Because you look really bad right now at the moment with crutches in your hand.
01:21So, Logan, you up for the challenge, mate?
01:23Yeah, I'll try to help as much as I can.
01:25So, let's get moving.
01:27Yeah.
01:27We've got to get some bloody dirt rumbling.
01:30Let's go.
01:30You all right?
01:39What's this look, mate?
01:42Now, if you just stand back and keep out of my way, this will probably work a lot faster.
01:46The boys are erecting a six-foot-high fence just to stop us from falling down into the pit.
01:54Right, stand to the left.
01:55A little bit more.
02:01Lightning Ridge, New South Wales.
02:03For over a century, fortune hunters have been drawn to this hostile landscape in search of opal.
02:11Right there.
02:11That's straight there.
02:13Okay.
02:13Now, mining partners Lee Hobden...
02:19That's perfect.
02:21...and Roger Williams, a.k.a. Slim Pickings...
02:25See how much work this is, mate.
02:26...follow in their footsteps.
02:29With Roger's son, Logan, drafted in to learn the trade.
02:33It's really fun being here, being able to do this work with my dad and that.
02:39This is it.
02:40This is it.
02:41Guards are up.
02:42Yep.
02:43Let's get George moving.
02:44Yep.
02:47This season, the team's strategy is to find opal in the waste dirt from over 100 years of mining,
02:55using their dry rumbler, George, and a converted cement mixer as an agitator wash plant.
03:03Season target's $120,000.
03:05I only buffed it up.
03:06I was going to keep it at $100,000, but we've got George.
03:09He cost me $20,000.
03:10But last week, we did make a promise to Sissy that we'll give her at least another $8,000 to $10,000 parcel.
03:16Hopefully, there's more.
03:18Don't hurt yourself, whatever you do.
03:19That one's it.
03:20That's fine.
03:21I'm fine.
03:22I'm all good.
03:22It gets hot in there.
03:25There's no air conditioning there, big fella.
03:26Yeah, I know.
03:28Here we go.
03:29So, I've hurt myself.
03:33I've got a lot of muscle on my calf.
03:35I can handle the little bit of pain, but I'm not jumping up and down on that calf muscle.
03:39I'm actually going to be tipping on it today.
03:42Rightio.
03:43First bucket in.
03:44Going to feed the crap out of George today.
03:46The dry rumbler processes tons of waste dirt from the old-timers' workings, removing sand and dust.
03:55I'm hoping in the tailings the old-timers are left with some beautiful opal in it.
03:59I definitely won't say no.
04:00The remaining rocks are washed in a cement mixer to remove the caked-on dirt and reveal any opal.
04:10I left my career down in Newcastle.
04:12So, coming up here to Lighting Ridge and taking the risks, we really need this venture here right now to keep on producing.
04:18My kids, my family, we all depend on it.
04:22Third generation miner, so I need to uphold the family legacy, keep the family name going and make livelihood.
04:30It's just too much big material going in.
04:39So, see the front part of it here?
04:41Yeah.
04:42So, you start seeing it build up there?
04:44See it up to me?
04:44Yeah.
04:45I've got to pick up another bucket.
04:47I think it needs to go slower.
04:49The old trick of this dirt in, a lot less than what I was doing.
04:58Dad, stop, stop, stop!
05:00What happened there?
05:07Man, that rock just lifted the whole barrel off.
05:11You're kidding me.
05:12No, she's jammed underneath the belt in the barrel and then nearly lifted the whole barrel off.
05:18That barrel's only just sitting on those wheels and that whole barrel can come off and go tumbling
05:24down into the hole.
05:26A world of bloody hurt there.
05:27We're putting a lot of effort into this car, trying to take a lot more dirt behind it.
05:47So, when we do get there, to that bottom level, we want to be able to take out 40, 50 square metres of it.
05:53Not just a five-minute, have a little, look, I'll get a few shells and a little bit of seam.
05:58We're after a big parcel.
05:59And this is the only way we're going to get one, doing it properly.
06:03How the f*** did that break, man?
06:17I've got no idea.
06:19Snap that clean off.
06:21Yeah, we just broke the pin, so it's game over.
06:25What a f***.
06:27As I f*** bring the bucket around, it's put a bit too much pressure on one point and gone snap.
06:34Got a couple of spare pins in the cab of the old one, so with any luck they might fit, but I'm not holding me breath.
06:40We really need the excavator.
06:48Pressure's on us more than it's ever been before.
06:50We are absolutely stuffed without it.
06:56Coober Pedy, South Australia, the opal capital of the world.
07:02But this harsh landscape doesn't give up its treasures easily.
07:07It's the worst thing ever.
07:10Now we're two excavators, both sitting side by side, and neither one can dig us a freaking hole.
07:17We'll just have to pull it off, take it into town, and hopefully get it fixed.
07:23In a season already plagued by mechanical failure, the blacklighters...
07:28Did you slip off, or did that come off?
07:29Yeah, I slipped off.
07:30Mark Ianson...
07:32What a nightmare.
07:33Paul Kuhn...
07:35Yeah, we'll cut the bolt off.
07:36And John Nassar...
07:39In between breaking stuff, they've actually done some work.
07:41...have now broken the hardened steel pin that mounts the digging bucket to the excavator arm.
07:48Do you reckon that other pin will fit?
07:50I don't know.
07:53Sun's shining at the moment, but these clouds are looking a bit...
07:56Hope for the best, that we don't get too much rain and it shuts us down for a couple of days.
08:02Pins for this one, but they're not going to fit.
08:04It's not a good day.
08:05That thing snapped is nasty.
08:13The good farm people of Coober Pedy have come to the rescue and we found a pin for the excavator.
08:19So it's stuck in this big thing here.
08:23So we've just got to get it out first, which is, that's the first mission.
08:26Not liking our chances pretty much.
08:32Coming.
08:33If we were in Adelaide, it would probably have been easy.
08:34We probably would have just gone down to a dealer and just picked one up brand new.
08:37So here's what it is, it'll keep us going, hopefully.
08:39And we've got ourselves a second hand pin, so hopefully we can get that all tuned up.
08:50We get this thing running, get back to digging.
08:52Come around the other side.
08:54Yep.
08:55You might have to get up.
08:57There's a lot of hard lifting to get this in, by the looks of it.
08:59Just watch out, because it's heavy, all right?
09:05Don't let it fall back or forward.
09:09All right, bring it over.
09:10Keep going.
09:11Bit more.
09:12Yep.
09:17Can you give that a smacking?
09:20Keep going.
09:22Keep going.
09:23Yep, it's coming.
09:28It's on.
09:28It's on.
09:34Last time we got about 29 grand for the week.
09:37Pretty lucky, actually.
09:38Back out here this week.
09:40See if we can double it, triple it.
09:42Hey, let's see how we go.
09:45We did set the target at $350,000 again this year, so we've got a long way to go, but boys
09:50are over here digging down to the level.
09:54I think we're on a good spot here.
09:56I reckon it's finally going to pay for us.
09:58We don't want to just pay the bills.
10:00We want to strike it and be filthy rich.
10:03Like, that's the honest goal for every open morning.
10:16Well, we're getting sick of this weather, sitting around in this crap.
10:19Don't know what to do, man.
10:21Maybe we should go out and just have a look.
10:22I'm not taking the machine down the hill if it's wet.
10:25Nah, if it's wet and dangerous, we won't do it.
10:27All right.
10:28Let's go.
10:29Let's do it, man.
10:30Let's go waste some more diesel.
10:31No, it doesn't matter.
10:32Just go have a look.
10:33That might be it for a while.
10:44That is a big puddle, eh?
10:45That's a lot of water, man.
10:47This looks s***, right?
10:48You know what it gets like as soon as we turn off?
10:51I don't think we'll make it.
10:52It's today.
10:53It's one day, man.
10:54Well, we've got to get some money somehow this week because it doesn't look like we're going
10:57to pull any out of the ground while it's like this.
10:59We're in a lot of strife, man.
11:11The last bit is, they're fingers crossed and technically should be good to go.
11:19Andamooka, South Australia.
11:21At their lunatic claim, mining partners Angel Dempsey and Izzy Glenn are battling against
11:27ageing machinery.
11:30All right, Izzy.
11:31I think it's time to fire it up, see if she'll work.
11:35No worries.
11:35The key's in it.
11:36Yep.
11:37Quite a few months since it's ran, so quite exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.
11:45Oh, try again.
11:48That's not good.
11:49The excavator.
11:52I ended up blowing a drive motor on it at the end of last season, so she's been out
11:57for quite a long time.
11:59The team are struggling to keep their mining operation alive, after financier and mentor
12:08Opal Jo Calmar was forced to take medical leave.
12:13I've basically stepped back because my health's up a creek, too many strokes.
12:18So I've stepped back and hoping that Angel can take over everything.
12:22Working with Jo's, giving me the confidence to be able to believe in myself and make things
12:27actually happen.
12:28I've come to Andamooka not knowing a thing about Opal, and now we can actually find it.
12:38There's got to be potentially something wrong here.
12:42Oh, hang on.
12:43Two wires have pulled out of this plug here.
12:48So this is for the fuel cut-off solenoid, which would be why she's got no diesel.
12:54Oh, she'd squeeze as tight as I can in there.
12:58Hopefully that holds just enough to get her to start.
13:07Pretty certain I've found the problem.
13:10Shall we give her a whirl?
13:11See what happens.
13:13Ah-ha!
13:15Yes!
13:16That's a good noise to hear.
13:18Hopefully, it'll move.
13:23Woo-hoo!
13:24She moves!
13:27So our season target is around about 300 mark.
13:31A nice round figure, and I need to find it.
13:35Without that money, the gym's dead in the water.
13:37So if you come out of your right leg first, that's a south ball.
13:41We've set this gym up so that kids veer away from drugs and alcohol.
13:49I've been there myself.
13:50You know, I'm clean now 15 years and sober.
13:54One.
13:54You know, that takes a bit of money, let alone the fact of taking these kids away for boxing
14:00events.
14:00And we do have one coming up in August at Golden Gloves.
14:05Without that money, we're not going anywhere.
14:08We're stuck in Adelaide.
14:09A lot of dirt to move.
14:16A lot of opal to find.
14:18Now, the pressure's certainly on for Izzy and I this season.
14:22You know, we're a man down.
14:23So, I'm never going to have to work twice as hard to find the opal.
14:29Oh, she's hard.
14:33So damn rocky.
14:36Izzy's down at the shaft, hoping to find some fast opal, we call it, because you're already
14:40at the level there.
14:43Never used to be quite keen on this, but since I've started going down mine shafts, I absolutely
14:48love it there.
14:49Down here on jackhammering to reach another shaft at the other end.
14:54And hopefully find opal along the way, which will be awesome.
15:02Just going to have a quick look with the black light.
15:06Yeah, and I move the opal glows in the dark.
15:09It's a job that we don't like to rush, because if you rush this job, what will happen is you'll
15:14miss all the trace in the wall.
15:18Come on.
15:25Oh.
15:27I actually feel some vibration.
15:30Angel's only about probably 10 metres away from me on the excavator.
15:34Quite scary when you're leaning up against a wall like that and being 25 foot under the
15:39ground.
15:45Good looking ground.
15:48Come on.
15:51When I get to the level, I'm going to have to get easy here to be my spotter.
16:05Angel!
16:05Angel, are you there?
16:07Yeah, what's up?
16:08I just had a chunk of s*** fall on top of me.
16:11You're right.
16:12I don't think it's real safe at the moment.
16:18Oh, that was a bit scary.
16:19So what happened?
16:19Oh, I had a big chunk of dirt and rocks fall down on my head down there.
16:24Oh, yes.
16:24Yeah, I think it was just all that vibration.
16:26I guess shut that down and we'll get you in the open cut.
16:29Sounds like a good plan.
16:30Yeah.
16:31Being in a mine shaft, it's not for everybody.
16:33So if there was a cave-in, yeah, I'd be history down there.
16:44The open cut I'm doing is one of the longest ones in Andamooka.
16:47Roughly about 200 metres long.
16:51What I'm going to do, I'm going to get in the middle of the cut.
16:55And with this excavator, we're able to create a bit of a working phase,
16:59which allows us to be able to climb this open.
17:06What's the ground looking like, Izzy?
17:09It's got a really rich patch here.
17:11All right, sounds good.
17:12For whatever reasons, the ground has shifted.
17:19Hopefully, there's a crevice at the opal,
17:21and its liquid form has fell in, and it's gotten to the bottom.
17:24And over the millions of years, it's hardened.
17:26So I'll focus on going a bit deeper.
17:28Yep.
17:28And I'll put this dirt in its own little spot
17:31so we can look through it later.
17:33There's so many blind spots in these big machines.
17:49Where's Izzy?
17:50There she is.
17:51Very important for me to know where Izzy is all the time.
17:55Ah, yep!
18:13Looks like the rain's finally stopped.
18:15So now nature can draw it out for us
18:17and we can find some bloody opal.
18:19We've only found about 50 grand this year.
18:22So, you know, it's not really enough at this stage.
18:25Since we've set the target at 350.
18:29But, hey, Johnny's an opalzilla.
18:35Yeah, I mean, opalzilla's good for giving us a few bucks.
18:38After it's gone through the tumble, comes off the shaker,
18:41comes into the dark green belt, which is this running here.
18:44Opal fluoresces under the blacklight, so...
18:47I mean, that's a small bit.
18:48You sort of see it to sort of line up a bit.
18:52It's about, like, I don't know, maybe a quarter of a bucket.
18:54It would be nice if the boys over there
18:56start bringing out some chunks,
18:58but at the moment, we're paying bills.
19:01We're burning probably 500 a day,
19:04so finding no money, you go broke pretty quick.
19:11At the moment, we're using the digging power of the excavator
19:14to dig the ground
19:15and then the pushing power of the dozer
19:18to push the dirt all the way up the hill
19:21and out of the way gone for good.
19:24I'm pretty confident we can move enough dirt
19:26to get down to the opal we were fawning last season.
19:30Just checking the face at the moment, you know,
19:32just scrape the walls.
19:34Don't want to miss it.
19:36Worked too hard to get this far
19:38to throw it away.
19:40Because if you're chipping away, chipping away,
19:46you'll hear the opal go tink.
19:50We got a bit of trace here.
19:53Blue.
19:57Some purpley blue.
19:59Millions of years ago,
20:03Coober Pedy was covered by the Aramanga Sea.
20:07Over time, silica-rich water drained into the earth,
20:11filling voids in the porous bedrock
20:13and hardening to form opal.
20:18Couple of chips, always a good sign.
20:22Some nice blue-green crystal there.
20:24It's only thin, but it's only just started.
20:26It's getting fatter in the wall behind me,
20:27so go have a bit of a dig.
20:35Oh!
20:37What are you doing?
20:41Blue hose, man!
20:42The same as what happened a few weeks back.
20:44On the front?
20:45Yeah!
20:45I can't move it, man!
20:47The hydraulic oil's just gonna go...
20:48The hose has gone bang,
20:50and it's put oil over everything.
20:52Yeah, yep, up there.
20:53Bloody hell, that's not gonna work.
21:05Go and grab the shovel for me, please.
21:08So we've got a rock jammed up
21:09in between the barrel and the conveyor belt.
21:12It's actually rolled in underneath,
21:14lifted up the whole barrel,
21:15and then we've heard the barrel clean off.
21:17That's a close call.
21:20Always something.
21:21It's never in the show, really.
21:27I think it really jammed it.
21:35Righto, mate.
21:37It's actually only just sitting on the rollers.
21:40If that falls off,
21:42we're just going to spread it.
21:43There goes our season.
21:44I need the money to sustain the momentum
21:48of this mining operation.
21:50So we do it because we love it,
21:52but it would be good to take a little bit
21:53and keep it in that back pocket this time around.
21:56At the moment,
21:57while the George is running,
21:59the more we feed it,
21:59the more opal we're gonna get.
22:07Okay, Rog, you there?
22:09Yeah, mate.
22:09Yeah, this conveyor's definitely slowing down,
22:12that's for sure.
22:13Maybe turn that track up a little bit
22:14so we've got a bit more flow.
22:16Yeah, I'll turn the revs up, mate.
22:18Okay.
22:25All right, stop the hydraulics there.
22:26Logan, please.
22:27We've got a massive oil leak
22:33on the back end of you now.
22:34You're kidding me.
22:36Is it coming out of one of the hoses?
22:39No, mate.
22:39She's coming out of the seals, man.
22:41I can see it from here.
22:42What, the pump seal?
22:44Yeah, the pump seals.
22:46Ah, for sake.
22:47The hydraulic pump on the tractor,
22:49it runs all three hydraulic motors on George.
22:53Yeah, take a look.
22:54You can see it all from underneath there.
22:57Ah!
22:58If we just keep this going the way it is,
23:00man, we'll end up blowing the pump up
23:01while doing some major damage.
23:04So it's a massive fix.
23:05It is frustrating.
23:07All we can do is try and give it a fix.
23:09And let's rip off this end and get it sealed up.
23:12I'm just gonna knock these pins out.
23:15This is not going to be easy at all.
23:19Yeah, this is the major thing
23:20that's actually gonna hold us right up right now.
23:23These pins haven't been moved for 60, 70 years,
23:26so it's pretty much welded in there.
23:31No, that's not coming at all.
23:33We promised Sissy that was going to get her a nice big parcel.
23:37And right now at the moment, we're not making any money.
23:39I'm not gonna break anything else for at least a week.
23:50Hopefully not, but everything's so slippery,
23:53I just don't want to slip off.
23:54Nah, don't slip, man.
23:58Just gotta manipulate the sucker.
24:00Yeah, because it's tight,
24:03you don't want to cross-thread the sucker.
24:09It's gone.
24:16Damn, that's it.
24:17Hold that.
24:20Fill her up, turn her on.
24:22Plug and play.
24:22And off we go.
24:23We're back in the playground.
24:29We've been up here for weeks,
24:30just moving dirt, moving dirt, moving dirt.
24:35We need to really get down to where the opal is, you know?
24:39About another eight foot to the hard base,
24:42the alanite.
24:42Yeah, this is the alanite here.
24:49This is your stopper.
24:50It's like a chalky, but it's super hard.
24:53Excavator doesn't like digging it.
24:56But, you know, that was the stopper.
24:57So when the opal and the water, the silica ran down,
25:01it had somewhere to bottom out and pull up.
25:04Never know what could happen.
25:05Could be going home loaded or broke.
25:08I like that vertical, eh?
25:10Yeah, watch that vertical.
25:11That could turn to colour at any minute, man.
25:13It looks killer, eh?
25:14That could totally turn to colour.
25:27Oh, it's getting thicker.
25:31Careful, go slow, man.
25:32Go slow.
25:35Oh, it's turning green at the back there.
25:36Look.
25:37It's definitely good to find some colour.
25:41Oh, look at that.
25:44Oh, little bits of shells everywhere.
25:47Where have you been hiding all these years?
25:49It's in here.
25:50That has sat there for 400 million years, Paul.
25:53This is bloody good, man.
25:54There could be more.
25:55I just can't wait to see what's beyond it.
25:56There's got to be more, eh?
25:57There's got to be more, man.
25:58There's got to be more.
26:03Oh, hang on.
26:03Hang on a minute.
26:04That's a chunk.
26:08Look at the colour in it.
26:09Hello.
26:10Hello.
26:11Hello.
26:12That is yum.
26:13Oh, look.
26:14Another bit.
26:16Dude, we're talking some money with this.
26:17That is yum.
26:18Yeah, look, look, look.
26:19Look.
26:20More.
26:20Oh.
26:21Oh.
26:22That's one of our best chunks we've ever found in a wall.
26:25Look at that.
26:27Yeah.
26:27Woo.
26:28Look at that.
26:34Yeah.
26:36Couple of grand an ounce there, mate.
26:38Bit of Blackwater's long cream.
26:40There's plenty more in the bucket.
26:51Yeah, Logan.
26:52Congrats things there, mate.
26:53We've got to hook it up before I take these pins out.
26:55At their government tank claim, Roger and Lee are fixing a crippling oil leak by removing
27:02a hydraulic pump from the ageing tractor, which powers their dry rumbler.
27:07We're pretty much well stuffed.
27:09The tractor runs all three hydraulic motors on George.
27:14All right.
27:14You want to jump in the cab there, Lee?
27:16Yeah.
27:17We're using the big digger to hook these slings and chain on the back end of that backhoe.
27:22Coming up.
27:23And get that pump off and get it sealed up.
27:25All right.
27:28I'll get you up.
27:29There's four pins on the back of that tractor that's keeping that backhoe on there.
27:33Once we take the weight off those pins, the whole thing should slide out.
27:39All right.
27:40Take weight.
27:41Coming up.
27:43Whoa.
27:45That should get it.
27:46Try and knock those pins out.
27:47Yep.
27:48Oh, yeah.
27:51The pins are coming out a lot easier now.
27:53Yeah.
27:57All right.
27:57Slow left.
28:01There she goes.
28:02He-heh-heh!
28:05Woo!
28:06Yeah!
28:07Yeah, yeah, yeah!
28:08Exactly what I like to see.
28:10So, I reckon we come back tomorrow, and we might be actually up and running lunchtime.
28:15Oh, come on then.
28:15Let's go.
28:16Back to work, boys.
28:24Yep.
28:25Now we're going to pull the pump off itself.
28:27Put a sealant on it.
28:28I'm just hoping nothing's going to fall out.
28:36Oh, it's one of those ones where the bearings just sit in there.
28:39Oh, no.
28:40Each one of those bearings are singly slotted in.
28:42It's not in the bearing case.
28:44So, when you go to pick it back up, you'll be very, very careful.
28:47If one of them pops out or anything, you've got to do that again.
28:54I'm trying to get this done before this bloody sealant starts drying out.
28:57That's him, mate.
28:59Yep.
28:59That dust is no good.
29:01Far out.
29:02Where's that bubble pump?
29:03It's coming from all that fine dust off George.
29:06All over this.
29:07We don't want to get any dust on the seal job.
29:17Oh, man.
29:18Ball bearings keep them falling out.
29:19It's absolutely really gee-ing me at the moment.
29:38Oh!
29:38Oh!
29:39Oh!
29:41Oh, my God.
29:42Oh!
29:43It took some patience.
29:47You're a more patient man than me, that's for sure.
29:49I was near ready to give up.
29:51All right, Lee.
29:53We're going to start running.
29:54Hey!
29:55This is what Jepsen does to you.
30:13Hammering away here at the wall and didn't realise there was a massive boulder up the top.
30:20One of those donks you on the head?
30:23It's goodnight.
30:29Something hard down there.
30:31Watch out for falling boulders, Izzy.
30:34I will.
30:35The vibration of that machine, you know, a lot of the time the dirt is loose up the top of these cuts
30:41and they're likely to fall on your head.
30:43I'm just going to knock some boulders off the wall on my left.
30:50Oh! Sparkle!
31:05Wow.
31:07You might want to stop, Angel.
31:09Got some pretty colour here.
31:13Look at the crystal in that.
31:17Oh my God.
31:18Have a look.
31:20Got a crystal opal vein running through it.
31:23Awesome!
31:25We'll go through the tailings and we'll go hunting.
31:29That is so cool.
31:32A couple of times I scraped up, so it could be anywhere.
31:36It's very much like trick-or-treating.
31:38Turn over a rock and you don't know what's underneath it.
31:40Hello, colour.
31:41Where are you?
31:42Oh, Izzy.
31:52Full of purple.
31:53Look at that.
31:54Alright, there's got to be more in somewhere.
31:56There's got to be more in here.
31:58Oh, Angel.
31:59Oh, that is so pretty.
32:02You've got colour.
32:03Look at that.
32:04Oh, my God.
32:06It's only little, but look at the colour in it.
32:09Angel.
32:10Oh, oh, oh.
32:11Oh, look at that.
32:14Oh, look at the purple.
32:16What a score.
32:17I've got to keep hunting until the sun goes down because Escobet has done an awesome job
32:26at, you know, uncovering it and burying it again.
32:29I mean, we've found quite a bit today.
32:31We have.
32:35There's some nice bits in there.
32:37Yeah, there are.
32:38John's done really well this week again.
32:41Some of this stuff here, like that big stone we found.
32:45It, where was its mates?
32:46It'd come on its own.
32:47Just a few little chips around it.
32:49Yeah, look at all his mates here.
32:50This came around.
32:51The blacklighters have a mixed parcel of white and crystal opal with opalised shells.
32:59Featuring the full spectrum of colours.
33:01It's in the rough and weighs 540 grams.
33:05Alright, Rach, well, you've had a good look at these three parcels.
33:09What do you think we're running?
33:11How much money are we going to get for this?
33:13Um, after having a good look at all the parcels and doing a few calculations, I reckon we're
33:24sitting at about 20 grand with the parcel that you've put aside.
33:27We're sitting at about 30 grand here.
33:30Sitting on about 20 grand with the shells that he's faced up there, so.
33:34So, we're running 30, 20, 20.
33:40So, we're talking 70, Jimmy's here.
33:42I reckon, yeah.
33:43Woo!
33:4370 grand.
33:44That's blacklighters at their best.
33:46It really is.
33:47We're on fire, man.
33:47That is insane.
33:49We've made you proud, Rach.
33:51Bloody oath.
33:51Especially after all the breakdowns.
33:54It's been a tough week.
33:55Up here, everyone.
33:56That was a bloody good week, man.
34:04Pull off that sort of amount of money with everything trying its best to stuff us up.
34:09Yeah.
34:10Pull.
34:10Fixing that pin, mate.
34:12I know you snapped it in the first place, but to fix it as good as you did, that was a huge
34:17comeback.
34:17Man of the match this week.
34:18Well bloody done.
34:19Well done there, eh?
34:20I just feel just, like, satisfied.
34:24Just well done.
34:25Yeah.
34:25Well cheers to a good week.
34:27Good week, people.
34:27Well done.
34:28Yay!
34:30That was me.
34:44I've had a sugar cook going for a few days now.
34:47So, what we're going to do is we're going to let the sugar stones out.
34:54Just give them a quick wipe over because you want to get them in the acid as soon as possible.
35:02Okay, so now we're going to go and pop them in acid for a good three, four hours.
35:07At her workshop, Izzy Glenn is acid-treating part of the team's find of Andamuka Matrix,
35:16limestone impregnated with precious opal.
35:19To reveal the colour, stones are immersed in a sugar solution and then cooked in acid.
35:26We always do acid outside due to the nasty fumes of sulphuric acid.
35:35I am going to just gently lower it into my acid and let my container fill up because we
35:45don't want that container to tip over.
35:47Beautiful.
35:52Pop the lid on and wait for a few hours and see what we get.
35:57I'm just going to drain it all out.
36:10Are you seeing a colour already?
36:12I can see green and purple.
36:13Okay, I'm just going to pop them in some bicarb water.
36:21Oh yeah, she bubbling.
36:23Give them about five minutes and have a look to see what pretties we've got.
36:28Just give them a quick rinse off.
36:32Oh, look at them.
36:36Oh, this one's a beauty.
36:37There's a little bit of crystal opal in it.
36:39Definitely going in the money piles.
36:42Oh, look at this one.
36:45Oh.
36:47Oh, and that's the kingstone.
36:49Now that's what we're talking about, Izzy.
36:51We just need a few more of these.
36:53We'll be right.
36:54What we'll do is we'll weigh the money stones.
36:57Okay.
36:59Might have to add them up.
37:01Unless we can...
37:03So it's 138 grams.
37:06The misfits have matrix opal, featuring blues, greens and purples with flashes of yellow and
37:13red.
37:14The stones have been treated, weighing a total of 138 grams.
37:19So what do you reckon of Peeway?
37:25I'd be happy.
37:27You know, quick sale, $10 a gram.
37:29So all up, I'd be happy with $1,800, including the low-grade stuff.
37:35It's not a huge week for us.
37:37However, enough to buy diesel, keep on going.
37:40The Lunatic is looking pretty damn good.
37:42It is.
37:42And quite certain we're going to find a big one.
37:45Pretty damn certain.
37:49Girl, what a week we've had, eh?
37:51It's been pretty damn good.
37:53All the bush fixes have worked.
37:54Found a little bit of opal.
37:56And you've created a rainbow.
37:58Yep, let's go for it.
37:59Oh, yum-o.
38:01Oh, look at that.
38:04Yum.
38:07Well done, Izzy.
38:08I'll take you on the team for a bit longer.
38:11You only want me for more cooking.
38:12All right, we're about to tail out.
38:25Boys, after all the problems we've had, we've got a bit of dirt in.
38:29Hopefully it's enough to get a parcel for Sissy.
38:31So I'm hoping there's some good money in that barrel.
38:34We need that opal.
38:36It's sort of hard because I'm the only breadwinner in the family.
38:38If we don't get opal, we don't get paid.
38:40If we don't get paid, man, we're pretty much going to starve.
38:44Do it!
38:45Let's find some gems, man.
38:53Oh, oh!
38:55You got one?
38:59Where's the job?
39:00Do you just want to use that one?
39:01Grab a clean one.
39:08Hey!
39:09Look out!
39:09We got it!
39:11Oh-ho!
39:12Got a colour there.
39:13Hell yeah!
39:15Oh-ho-ho!
39:15Hey, boy!
39:17Look at that!
39:19Oh-ho!
39:20Yeah!
39:20Damn green on black, man.
39:22That's beautiful!
39:24It's going in the jar.
39:26Oh-ho!
39:27Oh-ho-ho!
39:29I've seen that!
39:30Got him!
39:31I've seen that!
39:32We got him!
39:33Hell, that's!
39:34Oh, bro!
39:35Oh-ho-ho!
39:35Oh-ho-ho!
39:36Yeah, that's-
39:37Yes!
39:37That's decent size.
39:38Yes!
39:39Oh-ho-ho-ho!
39:40Oh-ho-ho-ho!
39:40Ha-ha-ha!
39:41I've been sitting there for millions and millions of years.
39:43When it comes to this moment, finding this beautiful, cracking little piece, your heart
39:48skips a little bit of a beat, can't wait to get back and actually cutting that big stone.
39:59Uncut as a diesel, that'd be a $1,000 model, a diesel.
40:03That could potentially turn into $3,000 to $4,000, or it could turn into absolutely nothing.
40:12I think I started when I was around about 12 years old, and I was cutting and selling
40:15for the local local buyers around town.
40:17Then, I've got a real passion for cutting it.
40:22You'll see these little sand spots on either end.
40:24They're little things that degrades the stone.
40:26I sit there and I'll cut them off.
40:31I'm actually forming the stone a little bit.
40:34One way, then, it gives the option for the other buyer, and the way that they actually
40:38want to cut the stone themselves.
40:44A lot of the local buyers book out a room for a couple of days a week.
40:46The Apple Buying Motel.
40:48And here we are.
40:50I've known Sissy for a long time.
40:51She's always been quite fair.
40:53Big week, so hopefully it pays off.
40:55There's some nice pieces in there.
40:57I don't think we should take anything less than $8,000.
41:00Yep.
41:01Here's the deal sweetener right here.
41:02It's all the chips out of the buckets, so these are the slim pickings.
41:06They're not quite cuttable stones.
41:07They'll break them up, put them in little vials or in little trinkets or whatnot.
41:12They're a beautiful colour.
41:13I've been tumbling now for the last few days, so they come up nice and clean.
41:17Hello.
41:18How are you, Sissy?
41:19Very well.
41:21Glad to meet you, Yelma.
41:22It was, it was, it was.
41:23It was.
41:24Please come in.
41:27My mug is always after the top, top, briny stone.
41:31Alright, Sissy.
41:32So, we did promise you a few stones.
41:34Oh.
41:38That's how it looked.
41:43Nice colour.
41:45Lee and Roger have a mixed parcel of black and grey based opal.
41:50Predominantly blue-green in colour with flashes of yellow and red.
41:54It's partially rubbed and weighs 53 grams.
41:58Could you please let me know the price?
41:59I really don't want to take any less than eight, do you the truth?
42:03All together?
42:04Mm-hm.
42:05It'd be hard for me to make any, any profit here.
42:10Could make seven thousand.
42:12Mm-hm.
42:18I've got a deal sweetener here.
42:20Big dough of Slim Pickens chips.
42:22Wow.
42:24Will come down five hundred.
42:25So, seven and a half.
42:29Deal.
42:33Yeah.
42:35Thank you so much, Sissy.
42:37Thank you, Roger.
42:38Keep me hanging like that.
42:39Thanks, Sissy.
42:40Yeah.
42:47Alright, out of here.
42:48Thanks, Sissy.
42:49Thank you very much.
42:50Thank you, Sissy.
42:51Bye.
42:52Sissy wasn't going to budge from seven thousand.
42:54So, we pulled out the deal sweetener, which made a smile.
42:57And, yeah, we made the deal.
43:03So, you boys have been busting your rear ends all week.
43:06Oh, mate, my back is so sore.
43:09Yeah, our great artesian basin is directly underneath us.
43:12And, uh, it brings up hot water about 40, 41 degrees.
43:15Mate, we all need this.
43:18Hot volcanic water.
43:19Two million years old.
43:21Bloody beautiful, mate.
43:22After the week we've had,
43:23the best idea we've actually done for you is coming in.
43:26Excuse me, sorry.
43:27I'm coming in, huh?
43:29I or something really like this.
43:31Is not quite a laugh.
43:32Ha, ha, ha.