"Outback Opal Hunters" Episode #4.6

1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:03,040 On Outback Opal Hunters... 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,360 Last chance to find opal before it gets too hot. 3 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,120 ..the Boulder Boys risk their only excavator... 4 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:10,200 Whoa! ..chasing an opal legend. 5 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,520 Dad found $240,000, probably where that big rock is. 6 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,440 Shangri-La, we got a car! 7 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,120 The Bushmen hit a dead end. 8 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,320 Oh, what do we do, Les? It's completely gone. 9 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,720 And disaster. No, no, no. 10 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,520 And the young guns... Whoa! Oh! 11 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,600 ..face the fury of the outback. 12 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:33,680 Oi! Close up all the house! 13 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,840 Oh, my God. 14 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:43,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 15 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,880 Hello. Hello. 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:02,560 He's got the blower going. 17 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:07,320 Good on you, Les. So, we can keep on digging. 18 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,560 In Sheepyards Opal Field, New South Wales, 19 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,040 after a series of mechanical breakdowns, 20 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,960 Bushmen Rod Manning and Les Walsh are finally mining. 21 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,160 This one here, Les, doesn't pull ahead a big lump of colour. 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,240 We've got to make a decision. 23 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,240 What do you think? 24 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:32,360 Nothing there. Nothing there, is there? 25 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,440 It's getting worse, isn't it? 26 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:36,520 Yeah, I think it's nearly all gone. 27 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,760 You hate stopping. You always think that when you stop 28 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,400 another inch and you would have hit it. 29 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:48,800 Well, what do we do, Les? Cos that's completely gone. 30 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,560 Over halfway to their season target, 31 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:58,120 Rod and Les are struggling to find the elusive black opal 32 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,320 15 metres below ground in their Bondi claim. 33 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,000 At up to $43,000 a gram, 34 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:08,640 it's worth 500 times more than gold. 35 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:11,200 With gold, you can see the veins 36 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:13,440 and you see lots of things with diamonds. 37 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:15,880 No-one knows where opal is. 38 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:17,760 It's a mystery. 39 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,840 Hang on. Hang on. We've got oil everywhere. 40 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,800 The season's been a pretty hard, bloody grind, you know. 41 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,160 Everything that we've had has broken down at one stage. 42 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,960 But that is opal mining, you know. It's harsh conditions out here. 43 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,520 And the machinery has just as hard a life as we do. 44 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,760 How are you, doll? Good, how are you? All right? Yeah. 45 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,800 We've had a few little just life problems, you know. 46 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,240 Amanda's had some pretty major problems with her leg. 47 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,920 She can't move much. She's in a lot of pain. 48 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 It's a bit of a concern and you do think about it. 49 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,320 It puts more pressure on us, as she's got to go to appointments 50 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,000 which is a 700K drive, which is money. 51 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:06,280 If she does have to go and have an operation, 52 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:08,160 there's more money there. 53 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,000 So we need to hit our target 54 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,880 and we need to probably go a little bit more than our target. 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,640 All right. They've got pretty hard in here too. 56 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,120 It's completely gone. You reckon I can talk you into going in here? 57 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,080 Yeah, I reckon. Here's where I'd like to go. 58 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,080 Yeah. Straight through here, see what it says. Excellent. 59 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:33,600 We're going to duck over to this other side. 60 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,720 It's sort of opposite where the colour ran on this side. 61 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,200 Hopefully it'll continue through over that side. 62 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,080 To move the 12-year-old two-ton digger, 63 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,520 Rod has to use the hydraulic digging arm, to lever it through the tunnel. 64 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,200 They're pretty weighty 65 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,480 and it's real easy to dig because it's so short. 66 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:01,640 It's in that hole. 67 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,760 No, no, no, no, no, no. 68 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,840 Jeez! 69 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,000 She dug into this soft ground here in the floor 70 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:20,080 That hurt. 71 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:33,520 This year hadn't been a bad year. 72 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,040 We've had some good finds, some not so good ones. 73 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,160 But the season ain't over. 74 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:46,280 In Opalton, Queensland, Boulder Boys Aaron Grotjahn and Ron Selig 75 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,000 are facing temperatures of over 40 degrees. 76 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:53,360 They close in on their $100,000 season target 77 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,800 on Aaron's late father's claim, Dragonfly. 78 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,720 Do this little bit here for me. Where, mate? Just there. 79 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,160 I'll watch it. There's a rock there. 80 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:14,520 I've been digging these leases for the last three years since Dad passed away. 81 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,600 Miss old Pa a bit too. 82 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:20,400 There's a few spots where I'd like to continue, 83 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,960 where Dad followed the fault. I know he was getting opal. 84 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,000 There's still virgin ground, that side needs to be dug. 85 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:31,200 This week, Aaron would love to check out three different areas... 86 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:35,600 It's a bit slippery, mate. ..that related to his dad and what his dad dug. 87 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,320 So he wants to finish it off in his own mind 88 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:40,680 and finish it off for his father. 89 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:43,840 He wants to be able to find that one big rock 90 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:45,600 like his dad used to find. 91 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,200 Opalton is famous for rare veins of boulder opal 92 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:53,880 worth up to $20,000 a gram 93 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,600 found inside rocks scattered through underground faults. 94 00:05:57,680 --> 00:05:59,840 On Dragonfly, a major fault 95 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,240 and several minor ones run right through the plane. 96 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,440 Aaron's plan is to target three areas on these faults 97 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,560 where he believes his father found opal decades ago. 98 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:11,640 It's worth a go. Plenty of rock. 99 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:13,800 Hm, well, we'll give it a go. 100 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,800 The first is an area between two outcrops 101 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,240 with signs of the fault running through it. 102 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:22,520 You gotta be on the ball mining these levels, 103 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,400 cos they're not set, they're just rocks here, there and everywhere. 104 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:29,520 We have to go through it bit by bit, won't we? 105 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,080 Yeah. I think you need that red stain on the rocks. 106 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,680 It's there. They all look that way here. 107 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:44,720 Hard levels to read, eh? Yeah. 108 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,400 Well, we've got a problem. 109 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:49,200 Very messy ground. 110 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:52,600 See, there's rocks there, there's rocks there. 111 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,560 This is just all over the show. 112 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,560 Even though there was a little bit of colour in the rocks, 113 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,760 once we actually got stuck into it, 114 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:05,360 it didn't have clay under the level to capture the stones. 115 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,520 Boulder opal forms when silica-rich water trickling 116 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:16,320 through sandstone settles in cracks in brown ironstone boulders 117 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:21,280 but only one boulder in a hundred will contain any opal. 118 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,240 Sort of dead ground. There's boulders there, there's not much. 119 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:29,440 You're gonna go broke digging there. 120 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,120 Too messy, isn't it. Yeah, it is. 121 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,000 We're going now around to the other side. 122 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,160 No good wasting fuel 123 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:44,520 if you can see it's not going to pan out. 124 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:49,160 Aaron and Ron's second spot is on the other side of the ridge. 125 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:53,400 We're gonna drive the machine up the top, strip 15 foot off it, 126 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,720 then chase the big boulders in and see how we go. 127 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:58,800 You just don't know what can happen. 128 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:11,720 This season is coming to an end. 129 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,480 We've only got a month or two left before temperatures hit 50 degrees, 130 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,840 so it's going to be absolutely crucial 131 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,000 that this week we find some opal. 132 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,120 If we don't find anything, then we're going to be in trouble. 133 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:24,800 I'm already starting to doubt 134 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,080 whether we're going to make our season target. 135 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,160 If we can't nail this, 136 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,000 it's not looking good for the Young Guns. 137 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,760 Rookie team, the Young Guns are hunting crystal opal 138 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,320 worth up to $25,000 a gram. 139 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,080 But, short on cash 140 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,520 after their first three months of mining, 141 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:46,680 pressure is mounting. 142 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,640 Absolutely nothing coming out of the walls of the mines. 143 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:53,880 We just keep finding more dirt and rocks. 144 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,000 It's like a constant, constant struggle. 145 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,200 Kanga'ing? You want me to Kanga? Yeah, mate. I'll go and grab it. 146 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,800 It's gonna take a bit of time to shift this dirt that we've just made. 147 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,440 But, you know, just gonna keep moving dirt, keep moving forward. 148 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,880 Hey, guys, guys. What's up? Giant dust storm out there. 149 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,240 Really? A huge one, yeah. Whoa! 150 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,280 Oh! Oh my God. 151 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,920 Oi! Close up all the house! 152 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,720 Jesus. We're just gonna close everything up. 153 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,520 Otherwise our whole house is going to be full of dust. 154 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,360 Gonna tape the window's shut. 155 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,440 It's not just dust, it's the wind as well. 156 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,400 We gotta make sure everything's not moving around too much. 157 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,520 High temperatures, combined with dry conditions, create dust storms 158 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,840 with winds reaching speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour. 159 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,920 This one's full on. I don't think we can do anything right now. 160 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,720 Well, I guess we're just gonna have to wait this out. 161 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,040 God! Never ends. 162 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,120 What next? 163 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,280 All right. Looks like it's cleared up a bit. 164 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:10,680 We'll head down and have a look at the mine. 165 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,680 You got to chuck some fuel in, get it started up. 166 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,760 Sounds good. Meet you down there. Get the first bucket out. 167 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,280 Oi! Come back down, boys. 168 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,160 Don't worry about that. We've got bigger problems. What's that? 169 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:28,240 Ah. 170 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:30,920 Oh, ! 171 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,080 Oh, dude, it's in the engine bay, it's absolutely shocked. 172 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:41,560 We've just got a heap of roof fall out straight on top of the Kanga. 173 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:44,800 And I guess that wind coming down just dried stuff out 174 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:49,240 and made it fall in a bit. This is gonna be a nightmare to clean up. 175 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,600 There's another bit falling down right now. 176 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:55,320 We didn't need this. It's going to be a fair bit of work 177 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,040 just to get all these rocks off it and clean it all out. 178 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,480 We don't want anything going through the radiator or the fans, 179 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:04,560 so it's gonna be a bit of a job. 180 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,640 The Young Guns' entire operation 181 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:14,000 depends on the Kanga Loader, on hire for $200 a day. 182 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,120 The Kanga, we're responsible for it. 183 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,200 We're very concerned that all the moving parts, the engine bay, 184 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:22,480 all dirt had made its way into there 185 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:25,840 and fallen into those areas, which is not good for machinery. 186 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:27,600 How does that even...? 187 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:31,760 Our biggest concern is rocks going through any of the fans and stuff like that. 188 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:37,120 So, we've just really taken it piece by piece and taken out every little rock that we can. 189 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,240 I mean, if we wreck this machine, you know, then we essentially owe them a machine. 190 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:45,280 It's absolutely ridiculous. We can't afford to spend $25,000 191 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,080 replacing something that we've broken. 192 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,360 That is a lot of dust. 193 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,840 So we're just about ready to get rock and rolling again 194 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:03,440 and get back into it after a-bloody-nother setback. 195 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,600 We're back in business, boys. Woo! 196 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,160 No, no, no, no, no, no. 197 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,840 Jeez! What is going on down here? 198 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:32,040 15 metres underground at their Bondi claim... 199 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,120 I just tipped it over. 200 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,080 ..Rod and Les's overturned two-ton digger 201 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,720 has brought their mining operation to a halt. 202 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,920 Where the 9" come down, the ground's real soft. 203 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,360 One of the wheel's just tipped into the soft stuff and over she went. 204 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:52,840 Thank Christ Les wasn't over the other side there, 205 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:54,720 cos he'd been a goner. 206 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,000 Nothing we can do about it. 207 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:01,720 Stand her up. And back into her. And back into her. 208 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,480 What do you reckon? Drop the sling down. 209 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:08,600 Higher, you see. Yeah, it's right, in line, too. Yeah. 210 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:11,600 They're generally hardest to stand up when they're like that. 211 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:16,480 But we were just lucky there was a 9" hole in the right spot 212 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:19,800 so we could drop a chain down that 9". 213 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:21,880 Jesus. 214 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:26,040 Hook that to the top of the digger and slowly bring it up back onto its legs. 215 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:29,520 Just a minute. 216 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,600 Righto. 217 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,720 He's not slipping on that bottom leg, Les? 218 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,800 I'll just get it up a little bit further. 219 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,440 Oh, she's the right way up. 220 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,560 Well, that's better, Les. 221 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,520 It could have been a lot bloody worse. 222 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,760 What the bloody hell were we doing before all that? 223 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:06,840 We were going to shift it back down there. 224 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,480 We've wasted all bloody morning getting this back on its feet, 225 00:14:11,560 --> 00:14:13,560 so it's time to start mining. 226 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,240 It's always exciting when you start a new drive. 227 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,440 You don't know what's in there or where you're gonna hit it. 228 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,240 We haven't been across this way, so we'll have a look and see what happens. 229 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,320 The new spot where we started in, there's plenty of action in there. 230 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,600 You know, I got nice seams running where they should be. 231 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:40,760 Bloody good-looking dirt in there, Les. 232 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:42,840 It is. It's looking really good. 233 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,960 Bloody hell. What's going wrong? 234 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,920 We're losing a fair bit of hydraulic oil from somewhere. 235 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,040 This? Yeah. 236 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,080 Without hydraulic oil, the digger arm can't operate. 237 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,360 Well, that's gonna be a fun fix 238 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,040 900 kilometres to the northwest... 239 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,120 Dad and his mate Joe found $240,000, 240 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,080 probably where that big rock is. 241 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:14,800 That's why I wanna finish his job. 242 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:20,320 ..Aaron is driving hard to fulfil his late dad's opal dream. 243 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,120 I got a nice pocket close to where we're digging now, 244 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,440 that was $240,000 and that was 15 years ago. 245 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,840 It's probably half a million now. 246 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:31,960 To reach the opal level, Aaron must first remove four metres 247 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,000 of overburden whilst being careful not to undermine 248 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,680 his excavator and risk a rollover. 249 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,920 All right. That's enough to have a look. I'll make a little ramp. 250 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,760 Make a ramp, we'll go down, and you get into it. 251 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:53,400 Aaron's next move is a precarious one. 252 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,920 He must drive the 35-ton excavator 253 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,120 down the loose dirt ramp to the bottom of the pit. 254 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:03,840 We've got about four metres to go down and he's making a ramp. 255 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:08,720 He wanted about 20 degrees back. We'll see how he goes. 256 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,920 Aaron's got the excavator down. 257 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,200 We've got a bit of track going up and down there. 258 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:29,760 So it will make it easier. 259 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,560 Now he's starting to dig down to the actual level. 260 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,320 It looks different now, eh, once when you open it up. 261 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,800 It's messy looking level too. Yeah. 262 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:52,880 We've taken a little bite out of it. 263 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:58,880 It's as bad as the other side. It's too mixed up. 264 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:00,960 There's no defining levels. 265 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,360 It's a band, but it's not really a level. 266 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,760 Oh! You're wasting fuel. 267 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,880 It doesn't look real good. That's the same as the other side. 268 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,400 It's crap. Crap? Come on, let's get out of here. 269 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,200 Righto. Get into a fresh bit 270 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,680 that might have a bit more promise. Yeah. 271 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:26,080 Aaron's quest to continue his father's legacy on Dragonfly 272 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,480 is turning into an uphill battle. 273 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,520 You've got to dig in there. 274 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,560 Right now, we're just doing a bit of a make safe, 275 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,000 pulling off all the really loose bits of the roof 276 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,320 just so they don't fall on us. 277 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,000 Oh, my! A massive dust storm... 278 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,400 Oi! Close up all the house! 279 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:58,160 ..has dried out the roof of the Young Guns' 100-year-old mine, 280 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:00,640 putting it at risk of collapse. 281 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,400 Team leader Jaymin must make it safe 282 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:05,680 before their opal hunt can restart. 283 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,720 We're only taking away the stuff that's gonna come down. 284 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:12,600 Anything hard like over in this area here 285 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,360 we just want to leave it as it's a nice, solid bit of roof. All right. 286 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:19,680 But with the end of the season in sight, 287 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,440 the Young Guns are struggling to make ends meet. 288 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,640 We're near the end of the season. We've got a month or two left 289 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,360 before those temperatures soar up to 50 degrees. 290 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:31,040 We've not got much time left. 291 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:35,000 We really need to find something to get us where we need to be. 292 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,080 It's not about finding millions, it's more about being able 293 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:42,560 to live comfortably out here. 294 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:44,320 Barely got a change of clothes. 295 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,480 Don't have enough money to wash clothes. 296 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,680 Yeah, we're getting kind of sick of all this dirt. 297 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,680 I don't really know if I can handle much more of this. 298 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,360 That's a shaft. 299 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:05,840 Yo, J! Come down here! 300 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:08,240 What's up? 301 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,320 I think we've hit another shaft. 302 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:12,400 You serious? Yep. 303 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,920 In another setback, the mine shaft 304 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,960 contains tons of worthless dirt that will take days to shift. 305 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,240 I think we just leave it for now. 306 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:23,520 We'll just chop in that side of the wall there. 307 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,520 I don't want to keep shifting dirt that seems looked through. 308 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,600 There's no money in that. 309 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,600 We need to be finding stuff. We can't be digging through dirt. 310 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,880 It's just, you know clearing out a shaft that's just full of dirt 311 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,360 that there's gonna be no opal in. 312 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,040 So we've cracked into some old workings up here. 313 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:46,120 We've got this little smudge mark here from a candle. 314 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,880 So the old timers in here, which is why we're talking 315 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,000 like 100 years ago, no electricity or anything. 316 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,080 All they had was a little hand pick. You know, it would have been 317 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,360 much more of a struggle than what we're doing, 318 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,320 but we're moving heaps more dirt. 319 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,560 Here we go, little bit of trace 320 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,640 You see this little bit up here? 321 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,360 Holy moly, that's actually nice. 322 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,720 So they probably dug through, but with their little lights, 323 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,240 and candles, they wouldn't have been able to see 324 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,200 the little bits and pieces around. 325 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,240 This is really, really awesome. 326 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,120 There's actually some opal in here 327 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,080 and we haven't seen opal in a while. 328 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,000 Hey, boys! Come up here! 329 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,720 You mean some opal? Yeah. 330 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,560 It's only little, but it's actually got a bit of colour. 331 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,400 Finally, some opal. That's really good. 332 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:40,320 Coming out of there now. 333 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:42,200 15 metres below ground, 334 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:45,880 Rod and Les's digger is haemorrhaging hydraulic fluid. 335 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:49,160 Ah, you... 336 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,600 Tastes like . Yeah, it does, that oil. 337 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:55,480 Without the two-ton digger, 338 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,120 they'll be forced to return to hand tools. 339 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:01,400 I'm not sure. I think it's a connection. The elbow? 340 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,000 It might be loose. We're not real sure what it is. 341 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,520 But for now, it's only going to get worse. 342 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,200 It's already spraying. 343 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,440 Hopefully it's just a nut that's come loose. 344 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,560 Otherwise, the elbow is probably cracked as I fell 345 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,440 and dropped her over. 346 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:18,320 You all right? 347 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,080 Do you know what it is? It's not gonna be easy as it... 348 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,880 What is it? The end of the tube's split. 349 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,160 Cracked on the weld. Wonderful 350 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:29,880 Into the ram here, underneath here. 351 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,400 It's split and it's getting worse, 352 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:36,360 so oil's too bloody dear to waste. When the digger broke, 353 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:40,200 you sort of know it's game over until you can fix it. 354 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,040 We're not going any further with this thing, Les. 355 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:45,800 And that's more than a quick fix, mate. 356 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:50,400 This is showing nice promise. 357 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:54,440 We've only just started here and we're getting twinkles all over the place. 358 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,840 Mm-hm. Do you want to have a bloody half-hour dig 359 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,240 with the jackhammer and just see if we can... 360 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,000 I would've liked to have gone further forward in there. Yeah. 361 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:14,600 There's a fair bit of activity up here. 362 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,320 I'd be kind of surprised if those don't do something. 363 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,080 I've got a few glints of colour here. 364 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,080 Bring that bloody tray up here, mate. 365 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,080 Hold her up under there. 366 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:39,920 Bit of colour in that. A little bit of colour. Any money? Oh... 367 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,800 Any good? Depending what it cleans up like. 368 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:48,800 That's a nice shiny bit. 369 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,360 Mate, we need to get this bloody digger going. 370 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,480 This is developing in here real nice. Yeah. 371 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:56,880 That's not a bad bit in there, corner of that. 372 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,840 The further you go in there, hopefully the better it'll get. 373 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:03,560 So for now all we need is some quick dollars to get the digger up and running. 374 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:08,280 Without the digger, the Bushmen's operation has slowed to a crawl. 375 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:11,400 And, for Rod, it's about to get even tougher. 376 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,880 74-year-old partner Les must leave 377 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:17,960 for a vital medical check-up 378 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,040 350 kilometres away. 379 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,320 So what time is your appointment tomorrow? 11 o'clock, I think. 380 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:30,120 You want anything in town? New digger Yeah, right. 381 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,040 Think me dad was digging here about 30 years ago. 382 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:41,760 So we're just seeing if it's running more this way. 383 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,760 Little luck, we can pick up a lead and start at the base. 384 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,520 It's hotting up on Dragonfly claim 385 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,560 with Aaron's father's old leads turning up nothing 386 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,960 and costing the Boulder Boys hundreds of dollars in fuel. 387 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,920 He knew what he was doing when he told me to dig around the shaft where there's opal. 388 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,160 As we're getting away, we're not getting onto anything decent. 389 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:06,440 Their last chance site is an old area known as the Cut. 390 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,120 Strip the top off and we can get into it. Looks all right, eh? 391 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,440 The sandstone's pink out here. 392 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,880 Yes. Right, so there's good chances there. 393 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:20,160 Last chance to find opal before it gets too hot. All right, mate. 394 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,960 With their season target almost in reach, 395 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:27,800 everything rests on Aaron's dad's final location. 396 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,960 It is opal ground. We've just gotta see what we can find. 397 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,320 Hopefully, we'll get some nice rocks. 398 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,800 Yeah, I think you should. 399 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:07,040 It's nice and moist. There's a level there. All right. 400 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,080 We got a few butterflies down in the Cut. 401 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,880 Usually when we got butterflies, we get opal. 402 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,240 Found a bit of colour here, mate. Like a pipe, or something. 403 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,960 That's very nice. Blue. 404 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,520 It's like a pipe, isn't it? Well, it is. Yeah. 405 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,640 I reckon we saw that. You don't know what's up this end of it. 406 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,240 No, you don't. We'll keep going. All right, mate. 407 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,120 Ah, boy, we got some colour! 408 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,640 You got colour? That's a good sign. Yeah. 409 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,760 Really nice blue, electric. Looks all right. 410 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:50,880 Get this little bit here for me. 411 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,600 Hey! We've got colour! 412 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,880 It's got the line running through it. Blue to green. 413 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:03,960 It could be loaded that end. 414 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,840 Oi, Ron! Bit of purple. You beauty! 415 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,640 Ah! Bit more! 416 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:12,880 There you go, it's got a bit of electric in it. 417 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,440 If it makes it into a line here somewhere... 418 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,600 Yeah, yeah. That needs a saw, mate. 419 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,880 Oi, Ron, more colour! That's fantastico! 420 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,120 Shangri-La! We got a car! 421 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,040 Whoa. Now that is nice colour, Ron. 422 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:30,720 Look at that red in there. 423 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:32,400 That'll need a saw, eh? 424 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,800 Should be able to split it, eh? Hey, Ron, that's a nice colour. 425 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,320 Good on you, Ron. Lucky Ron strikes again, mate. 426 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,360 All right. Come on. Let's have an early day. We'll cut this up. 427 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,400 Lovely, Ron. That ain't a bad morning's work, mate. 428 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:01,680 Here are your keys, mate. Righto, thanks. 429 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,080 Good luck with it. Yeah. 430 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,200 Ring us and let us know how it went. I'll do that. 431 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,480 Gotta go to Dubbo to see the heart specialist down there 432 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:12,960 for a check-up and see what he's got to say. 433 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,280 Les's visit to the doctor is a 700km round trip, 434 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:20,440 leaving Rod to mine alone. 435 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,360 With Les having to go to Dubbo for the doctor's appointment, 436 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:27,600 it steps your workload up a little bit. 437 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,320 Without Les or a working digger, 438 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,040 Rod's only option is a mine where he and Les 439 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:35,120 recently found good opal. 440 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:40,520 The Maze. Hundreds of metres of unstable tunnels. 441 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:43,680 I've got a little column I want to dig out. 442 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,320 I just want to dig in a bit, find a bit of colour. 443 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:52,600 Oh! 444 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:58,200 It's called a maze for a reason, and you can get lost down there very, very easily. 445 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,280 Where am I? It's a horrible feeling when you get lost underground. 446 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:07,920 You can wander around for hours trying to find a way out. 447 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,720 This is where we were working the other day. 448 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,160 This is where we took the columns out. 449 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,440 They were out here before we took 'em out. 450 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,440 The rock columns or pillars are vital for holding up the roof. 451 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,520 That's not a bad seam, that, you know. 452 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:33,000 While they could still contain good opal, mining them risks a fatal roof collapse. 453 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,720 Pillar bashing is probably one of the most dangerous things you can do in mining. 454 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,400 This is not too bad. 455 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:49,920 This pillar that I'm working on now that's all that holds the roof up. 456 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,280 Something happens, there's no-one to go for help. 457 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,880 But we need opal. 458 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,480 It's nice ground here. 459 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:11,480 Little bit of green up in there but... 460 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:14,560 That might turn into something. 461 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:21,320 It's big and it's cheesy! 462 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,080 Look at that. 463 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,480 How good's this? We've taken out half a bucket of dirt. 464 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,080 That's good money. There's more in the walls. 465 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,440 Ah, happy, happy, happy. That's a week's pay, just there. 466 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,840 Ooh, it's starting to get exciting. 467 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,120 Beautiful colour all the way round. 468 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:43,840 Another couple of grand. 469 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,720 And how good's this? Straight in the bank. 470 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:51,080 You know, lately everywhere we dig, we're getting a bit of colour. 471 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,800 I hope it continues. 472 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:07,320 You see that? Mate, that's a $100 stone right there. Stoney. 473 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,840 All right. In their first season mining, 474 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,480 the Young Guns have finally hit a promising opal seam. 475 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,680 Slow and easy. Slow and steady finds the opal. 476 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,800 Mate, I'm just getting covered in dirt. Yep. Me too. 477 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,920 Ooh, is that a bit up there? What have we got? 478 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:32,640 Look at that. Holy... 479 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:35,320 That's ridiculous. Look at the colour of that bad boy. 480 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,720 That's like gem-grade opal. Look at that. 481 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,480 That's wild. 482 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,280 That's wild, dude. Holy moly! Look at that. 483 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,640 That's a massive green-blue gem-grade opal. 484 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,960 Let's hope. Let's keep digging this and we'll see what happens. 485 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:55,640 Oh, hear that? That's a big crack. 486 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,880 Oh, that's a bit of green up in the wall. 487 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:00,760 You see that? Oh, yes. 488 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,440 Dude, dude, look at that bit in the bucket, dude. 489 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,360 Woo! Whoa! 490 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:10,040 What the hell? That's like dead-set 20 pieces just down there. 491 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,440 Oh! Oh, there's 20 on the other side! 492 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:15,800 My hands are literally shaking. Look at that. 493 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,560 Oh, look at... That's a nugget. Look at the size of that! 494 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,560 We just broke through a whole big seam. 495 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,320 It's... Dude, it's thicker. Look at that. Holy... 496 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,000 Look at that. There's handfuls of it. 497 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,240 Yeah, baby! Yeah! 498 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,400 This is so beyond anything that we've found before. 499 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,720 Holy moly, so there's that bit of trace in the wall 500 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,760 that we're following, and we just dropped that whole shelf down, 501 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,840 and it just went "Bang!" 502 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,040 Look at that! That's incredible. 503 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,360 We just pulled out a massive pocket. 504 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,560 I mean, look at this stuff. I mean, it's absolutely, you know... 505 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,960 It's so validating, it's so good. I've really needed this, this week. 506 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,040 It makes it all worth it, you know? Let's get it in the tumbler. 507 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:02,840 I want to see what we've got as soon as possible. 508 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:05,680 Do not spill that. 509 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,000 Holding on to this like there's no tomorrow. 510 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,040 It's the biggest find of their short careers. 511 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:16,480 But to discover its true value, there is an important step to take. 512 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,440 Yeah, dude. Let's have a look. Where's that sweet stuff? 513 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:22,880 All right, you know the drill, boys. Chuck it on. 514 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,800 All right. Put her on there. 515 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,080 There we go. Washing the clay-covered stones in water 516 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,880 overnight will reveal just how much opal they found. 517 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:37,840 Now, unfortunately, we have to wait for, like, 12 hours. 518 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:39,920 It's just gonna be pure wonder. 519 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,960 I'm so excited. Dude, that's a nice colour. 520 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:46,360 Just stand and watch, wait and wonder. 521 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,320 Hey, Les! How you going, mate? How are you, mate? 522 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,920 After a 700km round trip, Les is back from the doctors. 523 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,320 What did the vet say Gave me another six months. Six months? 524 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,680 Well, we should hit our fortune in six months, I'd reckon. 525 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,880 Well, I hope so. I started on it yesterday. 526 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,720 Well, that's good. I got a little bit while you were away. 527 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:21,600 Oh, righto. 528 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,200 With a clean bill of health, 529 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,320 Rod's opal haul from the Maze is a welcome surprise for Les. 530 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:34,320 Oh, that's nice. It's got a bit of red in her, eh? Oh, yeah. 531 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:38,520 Nice pieces in there. Couple of really nice pieces, actually. 532 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:40,720 Yes, we'd get a stone out of that. 533 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,240 After all the breakdowns 534 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:45,840 and all the trouble we've had, it was bloody good. 535 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:54,360 Rod has arranged a meeting with a local opal buyer. 536 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,600 I'm not gonna do too much cos she's a cutter, and she'll wanna cut 'em. 537 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:02,280 I'm trying to get 'em to look as pretty as they can. Yeah. 538 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:05,280 Cleaning up the rough stones on a grinding wheel 539 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,840 gives a better chance of getting a higher price. 540 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,400 Oh, that's a nice piece, that. 541 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,080 Nice little stone, isn't it? That's a nice one. 542 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,000 And the grain is all flashy. Flashy, eh? 543 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,640 Now what we gotta do is decide on a price. 544 00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:23,520 I'm gonna ask for eight. Yeah. 545 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,560 And then our lowest price would be, say, five? 546 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:30,000 Yep. Yeah. If we get five or six for this, 547 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,080 I reckon we're gonna come pretty close to our season total. 548 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:37,080 Oh, yeah. Yeah. For a bloody change. 549 00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,000 The Bushmen stones are mainly crystal opal 550 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:41,760 with good greens and blues. 551 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:46,120 They're rough, but rubbed clean and there's approximately 15 grams. 552 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:51,200 Rod and Les are hoping to get between five and $6,000 for them. 553 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,400 G'day, Jenny. Hello. How are you, mate? Good? 554 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:59,880 Yeah, good. That's good. Nice day. An experienced buyer, 555 00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:03,360 Jenny Tolo has been dealing opals for 20 years. 556 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,080 Going on into a sale, there's always a bit of anticipation 557 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,240 cos this is what it's all about, you know. 558 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:11,320 Grab a seat there, Jenny. 559 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,680 It all comes down to when the buyer walks through your door 560 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,240 how much they're gonna give you for it. 561 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,560 Well, this is what I've got, Jenny. Rough from down the Maze. 562 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,440 This is a little bit I've got from another mine 563 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,400 that I rubbed yesterday. 564 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,800 Mmm! Looking good. Yeah, it's a nice colour in there. 565 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:31,880 Let me have a closer look at this. 566 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:37,440 It's got nice colour, but they're only gonna cut little stones. 567 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:42,600 So what are you asking for this again? 568 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:46,160 I want $8,500 for it. Ooh! 569 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,200 I'm more like $6,000. 570 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:54,280 Nah, Les would belt me up the back of the head if I give it to you for six. 571 00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:58,680 Seriously, eight's a bit too steep. 572 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,360 This is beautiful colour. I'm not knocking it. 573 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,440 You're actually lucky to find stuff like this. 574 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,200 The only thing is I'm gonna end up with smaller pieces, you see. 575 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:14,760 I'll tell you what, the lowest and this is me rock bottom, the lowest I'll do is $6,300. 576 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:19,040 I think $6,300 is... I won't go any lower than $6,300. 577 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,840 Well, I reckon it's worth a little bit more, but we'll come to the... 578 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,520 No, I think that's fair. $6,300? Yeah, $6,300. 579 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,320 Good on you. Thanks. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah. 580 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,920 It was a bit more than we wanted so we're real happy with the sale 581 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:36,880 and she was happy to pay that. 582 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:38,800 You only need a couple of good stones 583 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,000 and you're right back in there. 584 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:45,200 This sale brings the Bushmen within reach of their season target. 585 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,200 Everything's sort of turning around for us. 586 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:53,840 If Lady Luck stays with us for a little bit longer, we're gonna do all right. 587 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:05,440 We found a little bit of opal. Cut it up, see if we get some surprises. It'd be good. 588 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:08,280 Aaron's gamble chasing his late father's old leads 589 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,960 has turned up promising stones. Mate, you know what you're doing. 590 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,080 But to discover their true value, 591 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:17,880 the stones must first be split on the diamond-tip cutting wheel. 592 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:21,080 Do what you can do, Ron. 593 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,080 If the opal runs right through the rocks, 594 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,160 it could more than triple their price. 595 00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:31,240 Another rinse through, that one. I reckon. All right. 596 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:36,160 Cut too close to the opal and Ron could render the stone worthless. 597 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:40,480 We're just grinding the sides down to see how big the stone's gonna be. 598 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:46,400 It's runnin' there. You can tell. Well, it is running all the way. 599 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,560 So what we've gotta do is splitting. 600 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:53,400 Splitting a seam can mean they get two opals from one rock, 601 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:55,560 instantly doubling its value. 602 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,640 Split it. All right. 603 00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:01,240 See if it'll split. 604 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,360 There you go. 605 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:07,720 That was a good little surprise, wasn't it? That was a surprise. 606 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,000 It split good too, Ron. Yeah, mate. 607 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:13,720 Hey, look. Nice. 608 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,120 Nice electric gem, green. Beautiful, isn't it? 609 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:21,080 That's what we found. What do you reckon, Ron? 610 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:24,840 How do you get two stones out of that? Cut it through the gut. 611 00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:36,120 Told you. 612 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,800 That's the better stuff, Ron. Well, that's our king stone. 613 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,080 Nice red, isn't it? Yeah. 614 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:45,960 I got two of them, mate. 615 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:47,800 That's another surprise that we got. 616 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,640 That is, isn't it? This one was very good, I thought. 617 00:38:51,720 --> 00:38:55,080 Yes. There you go, mate. Cos that's earrings. 618 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:58,400 That's got a couple of nice lines in it. Right. Right. Right. 619 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:00,480 So they're our king stones, really. 620 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:06,440 Their opal is boulder opal with rich greens and blues. 621 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:09,320 It's still in the rough, but they have two kilos 622 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,400 making its value approximately... 623 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:16,280 Well done, mate. Well done, mate. 624 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,200 The boys have passed their season target 625 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:22,800 with six weeks' mining still to go. 626 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,800 Good on you, Ron. No worries. It does feel good following Dad. 627 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:30,200 It's good to finish the job, you know. 628 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:32,680 It would have been good if he was here to show me. 629 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:37,440 He would've said, "Don't dig there. Don't do this. That's rubbish. This is good." 630 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,400 But the year ain't over, so anything can happen. 631 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,720 Here we go. Our moment of truth. We are very excited. 632 00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:00,400 For The Young Guns, a disappointing season so far, 633 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:02,840 all rests on the results of 12 hours 634 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,760 washing their stones in a homemade tumbler. 635 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,800 Look at this. Bloody hell. 636 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:13,040 Holy moly. Here it comes. 637 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:16,360 Yeah, that'll do. 638 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:24,360 Woo-hoo-hoo! Look at those colours! 639 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:30,360 Look at that. Enormous. 640 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:34,080 That is beautiful, boys. 641 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:41,080 It's like a mountain of opal. Holy moly, a mountain of a day. 642 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,640 That stone is probably two or three grand. 643 00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:47,120 What the hell? 644 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,080 There's reds, greens, blues... 645 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,840 Get this! Damn! Holy... 646 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,680 There's definitely thousands of dollars here. Like, right here. 647 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:59,320 Look at that! Look at that. That is ridiculous. 648 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,400 I don't know how much something like this would even go for. 649 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,360 This is just ridiculous. 650 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:06,560 It'll make your dad jealous? For sure. 651 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,440 Opal doesn't get nicer than that. Here we go. 652 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,440 Dad, what's going on? Hey, Jay. 653 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:15,480 Hey, fellas. We got something pretty cool to show you. 654 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:17,560 Jaymin's dad, Graham, 655 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:21,200 is one of White Cliffs' foremost opal valueist. 656 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:24,440 Yeah, we thought we'd better bring this one to the professional. 657 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:27,560 Oh, wow. That's actually really good stuff now. 658 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,040 Oh, that is actually gem, that one. 659 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,200 That's the best stuff there, for sure. 660 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:35,000 Yeah, look at this. So beautiful. 661 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:38,840 That is really beautiful White Cliffs crystal, that. Gem. 662 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,920 The Young Guns' find is crystal opal. 663 00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:44,640 At a centimetre thick, 664 00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:47,600 it is highly desirable for high-end jewellery. 665 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,640 It has clear blues and greens. It's in the rough 666 00:41:51,720 --> 00:41:54,600 and, once cut, they will have 30 grams. 667 00:41:56,160 --> 00:42:00,040 When I look around, just looking at the quantities that you've got... 668 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:05,080 ..I think, just as a bit of a rough ballpark, 669 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:07,160 you're probably looking at least... 670 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,560 ..$20,000. Whoa! 671 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,640 Oh, gee! Well done. 672 00:42:17,720 --> 00:42:21,400 That is so cool. That's so cool. That is unbelievable. 673 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:23,880 You guys will start to make a bit of a go of it now. 674 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:28,000 Doing well lately. Absolutely. You must be feeling relieved. 675 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:30,240 Twenty thou! Well done, proud of you guys. 676 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:34,240 That's massive. What do you reckon? We're real opal miners now? 677 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:38,680 You still got a bit to go now. 678 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,240 There's still a few things, you know, to learn. Yeah, yeah. 679 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,200 So, boys, are you sticking around for the rest of the season? 680 00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:48,560 Oh, yes. Bloody oath. The big one's coming, boys. 681 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:50,680 This is just one of the smaller ones. 682 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:54,600 The little fish today. The million dollars might be next week. Phew! 683 00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,080 Woo! Oh, yeah! 684 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:03,040 With this haul valued at $20,000, 685 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:09,480 their total is now over $37,000. 686 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:14,800 $20,000! Cheers, boys. Yeah! 687 00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:18,320 We did it, boys. 687 00:43:19,305 --> 00:44:19,319