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NARRATOR: On Outback Opal Hunters...

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Les! Come have a look at this.

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The Bushmen risk it all,
mining the rock

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that holds up their roof.

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I think we can make it safe, Les.
Yeah, and the (BLEEP) roof
could fall in on us.

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It's not worth dying
for a few bucks.

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Ugh!

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CARL: We're spending money faster
than we're making it at the moment.

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The Poms get their first taste
of real mining...

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MARY: I'm just a bit concerned
that he's not looking after himself.

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..struggling to find their first
piece of opal underground.

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Shattered. Absolutely shattered.

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It's more your mirror on the tree
that I'm worried about.

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Pete Cooke nurses
a busted shoulder...

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I'm frustrated as hell. I should be
down there on the ground, shovelling
sand.

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..forcing rookie Sam to take on
more than he can handle.

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You've got to be really careful.
What's this button do?

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You OK? (RUMBLING)

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(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

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ROD: Bondi has ended up being
a pretty good claim.

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You know, we haven't dug
a great deal of it.

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We've got good money,

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but we've had a bloody lot
of things gone wrong.

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Blower's broken down.

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If the blower don't go,
there's nothing we can do...

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Yeah. ..until we get it going.

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Yeah. I don't know what's the cause
of the bloody problem.

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In outback New South Wales,

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the Bushmen's recent
run of success is under threat

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from a broken-down rock extractor.

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The blower's so important

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because once you've got
a pile of dirt on the ground,

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you can't move your
digger forward any more.

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So, you've got to suck
all that dirt out.

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So without the blower,
it stops everything.

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(EXCLAIMS)

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We think it's this coupling.

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Till we get it off,
we won't actually know.

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That's what it is. Yeah.

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This coupling goes on to the shaft
that drives the fan,

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and all the inside in here
is all flogged out.

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So, to get a new one of these,
we'll have to send this away.

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Yeah. Oh, Jesus.
That's, what,

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three or four weeks, probably?
Yeah, probably.

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(SIGHS) If it's not
one damn thing, it's another.

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You ready? Yeah.

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BOTH: Oh!

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Yeah, that's money.
That's money, mate.

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This season, The Bushmen
have steadily closed in

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on their $60,000 target,

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hunting legendary black opal.

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Because we haven't found
money for so long,

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I've, erm, racked some bills up.

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And now we've got a bit of money,
we do have to spend it

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on the machinery.
There's things that need fixing.

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Recent family news
gives even more reason

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to find opal fast.

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Our youngest daughter,
we've just found out

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that she's pregnant
with our latest grandchild.

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Amanda wants to be there
at the week of the birth

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so that she doesn't miss anything.
Yeah.

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And if we just get a little
tiny bit more money,

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we should be able to-
No. We can do it.

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We're fine. We'll be doing it.
Yeah, I know we can do it.

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At the moment, we haven't
probably got enough money.

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I haven't told Amanda yet.
She still thinks everything's rosy,

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but there's no other way to get
there than finding more opal.

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Well, I've had a bit of an idea
come to me, Les.

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Yeah? Now, I don't know

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whether you remember,
Brian had that claim down there

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that you called it The Maze.
Yeah.

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Well, he got over
a million dollars out of that.

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And when he retired...
(CLEARS THROAT) ..he told me

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there was money still
in the columns down there,

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that the columns are a bit dodgy
taking it out

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cos the roof down there
is not real good.

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How dangerous is this mine?
We can go there and have a look.

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Oh, yeah.

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Eight kilometres from their
Bondi mine lies The Maze,

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abandoned by a retired
Lightning Ridge miner...

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No wonder he called this
The Maze. There's drives
down in every direction. Yeah.

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..a labyrinth of hundreds of metres
of tunnels

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held up only by unstable
columns of rock.

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This is where he told me,
I'm pretty sure, Les,

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cos he said there's paint
on the two columns.

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I'd really like to take these out.

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I reckon there's money in them.
There might be, but I don't know.

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You can only take out
a certain amount of dirt.

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You have to leave columns in there
to hold the roof up.

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You can go pillar bashing,
which is just that.

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You're gonna go in with a jackhammer
and take the pillar out.

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Before you do that, you've gotta put
props all the way around it

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so the roof has still got
some support.

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We put a double row of props here,

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then one row of props, say, here.

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I think we can make it safe,
Les. I really do.

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We might take them out for money.
And the (BLEEP)-ing roof

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could fall in on us.
Well, it could.

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Yeah. I'm not crazy about
knocking the pillars out.

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That's not worth dying
for a few bucks.

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If it falls in on top of you,
you can't spend any of it.

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Put a plaque up top,
"He was stupid and he's still here."

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So, you're in? Uh...

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500km to the south west...

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CARL: I'm just shovelling
and shovelling and shovelling.

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The task at hand at the moment is to
dig down another two or three feet

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before I can start to make
any progress forwards

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towards the face
to really chase the opal.

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It's a big task to be doing
on your own

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with just a shovel at the moment.

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..school teacher Carl Grice
and jewellery maker Mary McMillan

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have sold up their home
and most of their belongings

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and travelled 3,000km
to seek an opal fortune

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in the remote town of White Cliffs.

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Population, 148.

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There's no safety net for us.
We haven't got a home waiting
for us to come back to

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if all this fails. Everything we own
is now in an RV.

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The last of the rookie miners'
savings have gone

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towards $3,000 worth of equipment

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and a lease on a 120-year-old mine,

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hunting for crystal opal

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worth up to $5,000 a carat.

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My profession has been a teacher,
so, really,

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most my adult life,
I've been in the classroom

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rather than on the tools.

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Mary's in the workshop
making jewellery.

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And the idea is that I find the opal
and cut it and Mary sets it.

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Carls' been busy digging,
digging, digging, digging.

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We've left a lot of kind of
conventional living behind.

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I'm really pleased we've done that
because we love this lifestyle.

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But obviously, I need to have
opal to create jewellery.

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I'm working all the hours
that I possibly can.

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I'm down there straight
after I finish my breakfast,

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and I'm coming out when it's dark.
This is really hard work

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cos with the sole tipper,
I'm continually shovelling,

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the time it takes to tip
and come down,

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I've shovelled two buckets, they go
in, and I'm shovelling again,

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so, yeah, there's only breaks
when you take them.

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With limited experience
and equipment,

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the Poms have barely dented
their $100,000 season target.

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I'm at a bit of a turning point
at the moment

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because this drive here,
which has already been begun,

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it's half full of all this backfill.
So it's gonna take me
at least a couple of weeks

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to get all this backfill out before
I can continue it to get opal.

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But this here, I could start
attacking this with a jackhammer,

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and straightaway, there's a chance
there could be opal there.

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Funds are running low.
We need to be finding opal
and making a bit of money

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because there is no plan B
for us at the moment.

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I was a bit apprehensive going down
the mine for the first time,

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didn't really know what to expect.

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Welcome. Welcome to our mine.
Ooh!

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(CHUCKLES) This is cool.

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What I'd like to do is go through
here and create our own drive.

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Yeah. What do you think?
It's bloody exciting. Yeah.

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So I can see ash band.

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Ah, well spotted. Yeah.

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We've been told there's been a lot
of opal found around ash bands.

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We're in the right place.
We could be finding opal any moment.

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Wow. (GIGGLES)

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Ash bands are formed by volcanic
eruptions millions of years ago.

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The ash is rich in silica,

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the primary mineral
that creates opal.

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Next step, jackhammer.

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This is virgin ground,
no-one's ever been in here before.

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Ten minutes from now, we could have
a million dollars. Who knows?

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All right, just watch your branches.
Straighten up.

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Am I gonna get past that ladder?
Yeah, the ladder's all right.

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It's more your mirror on the tree
that I'm worried about.

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In Lightning Ridge,
outback New South Wales,

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Pete Cook and apprentice,
Sam Westra...

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Over that way, if you can.

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..are one arm down in the fight
to rescue their season.

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I'm frustrated as hell.
I don't like getting wounded.

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It slows the whole show down.

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It's uncomfortable, it's painful,

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and I'm not doing my bit.

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Pete has severe tendon damage
in his shoulder

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after an epic effort to get

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their one-tonne digger
into the Allawah claim.

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With me arm out of action, I can't
go up and down these ladders.

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I'd rather be down there
underground, showing him
how to drive the digger.

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00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,880
If you're not careful with it,
it can be a bit unpredictable

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00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:07,960
when you're working the levers.

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Now he's just got to try
and figure it out himself.

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So those two are your legs.
Right, yeah.

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They put the feet down.
Yeah. And then, erm,

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that one's your roof ramp. Yeah.

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If it falls over, make sure
you're not under it.

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The digger is now
Sam and Pete's best bet

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for reaching their $50,000 target,

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00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:29,800
hunting the most valuable
of the rainbow gem:

193
00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:31,880
black opal.

194
00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,840
I'm in Lightning Ridge
to find opal.

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00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:37,920
I'm putting a lot of work in.

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We go to work
eight to five every day.

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00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:43,480
Don't have too much to show for it,
that's for sure.

198
00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:45,560
To make ends meet,

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00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,640
Sam has taken a second job
at the local pub.

200
00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,320
Now I've got to work
16 hours a day, every day,

201
00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:55,120
and at the end the day,
I could be earning more money
doing something else.

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00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,240
I'll have one of that.
No worries.

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00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,120
If we don't find opal
at the end of this season,

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00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:05,080
I'd be a bit, you know, questioning
my choices in a way, I suppose.

205
00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,840
I've now got someone else
to think about, too.

206
00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,440
My girlfriend, she supports me

207
00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:13,840
doing opal mining at this stage.

208
00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,000
But because I still work
every night,

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00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,720
it puts strains on our relationship.

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00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,800
We only see each other half an hour
for lunch, half an hour for dinner.

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00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,680
And then, one day a week
on a Saturday, that's it.

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00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:30,800
Really putting a lot
into opal mining,

213
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,080
so, erm, hopefully, it can
give something back.

214
00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,000
I suppose I'm a bit nervous
about the digger.

215
00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:43,480
Erm, I've never used one before.

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00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:47,000
They're just not real well-designed,
and they're dangerous.

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00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,560
I'm a bit concerned. I'd much rather
be down there with him,

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00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,680
showing him how to do it,

219
00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,040
but I can't be there
to hold his hand.

220
00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,240
He'll just have to go down there
and do it.

221
00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:04,080
It has been a long time coming
to finally get set up digging dirt.

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00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,400
It's the start of us being able
to come out here and mine,

223
00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,440
you know, properly, conventionally,
with a digger

224
00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:15,640
and a bit quicker and, yeah,

225
00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:17,760
hopefully pull out
quite a bit of dirt.

226
00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,040
The more dirt you move, the bigger
chance you've got of finding opal.

227
00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,680
But this digger's
very precarious to move.

228
00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,560
If you fall back and grab a hold of
the levers

229
00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:31,720
it can pin you up against the wall.

230
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,560
Just gotta be really careful.

231
00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:38,120
You've got to be stable on your feet

232
00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,400
and make sure you've got
a good floor.

233
00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,720
Cos, yeah, this whole thing could
come back and just crush me.

234
00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:57,520
You OK?

235
00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,320
CARL: It's been continuous digging
and carrying

236
00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:12,960
and lifting and jackhammering.

237
00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,360
It's getting to the point where
we need some kind of breakthrough.

238
00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,200
Even a little bit of colour
would just give me the energy,

239
00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,280
I think, to keep going.

240
00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,920
I'm probably pushing myself
to my absolute limits right now.

241
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,120
I haven't had a day off
since we arrived here.

242
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,280
But we are living our dream.

243
00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:35,680
The last piece of that dream
is finding the opal.

244
00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,920
While Carl still dreams of finding
their first opal underground,

245
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,920
Mary's expertise as a jeweller
is being wasted.

246
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:49,200
Carl's done a huge amount of
digging, but we haven't found any
trace of opal at all.

247
00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:51,760
We're just keeping
our fingers crossed every day

248
00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:53,840
and really trying to stay positive.

249
00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,920
It's a very physical game,
erm, hunting for opal,

250
00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,680
and Carl is very much one
to go in all guns blazing.

251
00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:05,080
It's very easy to see how people
can become obsessed with this.

252
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,720
I'm probably part way there
myself...

253
00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,960
because literally, as soon
as I jump out of bed in the morning,

254
00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:13,440
I just want to be down here
and digging.

255
00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,040
I will dig until
I physically can't any more.

256
00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,680
(GROANS) Shattered,
absolutely shattered.

257
00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:31,160
Barely have enough energy
to climb up the ladder.

258
00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:36,160
We're spending money faster
than we're making it at the moment.

259
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,640
I think it's a case of all hands
on deck right now,

260
00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:40,960
so Mary's gonna come down
and give me a hand.

261
00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,520
I'm not used to lifting
a 15kg bucket.

262
00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,200
So, it's gonna be quite hard work
going down there.

263
00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:51,880
I'll be going here
with the jackhammer,

264
00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:54,880
and all the loose stuff
will fall down here.

265
00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,400
You start clearing some of that.
Just mind this cable, darling.

266
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,680
Mary's job is to move the rubble
to allow Carl access to the wall

267
00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:08,800
that shows signs of volcanic ash,

268
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,880
a silica-rich material
that can form opal.

269
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,760
It's bloody hard work.
I don't know how Carl

270
00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:17,040
has energy to do it for so long.

271
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,200
I find it hard to stay enthusiastic

272
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:22,840
when you're just digging
through dirt, dirt, dirt.

273
00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,560
There's no sign of anything.
Hard rock there.

274
00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:27,800
Carl's keeping me going
at the moment.

275
00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,440
He's just like a tunnelling mole.

276
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,600
He just can't stop.

277
00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,000
Hey, Mary, look at this.
What is that?

278
00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,720
It looks like a really,
really thin fault line.

279
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:47,000
Can you see? It's coming down.
You can see it. Yes, quite clear.

280
00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,960
This is exactly what we want.
This is a vertical fault line.

281
00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:52,880
Cos if this goes all the way
to the surface... Yeah.

282
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,600
..that's the crack that the water
can come through.

283
00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,760
As it goes through the sand,
it picks up the silica... Yeah.

284
00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,720
..and then, if it hits something
like this level... Yeah.

285
00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,080
..which is harder, it can pool out,
and over millions of years,

286
00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,040
the water disappears,
leaves the silica, which is opal.

287
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,200
So, this is a really good sign.
Oh, wow.

288
00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:12,360
And it's the first one I've seen
since we've come down here.

289
00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,760
Oh, that's well exciting.
OK, get on with it, then. Come on.

290
00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:21,560
Carl hasn't found any fault line

291
00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,040
since he's been digging
all this seven meters.

292
00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,520
Erm, so, it's a really
exciting find for us

293
00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,960
because where there's fault lines,
potentially, there could be opal.

294
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,680
Oh, (BLEEP), Mary.
What? Look at this.

295
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,240
What is it?
Does that look like colour?

296
00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:57,400
(GASPS) Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.

297
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,000
Oh, my God, look.

298
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,880
What? (LAUGHS) What?

299
00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:06,720
It's green. Look at that colour!
Wow, I'm speechless.

300
00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:11,160
And there's more, Mary.
There's a bit of green
there as well, to the left.

301
00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,200
Oh, my God. (GASPS)

302
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,480
Wow, Carl. We found our first opal!
I know.

303
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,400
Proper, proper, you know,
underground.

304
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:22,880
I know. (SQUEALS)
I can't believe it.

305
00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:24,960
I'm not sure what to do now.
Is there any more?

306
00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,400
I was literally just about
to plant my jackhammer

307
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,480
and something green just winked at
me just at the last second.

308
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,560
It'd be cool to clean these up
and see what they look like.

309
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,800
I couldn't quite believe it when
Carl was like, "Mary, what's that?@

310
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:37,880
You know,
"I think there's something here."

311
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:39,960
I just thought, you know,
this is crazy.

312
00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:44,000
I've been smashing at that wall
and shifting dirt for weeks,

313
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:48,320
so to have something wink at you out
of that was just fantastic.

314
00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,640
Let's go. OK. (SQUEALS)

315
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,480
I think there's money
in these columns...

316
00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:09,280
..and I think if we prop it
the right way, it'll be safe enough.

317
00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:11,520
In the labyrinth of the Maze mine,

318
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,040
Rod's trying to convince partner Les

319
00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:17,680
to dig out the columns of rock
that hold up the roof.

320
00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,600
Just say we took these two out...
Yeah, if you took them all away,

321
00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,680
what have you got here?
A football field?

322
00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:25,200
Yeah, I know, but... Well, OK.

323
00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,200
Look, we've got a good haul
out of the last one.

324
00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,080
Why not sit it out for a while?
Nah, stuff that.

325
00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,680
The way I figure it out,
we're about...

326
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,720
..80 percent safe.

327
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,080
(LAUGHS)
I reckon it's good odds.

328
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,360
If I don't come down and help,
you'll do it on your own, won't you?

329
00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:46,240
Yeah, and I'll get all the money
on me own too.

330
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:48,320
So, you're in? (LAUGHS)

331
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,400
Good on you, Mate. Well done.

332
00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,280
OK, we're doing it. You beauty.

333
00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:55,440
Rod's promise to wife Amanda,

334
00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,600
to visit their pregnant daughter
700km away,

335
00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,000
relies on him finding opal
to pay for the trip.

336
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,640
She'll be devastated if I have
to go home and tell her
that we're not going.

337
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,560
And I'm not gonna do it.
I'm gonna make it happen.

338
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,000
OK, drop 'em.

339
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,200
Righto, here it comes.

340
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,160
Rod, he knows the consequences
if things go wrong.

341
00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,720
The only way to be safe down there
when you're doing that

342
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:26,840
is to prop it properly.

343
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:32,400
A reasonable size lump of timber
could be eight foot long.

344
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:34,960
Cap it top and bottom,
drive wedges in

345
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,520
so it's tight up against the roof.

346
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,800
Here, give us another one.

347
00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,000
You put enough of them in,

348
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:44,480
it'll be good enough then
to take the pillars out.

349
00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:52,520
It should hold the roof.

350
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,200
So we'll be able
to start jackhammering, eh?

351
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:04,680
Orange sandstone, and that's
as hard as the hobs of hell.

352
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,160
A little jackhammer
won't bust through it.

353
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,680
You need something 60, 70lb.

354
00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,440
After being hanging on to it
for a bloody hour or two in there...

355
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,040
..it gets heavy, and you wish
you'd never seen one.

356
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,000
Ah! Jesus, Les.

357
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:27,440
I don't know how long I can do that.
That's so bloody hard.

358
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,520
I've got colour up here.

359
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,160
Have a look at this.
It's nice colour.

360
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:34,240
But Jesus Christ,
this is so hard, mate.

361
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:37,040
I don't think I'm gonna be able
to take all this out.

362
00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:39,680
And I bloody know
you're not gonna be able to do it.

363
00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:56,520
OK? What's this button do?

364
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,920
(CLANKS) Oi!

365
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,880
Of course you're nervous
when you're operating new machinery.

366
00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:07,280
Obviously, probably jumped
into things a bit quick.

367
00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:10,640
I've heard of a lot of blokes
getting pinned up against walls.

368
00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,760
We heard of another bloke,
I think he broke his arm.

369
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,640
For rookie Sam,
Pete's shoulder injury means

370
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,320
he's operating
the dangerous digger alone

371
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,400
for the very first time.

372
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,560
I'd really like to see some money
come out of Allawah.

373
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,440
That'd just be great.

374
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,600
You do think about it sometimes.

375
00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:39,680
I'm just sitting still,

376
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,760
and everyone is sort of
moving forward with their lives.

377
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,240
To ensure the one-tonne digger
doesn't topple over,

378
00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:52,360
Sam needs to secure it to the roof
with a hydraulic post called a ram.

379
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,400
The roof here isn't
really well-defined.

380
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,560
It can just be too soft, and when
you go to work it, it can move.

381
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,640
And when it moves,

382
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,400
it'll rain down clods of sandstone
and oval dirt on you.

383
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,320
I was a little bit nervous.

384
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:12,760
There's bound to be
rocks coming down.

385
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,280
Just gotta make sure you wear your
hard hat and stay out of the way.

386
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,480
Once I've got going, once I've
worked out what lever did what,

387
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,600
we dug some dirt.

388
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,960
With that digger
I could knock down in one swipe,

389
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,600
and that was taking me an hour
with the jackhammer.

390
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,720
Pete, I'm sending
the first bucket up!

391
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,800
Yep.

392
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,080
Oh, he's getting the hang of it now.

393
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,680
He'll start pulling a few buckets of
dirt and hope we'll get a truckload.

394
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,720
Just so I can remember
how many buckets go in,
keeping track on how it's going.

395
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,720
But with Sam due at his second job
at the pub,

396
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,800
this shift must be cut short.

397
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:11,880
Oh, I got to get to work.

398
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,640
So, that's the last hoist bucket
for the day.

399
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,160
The digger is bit
of a thing to move.

400
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,520
It will take a bit to get used to.

401
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,600
But that's all right.

402
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,000
We got some dirt out today,
and we'll go up and call it a day.

403
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,680
All right, mate, so there's
a bit of a load in. Yeah.

404
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,400
Good old Allawah dirt, mate, you dug
yourself. That's it. Yeah.

405
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:40,320
If there is anything in it, it'll
make all the hard work worth it.

406
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,640
There's colour there. There's very
nice colours just there.

407
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,400
And it runs around to here,

408
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,960
but it's bloody hard stuff
and it is hard to get out.

409
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,240
In a desperate effort for quick cash,
the Bushmen are undertaking

410
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:11,360
a highly dangerous mining technique
known as pillar bashing.

411
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,160
If you run out of luck
pillar bashing, that's it.

412
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,400
They're gonna put
a cross on top of the hole.

413
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,720
They're digging for opal in stone
columns, holding up the ceiling.

414
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,920
Above them, 15m of solid rock.

415
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,400
You've got to keep your bloody
wits about you.

416
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:28,600
If you are not careful
and go stupid, well...

417
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,760
you'll probably will be buried
down there and stay down there.

418
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:33,840
To carve through the sandstone,

419
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,840
they use jackhammers weighing
30kg apiece.

420
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,920
These jackhammers are too heavy
for us to lift up.

421
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,880
It'll just bust us trying to hold
the bloody things up.

422
00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:47,360
I could probably make something up

423
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,240
to sit the jackhammer on, to hold it
up there to take the weight.

424
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:55,200
Well, that might be a good idea.
Would you have stuff at your place?

425
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,800
Oh, yeah, I'll be able to find
something to do. Silly question.

426
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,120
Well, we will have something lying
around here.

427
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,880
It's a matter of the finding
the right piece, isn't it?

428
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,400
In Les' scrapyard backyard,

429
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:12,760
the Bushmen hope to find parts
to create a prop for the jackhammers.

430
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,280
It needs to be strong enough
to hold the weight,

431
00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:19,440
but also adjustable to accommodate
different digging heights.

432
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,360
Let's see if I can find
one of them old Ford jacks.

433
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,400
I got one around here somewhere
I've seen the other day.

434
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,480
Here they are. Oh, yeah.

435
00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,160
She works, Les. That's a good idea.
Yes.

436
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,600
There's only one of these here.
What else are you gonna use?

437
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,680
I reckon...

438
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:44,840
I'll try a Hills Hoist clothesline
stem.

439
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:46,960
Yeah, we can make that work.

440
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,080
Lot of those bits and pieces
lying around the place.

441
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:55,000
People say it's only rubbish but
rubbish comes handy at times.

442
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,000
Cool, cool.

443
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,360
Les is good value, you know?
He's always got an idea or two

444
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:03,920
on how to dodge things up.

445
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:07,840
Let's see if this works, Les.
Look at that.

446
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,400
(EXCLAIMS)

447
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,760
Hey, that's bloody fantastic, Les.

448
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:22,400
All right. That works.

449
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,480
It's taken all the weight
off my shoulders. It's not easy.

450
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,040
You're not carrying
the bloody weight.

451
00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:37,600
Oh, it's good. Yeah, no,
it's real good. This works well.

452
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,280
But the more dirt
they remove from the column,

453
00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:44,200
the more weight has to be taken up
by their timber props.

454
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,000
This is while I was jackhammering,
and I was getting a fair bit
of movement up there.

455
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,080
It's starting to get a bit
of weight on it.

456
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,720
We got 50ft of bloody dirt
on this roof.

457
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,040
The more dirt we take out,
the less support there is.

458
00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:06,640
So, the roof will start to sag.

459
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:10,600
If it starts to sag, it'll crack and
that's when they come down.

460
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,680
So you just gotta keep an eye on it.

461
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,360
Just see where it's just on the
edge, it's starting to flare.

462
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,360
I have developed
a very hairline crack up here.

463
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,520
Even a rock that big comes down
straight on the head,

464
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,160
it's got a chance of killing you,
breaking your neck.

465
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,760
SAM: If I'm finding opal,
I'm moving forward.

466
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,600
I'm saving for a house,
I'm setting myself up for life.

467
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:47,680
But if we're not finding anything,

468
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,840
well, then, I'm just sitting
stagnant.

469
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:55,680
Money, money money.
See if there's any gems.

470
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,800
In Lightning Ridge, 20-year-old Sam

471
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,960
desperately needs his load
of freshly-dug sandstone

472
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,760
to deliver opal.

473
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,440
Nothing yet, mate. No.

474
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,320
Oh, here's one. Ooh, that's got
to be a colour in it, too.

475
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,760
Look at that. We can see
a bit of green. Yeah.

476
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,800
It's a bit of orange.
Look at this one, mate.

477
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,600
He's tiny.
Tiny but look at that pattern.

478
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,440
Oh, right. Nice lines in there,
innit?

479
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,040
They're bright. Yeah.

480
00:28:27,120 --> 00:28:29,840
That's pretty rare. That's what
they call Chinese writing.

481
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:34,280
Bit like a Chinese pictogram.
Yeah, righty-o. Yeah.

482
00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:37,040
Nice blue rolling flash across it
too. Is it?

483
00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:39,920
A little bit of black.
Yeah.

484
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,000
Well short of their target,

485
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:45,240
Pete and Sam need to get the maximum
they can for this stone.

486
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,240
And polishing the opal can triple
its value.

487
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,800
I'm not sure how I'm going to go
one handed. Yep.

488
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:56,040
How do you feel about giving that
one a bit of a rub on the wheel?

489
00:28:56,120 --> 00:29:00,400
It might be up to you, mate. You're
going to bang her on the wheel and
spin it round.

490
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,000
Let's see how we go.

491
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:07,720
When you put the stone to the wheel,
you can make mistakes on it.

492
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:13,320
If you wreck a nice stone then,
we'll be paying for it.

493
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,560
Don't let me rub too much off.
No, you'll be right.

494
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:18,640
Let's go have a look. Yeah.

495
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:23,520
Takes a lot of experience
to become a good cutter, and I'm
quite an inexperienced cutter.

496
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,440
Nice, gentle touch. Slow and steady.
We don't make any mistakes.

497
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,000
What do we do, just roll it
a little?

498
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,840
Just roll, just try to take
that edge off, I reckon.

499
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,480
It's a nice colour coming out.
Yeah.

500
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:40,560
A few blues and golds.

501
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:43,640
Might just get a bit of the stone
out of this one too.

502
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,280
What do you reckon? I reckon that's
pretty good.

503
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,800
Yeah, it's come up
all right. Yeah.

504
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,960
So, I reckon we leave it like that,
the buyer might decide
to cut a bit more off it.

505
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,160
There'd be four or five grand
in that.

506
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:08,800
Yeah. Now I reckon.
Look at the colour in that.

507
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,520
I'll bag that up and take it in,
see what we can get for it.

508
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:14,600
Yes.

509
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,360
Sam and Pete have two cut stones.

510
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:19,600
The first is crystal opal,

511
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,720
predominantly blue green
with flashes of red and yellow.

512
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,160
weighing 10.5 carats or 2.1g.

513
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,200
They hope to sell it
for at least $5,000.

514
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:32,280
The second stone is a black opal

515
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,240
with green and blue patterning called
Chinese writing.

516
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,360
It weighs only one carat,
0.2 of a gram

517
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,120
with a potential value of $500.

518
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,960
We'll go get some cash from
these opal, eh? That'd be good.

519
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,760
Mary's entrusted me
with our entire opal find,

520
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,080
to go into town and meet a lady
called Linda,

521
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,200
who knows a thing or two about white
crystal opal, and definitely about
how to cut it.

522
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,800
Money's drying up quicker
than it's coming in.

523
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,680
So it's up to me to try and cut
something good enough to make
some from today.

524
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:16,200
We've found a little bit. OK.
Interested to see what you think
of it.

525
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:20,920
With ten years' experience,
Linda George has offered to guide

526
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,160
rookie Carl in the art
of cutting opal.

527
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:25,840
I was quite nervous.
We only had one really good stone.

528
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:30,440
This is the one to start with.
That's my favourite piece as well.
Yeah.

529
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:34,160
One mistake and I could wipe out
our best stone in the parcel.

530
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,640
What I want you to do is just hold
it very gently

531
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,320
against the wheel there
and move it around.

532
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,120
But not so much like that.

533
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,640
More like, put it on there flat...

534
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,920
Oh, OK. ..and move it around
like that.

535
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:50,440
Yeah. We're just removing that
surface, the clay and staining...

536
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:54,320
OK. ..so that we can see
what the colour is underneath.

537
00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,040
Keep moving it. All right.
Always moving, moving.

538
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,800
Move it around. Yep.

539
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,720
Keep checking.
You don't wanna go too far.

540
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,480
Go too hard in the beginning
and then you have lost it.

541
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:09,440
We have done a lot of digging
to find this. That's right.

542
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,760
We don't want to lose it. No.

543
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,760
Let's have a look at that one.
I think you've probably almost
done it.

544
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:24,320
With the clay and staining
removed, it's time for evaluation.

545
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,760
It's blue, green. There's a little
bit of yellow. Yeah.

546
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,440
It's what we call sheeny. OK.
Sheeny isn't worth as much.

547
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,120
But it is pretty.
So I'm gonna say $200 a carat.

548
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:39,800
So, we put that on the scales.
And it's 5.45.

549
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,520
And my estimation is that it's worth
about $200 a carat,

550
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:45,600
which brings it to $1,090.

551
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,680
Wow. That much.
That's quite a valuable stone.

552
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:50,840
That is.
That's a very good first find.

553
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,520
How are you doing, love?
Hello, hello, hello.

554
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,320
I've got something to show you.
Have you? Yeah.

555
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:01,600
Have a look at this. Yeah.

556
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,320
What do you think? That really came
out like of that? Yeah.

557
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:09,040
What we found? Yeah. That came
out of our mine. Wow. I know.

558
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:13,480
That is a really nice ring stone.
It's a beautiful ring stone. Yeah.

559
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:17,240
Mary will now have to call on
her expertise as a jeweller

560
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,200
to turn the opal into something
they can sell.

561
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:22,280
So the first step of the process

562
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,120
is to make the bezel
to go around the opal.

563
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,840
This is one of my favourite parts

564
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,880
I'm gonna form the bezel
around the stone.

565
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,600
I like this part because it's kind
of different with each opal

566
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,800
but especially because I like to use
free form opals.

567
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:44,080
You're really just reading the stone
and reading the metal and just
trying to, obviously,

568
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:49,040
make them marry up so that they sit
as closely together as possible.

569
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,360
When you're wearing it, you know,

570
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,440
knocking your hands,
if it's a ring especially.

571
00:33:55,520 --> 00:34:00,080
Bezels are just nice and smooth
and comfortable to wear as well.

572
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,360
Are you there?

573
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:14,120
Hiya, love, how are you getting on?
Yeah, I'm finished.
You wanna come up and have a look?

574
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,600
OK, I'm on my way up. Bye.

575
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:21,040
I'm really pleased with it.
It's always a bit nerve racking
seeing what he thinks of it,

576
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,480
but I don't think he's realised
that it turned out so well.

577
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,640
So I'm excited to show him, yeah.

578
00:34:27,720 --> 00:34:29,880
Hey. Hello.
How'd you get on with it?

579
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:33,920
What do you think?

580
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:36,360
Oh, wow, that is gorgeous.

581
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,480
Do you like it? Yeah,
I really like it. Are you pleased?

582
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,400
Yeah. I am actually.
Yeah, it's stunning, Mary.

583
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:46,440
Mary's ring features a crystal opal,
blue green in colour.

584
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,280
It weighs 5.45 carats.

585
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:53,360
Set in silver, it has
an estimated value of $1,400,

586
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,160
bringing their season total
to $7,900.

587
00:34:57,240 --> 00:35:01,680
It's a really special gem stone
cos it's the first opal that
we've found since we were mining

588
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,480
in White Cliffs, and it's really
spurred us on to keep going

589
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,280
and believe in ourselves
and know that we can do it.

590
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:11,200
More than the money, just to boost
in morale is absolutely priceless
for us

591
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,240
cos now I just want to get down
there more than ever and find the
rest of the stuff.

592
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,160
SAM: I'd really like
to see some money.

593
00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:28,680
That'd be just been great to keep
everything ticking along.

594
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,400
Yeah, come in.
Paul. How you going? Good.

595
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,480
In Lightning Ridge,

596
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,840
Sam and Pete are meeting
prominent buyer Paul Sedawie.

597
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,520
They're hoping to get
$5,500

598
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,600
for their two stones.

599
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,760
He doesn't undersell his opal.
He knows how hard it is,

600
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:50,040
so you can't knock someone
for being a bit over the top.
He pushes it to a limit.

601
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,560
That's the king stone there.

602
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:56,160
There's ten-and-a-half carats
in there. Yes.

603
00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:59,320
The stone's got to sell itself.
I can't really sell it.

604
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,720
It's gotta stand on its own merits,
you know.

605
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:07,040
A couple of a little bit
of sand spots in the middle there.
But she is not too bad.

606
00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:09,120
What sort of money do you have
on it?

607
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:11,600
I reckon 1,000 a carat, Paul.

608
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,240
Mm, it's a nice stone.
It's a pretty stone.

609
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,000
But I think it may be
a little bit too high for me.

610
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,560
I'd be interested in probably
600 a carat.

611
00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,920
600 a carat. Yeah. Yeah.

612
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,320
We were talking, you know...

613
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,760
6,000, slightly better than 6,000.

614
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:34,840
And what you have on this other one?

615
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:38,440
Well, this is a unique little stone
with Chinese writing in the corner.

616
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,520
Yeah.

617
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,840
And I reckon that's
worth a cool $1,000.

618
00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:49,800
It's unfortunately got a little chip
on the bottom of it

619
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,960
so it's not actually
gonna cut a carat stone.

620
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,720
I'd probably go 550 on it.
550? Yeah.

621
00:36:55,800 --> 00:37:00,000
So those two together, seven grand?

622
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,920
Might be a bit too high. 65.

623
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,760
I think 65 would pull me up.
Yeah. Yeah.

624
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:10,480
Yeah, it's a fair offer.

625
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,960
Oh, well. I think we can do
business with that.

626
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,240
OK, cool. That's good. Done.
Perfect.

627
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,320
Thank you. Good on you.
Happy days.

628
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,400
It's a good result.

629
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:28,000
$6,500 brings Pete and Sam's

630
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:32,040
season total to $24,000.

631
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:34,800
Yeah, I was really impressed
with the bigger stone.

632
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,760
It's a rich crystal. You see all
this colour jumping out, it's
dazzling.

633
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,080
And it's just like a trick of nature
to delight us.

634
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:46,960
Oh, happy, happy enough.
Yeah, that's fine. I mean, you've
gotta come in a bit high anyway.

635
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:49,280
And they usually knock you
back a bit,

636
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,400
but keep us going a bit longer.

637
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:57,120
Yeah, I'm pretty happy with that.
There's money in our pocket.
It's good for me.

638
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,920
Let's me keep on moving forward when
we're actually making a bit of
money,

639
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,000
not just covering costs.

640
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:05,440
So, yeah.
Bit on the side, it's nice.

641
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,560
You've got to remember how much
dirt's above us, you know.

642
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,200
And the more dirt you take out,
the more weight's coming down
on top of you.

643
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,400
At the Maze mine,
the Bushmen's heavy weight
jackhammers are removing

644
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,680
more rock from the pillars holding up
the roof.

645
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,280
This stuff's extremely hard.

646
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:33,960
The opal is nowhere near as hard
as it,

647
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,160
so the weakest point in the opal.

648
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:39,480
So it tends to fracture.

649
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:44,360
Rod and Les need to be careful
removing one shard of rock at a time.

650
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:50,320
A single wrong move
could destroy the opal

651
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:54,160
or bury them both
under thousands of tonnes of rock.

652
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,880
Some nice bloody stuff
starting to appear here, Les.

653
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,120
Oh, yeah? Oh.
You got a little bit?

654
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:14,160
Oh, Les, come here.
Oh, that looks good, mate.

655
00:39:14,240 --> 00:39:17,560
Look at this.
Ooh, that's even better.

656
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:21,240
That's bloody beautiful. That is.
That's a nice piece of bloody rock.

657
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:23,800
I've still got a bit of colour
up there.

658
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:28,720
Yeah. It's in the roof, Les. Get
into the roof. I'm getting there.

659
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,840
That's where it's at.

660
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:36,880
Holy... Les!

661
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:39,480
Holy... Man. Look at that.

662
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,960
(LAUGHS) Ho-ho!

663
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:47,840
Got a couple of bomb-bomb there.
That's nice.

664
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,760
We still got the whole bloody
Mother Luck on our shoulder, mate.

665
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:53,920
There it is.

666
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,280
(GRUNTS)

667
00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:00,360
It's the end of that other piece.
Look at the colour in that, Les.

668
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:06,640
Ooh. That's nice.
We're getting a nice parcel, Les.

669
00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:10,000
Beautiful, this is the best opal
we've found in a while actually.

670
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:12,520
That's the stuff dreams are made of.

671
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,680
Oh, we might be in
for a few dollars, Les.

672
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,720
The Bushmen have found high quality
black opal,

673
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:22,760
blue green with flashes
of yellow and red.

674
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:28,160
They have 14g and are hoping
it's worth $3,000 to $4,000.

675
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:32,880
Well, we're in the big smoke now.

676
00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:35,120
Yeah, head to town.

677
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,880
To find out how much
their parcel is worth,

678
00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:42,360
Rod, Les and Amanda
travel 70km to Lightning Ridge

679
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,920
to visit the Miners
Association Evaluation Service.

680
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,080
Let's see what the verdict
is gonna be on this one.

681
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,600
Righto, hope it's a good one.

682
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:56,080
I guess the reason why
we're bringing it in is that we've
found a bit of opal recently,

683
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,480
but before that,
it's been quite a long time.

684
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:01,120
So we're a bit out of touch
with what the prices are.

685
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:05,320
You put them all in there. All these
good ones will go in there.

686
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:07,400
It's in our interest, I guess,

687
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:11,960
to make sure that we're asking
enough money for it.

688
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:15,040
Chuck that filler in
for good luck, eh?

689
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:19,040
If we get three or four grand
out of it, we've paid
for pegging the client,

690
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:23,440
we've paid for the repairs and we've
got a little bit left for diesel.
So we're in front.

691
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:25,800
Money is also needed for Amanda

692
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:30,480
to visit their pregnant daughter,
700km away on the coast.

693
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:32,560
If I told Amanda
that we couldn't go,

694
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:36,680
she's gonna be terribly
disappointed, and I don't want to
disappoint her.

695
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:43,600
The Miners Association
is an impartial,
voluntary panel of experts.

696
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:48,600
Open just two hours a week,
giving free valuations on opal.

697
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,880
Well, what they doing in there
is looking at our stones.

698
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:56,200
They're trying to put
the same price on them
that a buyer would put on them.

699
00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:00,160
It's pretty bright.
Little pattern in there.

700
00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:02,920
Gold and green.

701
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,040
Yes, you sort of are a little bit
nervous, actually.

702
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:09,640
If we saying it's worth three grand
and they come back and say,

703
00:42:09,720 --> 00:42:13,600
"Fellas, it's worth 500 bucks",
that's a bit of a kick in the ass.

704
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:18,280
Right, this has got sand
all across the inside of it.
Yeah, this one, yeah.

705
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:21,400
Too soon anyway.

706
00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:23,760
Number one, that's us.
That's us. Yeah.

707
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,320
Yeah.

708
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:39,280
That's a very good price.

709
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:46,240
That's three grand,
close enough, yeah.

710
00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:49,440
Yeah. Because they always want
to knock you down a little bit.

711
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:52,440
Oh, of course. You gotta let them
knock you down a little bit.

712
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,360
I appreciate that, mate.
Thank you very much. We'll see ya.

713
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,720
Thanks. Hopefully,
we'll see you soon.

714
00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:00,000
With their evaluation of $3,000,

715
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:04,160
the Bushmen have a total of $50,500,

716
00:43:04,240 --> 00:43:07,360
putting their season target
within reach.

717
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:11,040
Yeah, I reckon the valuation
that they've done at the LRMA,

718
00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:13,640
yeah, I reckon it was really good.

719
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:16,200
So we are still on the ball
with our pricing

720
00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:18,720
of what we want
for the opal we sell.

721
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,480
I'm as happy as a pig
in (BLEEP) at the moment.

722
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:24,000
Our season this year
this is a bloody ripper.

723
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,080
We're real close to our target,

724
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,800
and things are looking
fantastic for the end of season

725
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:31,400
for us getting away to see the kids.

726
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:37,360
It's for the baby.
Oh, yeah. Good. That's great.

727
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,400
Aww, beautiful. Yeah.

728
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:44,400
That doesn't mean we're slowing
down, but we've got to keep on
hammering

729
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:47,200
cos we gotta catch up
on 18 months of no pay.

730
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:49,280
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