"Outback Opal Hunters" The Solar System

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,400 NARRATOR: On Outback Opal Hunters... 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,440 (HONKING)I lost brakes! 3 00:00:06,520 --> 00:00:09,400 ..the Mooka Boys' season hangs in the balance... 4 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,840 If it starts to slide more, we won't be able to get it out. 5 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:14,520 ..as their ageing machinery 6 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,200 is torn apart in crippling desert heat. 7 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,200 COLIN: Cooked the generator. MATTHEW: Snapped off the bracket. 8 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:22,040 Bloody lost the belt and everything. 9 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,760 LEIF: This could put a whole halt to opal mining season. 10 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:26,640 Powered by solar for the first time... 11 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:28,320 Yes! Whoo! 12 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:33,040 ..the Digi Diggers finally unearth big opal... JOSIAH: Holy (BLEEP)! 13 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:35,560 ..but their dream for a sustainable mine... 14 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,600 Just one problem after another. ..becomes a nightmare, I guess. 15 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,040 JOSIAH: Ooh, ooh! Josiah, Josiah, Josiah, careful! 16 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,000 ROD: Righto, here it comes. LES: Hey! 17 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:49,240 The Bushmen are forced to move their operation 18 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,120 for the third time this season... 19 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,680 You get sick of pulling gear up, 20 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,880 putting gear down. ..and are caught in the crosshairs 21 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:58,560 of opal thieves. 22 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,640 TY: Yeah, well, it's gone. Me jackhammer's gone. 23 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,200 (THEME MUSIC PLAYING) 24 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,074 25 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,120 ROD: Righto, Les, what are we going to do first? 26 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,720 Er...See, all these pipes are all over our hoses. 27 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,280 Get rid of them.Happy with that? Yeah, good idea. 28 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,280 TY: Well, here we are at Ding Dong, boys. 29 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,600 Third move for the year, Ty. 30 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:39,320 Oh, it's that we got to do, mate. 31 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,240 I reckon we'll do all right here.Yeah. 32 00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:44,960 But then I reckoned we'll do all right at the last spot, too. (ALL LAUGH) 33 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,720 Yeah, it's not all ideal, the weather, the way it is. 34 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,480 It's very dangerous cos we did a lot of work on top of the hole, it's slippery, 35 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,080 and the old fella gets that bloody cranky about working in the wet weather. 36 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:56,760 I'll take this in case I need it. 37 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,600 You're not gonna hit me with it, are ya?I don't know yet. 38 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,760 I think the best thing to do to sort of settle the old bloke down 39 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,120 is to send him underground. So got a big open sump down there. 40 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,280 It's about three or four metres deep.Yep. 41 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,440 Years ago, someone put this shaft down there 42 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:12,600 and where ground level is, they've gone down 43 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:14,840 another four metres, so you put a hoist in. 44 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:17,440 Les' gonna cover it up, make sure it's nice and safe. 45 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,640 Slippery over there, so be careful.Yes. 46 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:22,520 You'll be dry down there. 47 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:25,880 Hey, Rod.What? 48 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,800 Who put these ladders down? I don't know. I never. 49 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:30,600 Well, they're not hooked up properly, 50 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:32,840 they just sort of swinging all over the place. 51 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:34,520 I'm not going down like that. 52 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:41,560 The Bushmen, Rod Manning, Les Walsh and Ty Gross... 53 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:45,120 The worst drought in recorded history 54 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:46,840 finished about two years ago, 55 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:49,240 and since then, it hasn't stopped bloody raining. 56 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,160 ..are stuck in a season from hell... 57 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,440 Look at all this bloody slush we've got to walk around in. 58 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,600 ..with sub-zero to 50 degrees Celsius temperatures 59 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:00,440 and extreme weather events 60 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,320 wreaking havoc across the entire outback. 61 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,360 They've spent $90,000 on machinery 62 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,440 that has spectacularly failed to dig up 63 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,160 any profitable opal on three claims. 64 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:17,560 Yeah, you can be chasing a good seam of opal 65 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:21,040 and, er, yeah, it can just disappear like that. 66 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,120 I reckon we start looking for another claim. She's finished. 67 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,040 At the beginning of the season, 68 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:27,880 we set a target for 360,000 bucks 69 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,480 and we're sort of halfway through the season 70 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,400 and we're, we're nowhere near it. 71 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,960 Now, with cash reserves critically low, 72 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,200 the Bushmen have put all their hope 73 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,280 in one last claim, Ding Dong. 74 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,120 Put her down. I'm just not going to give up. 75 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,600 I've made it a mission to get the old fella a decent retirement. 76 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,520 So whatever it takes, I'm going to do. 77 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,920 If I have to move a dozen times in a bloody season, I will. 78 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,120 Not good.All right. I'll lift it up and we'll fix it. 79 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,800 Who (BLEEP) in your cornflakes this morning, Les? 80 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:02,840 Probably would have slipped off the ladder 81 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,080 if, if I hadn't have taken a bit of notice. 82 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,080 Yeah, we couldn't be that lucky. That's not nice, Rod. 83 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,480 To make Ding Dong safe to work, 84 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,760 Les must use the secondary shaft to access the main shaft, 85 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:19,480 and cover the sump hole beneath it. 86 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,960 Righto. I'll go down.Righto. You happy now?Bit happier. 87 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,920 Now we're going to lower this sheet of tin down for ya 88 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,160 so don't stand under the hole.Yep. 89 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,880 Righto, here it comes.Righto. 90 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:34,920 Real opal miners don't wear gloves. 91 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,520 We grow our own over years and years of hard work. 92 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,040 (CRASHES)Hey!Sorry, Les. 93 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:49,200 It's getting really hard to get good help. 94 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:52,160 Well, they didn't tie the piece of iron on properly, 95 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,040 so it come undone and fell down the hole. 96 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:56,720 (CLANKING) 97 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,880 Now that's all right? Yeah, she's all good. 98 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,880 The hole beneath the primary shaft covered... 99 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,400 Stay out of the way. We're going to lift the elbow 100 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:13,080 with a lump of pipe down it. 101 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,520 ..Rod and Ty can lower blower pipes, 102 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,840 vital for extracting waste dirt from the mine. 103 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:21,520 We're gambling here. 104 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:25,240 Apparently we're spending about $800 a week on diesel. 105 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:28,280 That'll do. 106 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,520 We need to start finding colour straight away, 107 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,320 cos in reality, we've only got enough diesel for one week. 108 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,400 We do have a chance to get some nice black, 109 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,400 so everything sort of resting on this claim. 110 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,920 Old Les might be in a happy mood. The sun's coming back out. 111 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:45,680 (BLOWER ENGINE WHIRS) 112 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,000 Righto. 113 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:50,840 (SINGING) # Hi-ho! Hi-ho! # 114 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,520 What do you reckon, Les? You got a spot picked out where all the colour is? 115 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,320 Straight through there. Straight through there you reckon? 116 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,400 Righto, then, let's get some blower pipe on 117 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,680 and get the digger up here and start, Les. 118 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:08,720 The Bushmen's four-tonne super digger 119 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,560 is positioned using its three-metre-long hydraulic arm. 120 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,280 The problem is this little passage here, 121 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,480 it's trying to fit our big digger through it and it's a big tight. 122 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,240 Ooh!Right up against it there. Yeah, pretty much. 123 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,800 Not going to fit, mate. We're not going to fit. 124 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,480 Just grabbing the grease gun for the noodler. 125 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:45,640 Give it a grease up so it all runs smooth. 126 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,960 MATTHEW: This is built to process a lot of dirt and find opal easy. 127 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:51,760 We've got this big old bloody train carriage wheels 128 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,120 to vibrate this big shaker box 129 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:56,000 and the shaker takes all the dust away 130 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,520 and then sorts the rocks to its sizes. 131 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,400 It's either gonna make us or break us, 132 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,160 cos we don't have much in the kitty to keep buying parts. 133 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,920 We've got lots of grease tubes out, so we'll just keep pumping grease in there 134 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:08,600 and hopefully it keeps rolling. 135 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,520 We thought the drill had some greased nipples. 136 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:13,760 This thing's got twice as many. (LAUGHING) 137 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,960 If this doesn't fire up, we're back digging everything out by hand. 138 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:18,640 We really don't need that. 139 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,000 Everything relies on this noodler running now. 140 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,040 You ready for me to fire up? Yeah.All right. 141 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:28,360 OK, here we go. Shaker first. (NOODLER ENGINE WHIRS)All right. 142 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:30,560 Shaker draws a lot of power. 143 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,600 If we turned everything on at once, we'd blow the generator up. 144 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,360 Come on, conveyor. All good?Yeah. 145 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,360 Feed bin.(CHEERING) 146 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:44,840 We got a recon motor, jammed it on. It's working a treat. 147 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,040 I'll go get some dirt in the loader. Yeah, killer, man.All right. 148 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:56,440 You got this, Cozza. 149 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,960 This year we unfortunately lost our claims to, er, rain damage. 150 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,720 That's a lot of mud man. Squishy, squishy. 151 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:04,520 We got a lot of pressure to make sure 152 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:06,200 that we keep the opal coming in. 153 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,800 Halfway through the mining season, 154 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,200 the Mooka boys have been forced 155 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,200 to transport opal-bearing dirt to their noodler at Hallion Hill 156 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,960 from their claim on the treacherous opal field, Horse Paddock. 157 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,480 Whoa!Whoa!Hey! Hey! Hey! 158 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,520 Our season target's, er, $150,000. 159 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,280 We're only at about $40,000 so far. 160 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:34,680 This season's come with a lot of added pressures. 161 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,800 I got a little bit of news. Looks like I'm going to be a daddy. 162 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,880 Is it yours?Yeah.(ALL LAUGH) 163 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:42,720 Yeah, I really need this opal now. 164 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,120 Yeah, babies do take a lot. Yeah, bloody oath. 165 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,560 Opal mining's bloody hard work, but it's the thrill of the chase, 166 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,440 and you get to supply the world with some of the, you know, 167 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:54,400 best quality opal Australia can produce. 168 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:58,760 Hey, Leif. It's starting to open up here. 169 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,840 We're getting out, bud. We've struggled quite hard. 170 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,640 No-one actually pays us an hourly rate to work here. 171 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,200 If we don't find opal, there is no food on the table. 172 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,840 Yeah, we believe the big win's just around the corner. 173 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,520 Oi, the belt's loading up! (HORN HONKING) 174 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:21,960 Leif Tanzer inherited their opal processing plant, 175 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:25,240 known as a noodler, from his late father, Paul. 176 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,360 Yeah, it was built by Mum and Dad around 38, 40 years ago. 177 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,720 A lot of sweat and tears and yelling, but it got done. 178 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,200 Powered by a 40-year-old generator, 179 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:37,520 the ageing system uses shakers 180 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,800 to remove dust and dirt from freshly mined rock 181 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,840 and conveyors take it into the black room... 182 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,760 Here we go. All right. Been waiting for this a while. 183 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:51,080 ..where UV light causes water in the opal to fluoresce. 184 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,240 Usually you'll see, er, a whole heap of glowing rocks all over this belt. 185 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:57,280 We going nuts to pick them all up. 186 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,680 Nothing like a bit of colour to pick up morale. 187 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:11,680 (HORN HONKING) 188 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:18,560 (HORN HONKING)(BLEEP) 189 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,120 Cozzy. Cozzy. Get out here, man. Ohh! 190 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,640 What happened? So, pushing the dirt over the edge 191 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:31,960 and went to hit the brakes and I lost the brakes 192 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,160 and I couldn't get it into reverse quick enough, dropped in. 193 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,800 Big drop off there. If it starts to slide more, 194 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:39,480 we won't be able to get it out. 195 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:53,880 LISA: There's more of those here if you want, of the... 196 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,840 Clips.Clips. Thank God.(CHUCKLES) OK. 197 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:02,200 Today's the day that we take this power plant to the mine 198 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,840 and we trial it for the first time. (GOAT BLEATING) 199 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:08,760 The main cost for opal miners is fuel. 200 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:12,520 So, erm, we're super-excited to mine on solar, er, energy. 201 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:17,800 NARRATOR: The Digi Diggers, Josiah Kotzur and Lisa van Heijningen, 202 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,560 have put a gruelling three months of design and construction 203 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,920 into their new two kilowatt solar power plant. 204 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,720 So we had to build the power plant at, er, Josiah's parents' house 205 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:30,520 because we didn't have enough power 206 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:32,520 here at the mine for the welding machine. 207 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,960 We've got a lot of money tied up in this power plant. 208 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,000 Costing $4,000, 209 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:40,720 they now need to move the solar power plant 210 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,360 with the help of heavy haulage contractor Lloyd Nothdurft, 211 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,320 to their mine one-point-two kilometres away. 212 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:49,560 This is so exciting. Like, we've been waiting 213 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,480 for this moment for so long and now it's actually happening. 214 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:55,760 Yeah, OK. Out on the boom. OK. Stop there. Whoa! 215 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,400 Is all four on there? All four on there.Righto. 216 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,600 This is the moment of testing Josiah's welding skills. 217 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:07,560 If anything happens, it could smash your solar panels. 218 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:18,840 Rookie opal miners Josiah and Lisa have big ambitions. 219 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:22,840 One of our main dreams is that we want to mine 220 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:25,600 just using the energy of the sun. 221 00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:29,720 To be the first fully renewable, er, miners in Australia. 222 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,560 From a high-tech converted bus that's also their home, 223 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,840 they're hunting one of the rarest opals on the planet, 224 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,920 the Yowah Nut, on their 10,000sqm claim. 225 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,360 If you find a Yowah Nut with a full crystal opal inside, 226 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,640 that could be in one hand more than your whole target. 227 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:52,200 So we have the real one, the digital one, 228 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:54,080 and it's in the metaverse. 229 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,560 We want to start selling opal in augmented reality. 230 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,000 Literally everyone around the whole world 231 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,240 can just go into our shop and see our opals. 232 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,600 Our season target is $60,000 233 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:08,800 and we're getting closer, but we're not quite there yet. 234 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:10,760 We've spent more than $100,000 235 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:14,080 to get it all set up, so we really need to find opal. 236 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,920 This is a very important moment, so it's quite exciting to see it 237 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,880 finally on the back of the truck and heading off to the mine. 238 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,160 There we are, baby. Home sweet home. 239 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:46,920 Power station's going here. 240 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:50,240 OK, yep. Up. 241 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,000 You want it more that way? 242 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:53,680 Beautiful, yep. 243 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:56,480 Ah, yeah, bring it out a bit more. Oh, come down. 244 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,400 Ooh.Careful near the hole. Josiah! Josiah! Careful! 245 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,240 You... Don't fall in. 246 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,200 Far out. That got my heart racing. 247 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,240 I almost lost my Josiah there, 30ft down. 248 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:10,920 Down there. 249 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,440 That's fine. I thought I was gone. 250 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,560 Yeah, like, er, that was, that was crazy. 251 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,320 I was just too focussed on the job. 252 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:22,800 So these are the solar panels. 253 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,600 They are capturing the energy of the sun. 254 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,040 The batteries are here. So the power goes into the batteries. 255 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,000 And then this inverter, will turn the... 256 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:39,320 the power of the batteries, which is 24 volt DC, into AC 257 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,200 and then from there, we'll be powering 258 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:43,080 our jackhammers and our lights. 259 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,840 All right, so this is the moment. Let's plug it in. 260 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:56,240 Hm.Oh, my God. 261 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:04,920 COLIN: It's definitely on its way over. 262 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:06,640 Not a good thing for us right now. 263 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,480 How you going to get out of there? Dozer?LEIF: Yeah. 264 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:15,600 The Mooka Boys loader and season is on a precipice. 265 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:17,960 Without the 14-tonne machine, 266 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,680 they can't feed their noodler processing plant and find opal. 267 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,880 This is the only thing we've got here heavy enough to pull it out. 268 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,800 If that then goes on the edge, man, it'll bloody destroy it. 269 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:32,080 Hopefully this thing starts cos this thing's got trouble, too. (ENGINE SPUTTERS) 270 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:33,800 Look at that drop, man. 271 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,280 No coming home from that with a smile on your face. 272 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:38,160 (ENGINE SPUTTERS) 273 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,640 Leif, hurry up man. It's starting to slip. 274 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:43,680 (ENGINE STARTS) 275 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,920 We've got the biggest chain we got, so let's hope this goes all right. 276 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:57,720 We need this bloody loader. 277 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:11,840 Whoa! 278 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:16,320 I thought that was game over then, eh. 279 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,360 Nothing like a 30ft drop to get the heart going, eh? (ALL LAUGH) 280 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,280 Yeah, no opal's worth that amount, eh. 281 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:23,080 Cheers boys, eh. Helped me out there. 282 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:24,840 It definitely could have been worse 283 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,600 but yeah, we'll get them brakes fixed up and continue on. 284 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,360 Beauty. All right. Let's get in that darkroom, fire up. 285 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,320 So we managed to get those brakes fixed on the loader. 286 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,840 And we're back at it and hoping for opal to roll up on the belt again. 287 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,560 Yeah, we got to pull some opal out of something. Kids are starving. 288 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:53,240 Here in Andamooka, 289 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,480 some patches of, er, level that we dig are actually quite wet. 290 00:16:57,480 --> 00:16:59,600 This thing is not designed for wet dirt, 291 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:01,600 so it just bogs up the shaker. 292 00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:07,800 At the moment, nothing. Maybe the level's too muddy still, 293 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,480 and we can't see it, or maybe there's nothing in there. 294 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,320 Nothing's coming through on the belt at the moment. 295 00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:17,920 Feel the shaker slowing down. 296 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,880 I'll go see what's going on out there. 297 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:23,560 It cooked the generator.Oh! 298 00:17:25,120 --> 00:17:26,720 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 299 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:31,320 God damn. Is anything going to go our way? She's (BLEEP) hot. 300 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,080 Alternator snapped off the bracket, bloody lost the belt, everything. 301 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:37,560 Far out! That's air cooled too, innit? 302 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:39,880 Yeah. We just nearly cooked the gennie. 303 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:41,560 No belt on it means no fan, 304 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:43,440 which means the engine got really hot. 305 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:45,160 Well, at the end of the day, like, 306 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,600 this could put a whole halt to opal mining season. 307 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,320 Am I going to make it, Ty? I don't know. 308 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:58,360 In New South Wales, 309 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:00,720 the Bushmen's four-tonne super digger, 310 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,440 vital for excavating opal-bearing dirt, 311 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:07,560 is jammed in a drive in their new mine, Ding Dong. 312 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,720 This ain't like pushing a bloody shopping trolley down the aisle. 313 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:13,680 It's a pretty complicated thing to move, 314 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,560 especially when your roof bolts are hitting on the ceiling. 315 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,000 If it won't go through, I'll jackhammer 316 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:21,760 the (BLEEP) out so we get in here. 317 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:24,400 I think we might have got through the worst of it, Ty. 318 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,720 Tell you what, that was as close as (BLEEP) is to swearing. 319 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:31,720 Righto. Bring it on, Ding Dong. 320 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:33,400 Here we go. 321 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,200 See, at the moment, you know, it's all new and exciting for Ty 322 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:39,920 but he's still got to have to eat. 323 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,120 If I'm not making enough for him to survive and be happy out here, 324 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:44,880 he'll bugger off, too, 325 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,520 and then it's just me and the old fella again. 326 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,480 Yeah, this is a good area for black opal, 327 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:58,960 and that's what we're hoping for, some black. 328 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,280 Black opal, the most valuable on Earth, 329 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,360 is named for colour on a black opal base 330 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,800 worth up to $49,000 a gram. 331 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,680 This looks better. Just poke in there a bit, Rod. 332 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:25,440 Ooh, a bit of colour up in here. Oh, wow. 333 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:27,840 Give us our, er, little jackhammer, mate. 334 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:29,560 We'll see if we can bust that out. 335 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:34,760 That's bloody hard ground. 336 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,200 (JACKHAMMER WHIRRING) Here we go. 337 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:39,000 It's not a bad little chunk, Rod. 338 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,360 Not a bad bit of colour that. It's bloody good, mate. Good start.Yep. 339 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:45,560 Good start, mate, but there's still some left 340 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:47,760 in the wall, and it's nice stuff, too. 341 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:49,440 It's bloody beautiful. 342 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,720 I reckon we might need the big jackhammer, Ty. 343 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,400 Take this bottom out... Undercut it...and undercut it, 344 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,080 and try and pop that big lump of blue out that's there. 345 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,120 Oh, these don't get any lighter, do they? 346 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:02,960 The 20kg electric jackhammer 347 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,280 can deliver over 1,000 blows per minute 348 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:07,960 to the mine face. 349 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:14,000 (INDISTINCT) Flying everywhere. 350 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:15,880 Hey, Les, come round behind me, mate. 351 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:18,800 Try there. Go. 352 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,640 Oh, look what's coming out of there. Oh, ho, yeah. 353 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:29,440 That's the stuff. Look at that, Les. 354 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,200 Good work.Not bad colour. There's another bit. 355 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:35,760 There's a piece there, Les. Look at that.Yeah. 356 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,720 You blokes are pretty rugged. It's the saucepan holder's fault. 357 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:41,840 Go and sit down on your perch. 358 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,760 (GRUNTS) Yeah. 359 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,840 Righto, Les. What have you got? Oh, I got another little piece. 360 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:52,520 Ooh, look at that. 361 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,960 Yeah.You know what that is, don't you, Les?Couple of stones. 362 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,080 No, it's big and it's cheesy. Look at it. 363 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,320 That's nice. Yeah, that's good colour. 364 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,040 Where's your colour jar? 365 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:07,400 Oh, there's a little bit more in there too, Les. 366 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:09,200 Look at that.Colour in that. 367 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:13,280 That's Kermit the Frog green, that is.Innit? Ha ha!(LAUGHING) 368 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:15,320 Pickle me grandmother, Les. 369 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:17,320 You've been holding out on us, old fella. 370 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,680 I reckon. A couple of cartons in that. 371 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,080 LISA: Just check the batteries. Maybe when we got them here 372 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,960 with the truck, they got moved or something. 373 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:32,840 Batteries are all good. 374 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,880 In Yowah, the Digi Diggers' custom-built solar plant, 375 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,200 designed to power their entire mine and equipment, has failed. 376 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,880 So what can it be? JOSIAH: Check the settings on the system. 377 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,520 In theory, it should be all good. 378 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,600 This is the charge controller on the inverter. 379 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,240 So in theory, it should be working. 380 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,760 Mobile is Bluetoothed to the solar system. 381 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,640 Ah, here we go. It's not turned on. 382 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,560 (BOTH LAUGH)All right. 383 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,240 Fuel is definitely one of the biggest costs in mining. 384 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,480 It's not sustainable, especially when you don't know if you're going to find opal or not. 385 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,160 And rather than spending $6,000 a year in fuel, 386 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,880 by going solar, it allows us to mine almost for free. 387 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:20,840 (MIMICS DRUM ROLL) 388 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,800 You ready?Here we go. Moment of truth.Moment of truth. 389 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:25,680 (CHEERING AND LAUGHING) 390 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,160 Whoo! (LAUGHS) Yes. That's good mining on solar energy. 391 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,440 All our money is in this. It's a big gamble 392 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:42,920 because we can just lose everything, you know, if we don't find opal. 393 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,720 There's no plan B. So we've got to find opal 394 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:48,760 and we are running out of time. 395 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,120 Once summer starts, you don't really want to be mining down here. 396 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,320 So where you want to go? 397 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:57,440 Well, there are a couple of nuts up there. 398 00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,120 I reckon there should be more. 399 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:01,360 (DRILL WHIRRING) 400 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,480 Ooh.It might have colour in it. 401 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:13,840 Want to break it? Yeah, I reckon that way. 402 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,320 There's a vein of normal opal or potch. 403 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,640 It's like a, it's opal that has no colour. 404 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,720 But this is a good sign cos this shows that 405 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:26,600 we're getting opalization down here. 406 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:28,360 So, we're getting close. 407 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,000 So, what's going on? Just one problem after another. 408 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,720 I'm going to have to go check it out cos I don't know what's going on. 409 00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:59,920 MATTHEW: We've had to resort back to going old-school, 410 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,360 just taking a level down slowly and going through with the picks. 411 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:05,600 So, er, it definitely takes us longer. 412 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,720 NARRATOR: The Mooka boys have been forced to work 413 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,160 with hand tools and an excavator 414 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,720 after their opal processing plant's generator overheated and failed. 415 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,120 So Leif's had to take off, try and find some parts for the noodler. 416 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:21,840 So for now it's just me and Cozzy. 417 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,280 We left our secure jobs a few years back to do this full time. 418 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:30,360 Down again?Yep. 419 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:32,440 Unfortunately it means we work a lot harder 420 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:34,680 than we used to for a whole lot less. 421 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,480 Sometimes we take big risks and big gambles in this game. 422 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:40,280 And it could be very worrying at times 423 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:43,240 when we've got bills coming in but no actual money coming in. 424 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:51,520 Yeah, you're starting to see that slip here, Cozzy. 425 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,120 Just goes right across here. It's basically where 426 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,280 a big piece of ground has slipped down 427 00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:58,600 and this side slipped up, so basically, it means 428 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,120 it's brought water and opal up millions of years ago 429 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:02,800 and we should find hopefully 430 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,840 little patches of it running off the slip. 431 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,280 As we lift big hard pieces of level up, 432 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:10,480 it's always worth checking the bottom of them 433 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,840 cos if opal's come up and hit something hard, 434 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,800 it's gonna spread itself on the bottom. 435 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:18,320 Nothing yet. 436 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,800 Come have a look at that, bro. 437 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,120 It's not colour, but this is concrete together, bro, 438 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:38,800 with silica all through it. 439 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,280 It's what we call concrete here cos it looks a whole lot like concrete, 440 00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:44,160 and it's absolutely laden with silica. 441 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:45,880 You can see how it's really shiny, 442 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,560 and we've got little opal traces popping up everywhere. 443 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,000 Oh, whoa!Yeah? 444 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:05,160 Got a bit of matrix here, man. You're kidding.Got red in it.Yeah. 445 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,840 Here you go. Yeah, there's colour in there. 446 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,040 That's a wicked red bar, bruv. (CHUCKLES) 447 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:14,680 Matrix here in Andamooka is basically a host stone. 448 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,280 It's completely infused by opal over the years. 449 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:19,560 Gangster, mate.Yes.I know. And it has good... 450 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,560 Yes, yes...solid stuff. (LAUGHING) We're on colour now. 451 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,440 (SINGING) # I'm hopping along today Da-da da-da # 452 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,160 You're skipping. 453 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,680 # We're going to work today. Da-da da-da # 454 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,960 Bit of opal and no rain, Les, fires you right up, doesn't it?Yeah. 455 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,000 You know, and the thing with Les is, like, 456 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,560 me and him have worked together for so many years 457 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,080 and we know exactly what has to be done. 458 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,600 Life would be a lot harder without him. 459 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,880 A bit nippy in the mornings for the first couple of hours. 460 00:26:57,960 --> 00:26:59,560 Ah... 461 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,520 Oh, geez. No. 462 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,280 TY: What's this string line for? 463 00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:09,080 Ratters have been in here last night. 464 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:10,920 What? In our mine?Yeah. 465 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,120 See here? They've been into the wall here.Oh. 466 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:17,320 See how the (BLEEP) find their way around. 467 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,120 If they need to get out in a hurry, they follow that line. 468 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:22,160 They went over it all right. Look at this. 469 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,200 They've been in there, too.Yeah. 470 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,320 Go and check the tools. Check everything. 471 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,040 Yeah, well, it's gone. Me jackhammer's gone. 472 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:39,640 1,200 bucks down the drain. 473 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:44,800 Look at this. They've used my jackhammer to go in there. 474 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:46,480 They've gone in two-foot. 475 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,560 We may as well cut and polish stones 476 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,400 and leave down here for them as well. 477 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,480 Look, all we can do is just keep digging for the time being 478 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,880 and try and find a bit of money to buy a new one. 479 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,600 Sorry about that, mate. Sorry you had to see that so early 480 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,400 in your career, but it does happen. They're just mongrels. 481 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:26,720 Righto, boys. Thanks for today. Righto, mate, 482 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:28,920 I'll see you in the morning, all right?Yeah. 483 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,760 Me and the old fellow are going to go down underground 484 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,240 and just sit nice and quietly, and hopefully, these maggots 485 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,560 are going to come down the ladder and have another crack at our mine. 486 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:48,880 Here we go. Nobody's home. 487 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,080 You know what I reckon? 488 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:57,600 Let them get to here if they do come and just back me up, all right? 489 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,600 Get yourself comfortable. You know what these things are like. 490 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,760 (GROANS)We're likely to be here for bloody hours. 491 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,240 That's right. They might not even turn up. 492 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,600 Righto, mate. Turn your light off and get comfy. 493 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,600 If they start coming down that ladder, we'll hear them. 494 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,120 You don't know who's going to climb down the ladder. 495 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,680 You don't know whether they're going to be tooled up. 496 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,120 You don't know whether they've got guns, machetes. 497 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,120 (CHUCKLES) You just don't know. 498 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,720 But I think we'd both rather cop a flogging 499 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:29,560 than let someone walk all over you. 500 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,880 (METAL CLANGS) (WHISPERS) Hey, Les? 501 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:43,080 Oh, er... 502 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:48,200 Yeah, run you (BLEEP), run. Get him, boy.I'm gonna. 503 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,680 (ENGINE WHIRRING FADING) 504 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:05,480 Well, he took after that fella. If he catches him, 505 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:08,720 I think he might give him a tune up. 506 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,720 At the moment, I've got to wait here and see whether he comes back, 507 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,000 cos it's a fair walk home and I don't feel like walking home. 508 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,760 Hey! Hey, you! (YELLING INDISTINCTLY) 509 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,120 Hold it up and see what you've got! 510 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,320 (YELLING INDISTINCTLY) 511 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,720 Oh, could be him coming back now. 512 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:53,120 (GROANS) 513 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:56,880 Did you catch up on them? I certainly did. 514 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,760 Look what I got. Ty's jackhammer. Yeah. Good. 515 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,040 I was a bit worried when two of them got out of the car.Oh, righto. 516 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:08,000 But one fella wanted no part of it. He was, yeah, he was hands up 517 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,320 and he wanted nothing to do with it.Mm. 518 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,000 (EXHALES) 519 00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:13,840 Got a bit of blood running there. 520 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,960 Yeah, well, you know, we did have a chat. 521 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,760 Geez, I don't know, Les, I think I might be getting too bloody old for this. 522 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,840 Yes, I think you are getting a bit old for that type of (BLEEP). 523 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:28,800 I still come out on top but, Les. Yeah, well, that's the main thing. 524 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,640 What do you reckon, old fella? It's way past your bedtime. 525 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:33,680 Better get you home and have a hot shower. 526 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:35,960 I've had enough excitement for one night, mate. 527 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,000 JOSIAH: Oh, my God. What's going on with this power? 528 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,520 The Digi Diggers newly-installed solar plant 529 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,880 powering their entire mine has shut down. 530 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:53,560 (EXHALES) 531 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,520 LISA: What do you reckon? Erm, I'm just going to have a look. 532 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,440 Low battery voltage. They should be charged though. 533 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:05,640 Sunny day, batteries, everything set up. 534 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:07,800 I think we're just consuming too much power. 535 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:09,640 I mean, it happened when we used 536 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,000 the jackhammer and the hoist at the same time, 537 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,080 so it might just not be strong enough... 538 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,680 To take the load of both. Till we get new batteries. 539 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,400 We're just going to have to alternate between the jackhammer and hoist.Mm-hm. 540 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,040 So can we restart it? Yeah, I'll reboot it.Yeah. 541 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:25,920 Let's go mining.Let's do it. 542 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,800 We got a buyer coming this afternoon and we got no opal. 543 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,480 We've got to keep her happy because she is the daughter 544 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,680 of one of the big, big opal guys here in town. 545 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,080 So...He's the godfather of opal. In Yowah. 546 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:49,880 I reckon just take out this top bit at least. 547 00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:58,720 Just got to be careful when you take these bits out 548 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,440 cos you just never know what's behind it 549 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:03,720 cos we're getting really good signs right now. 550 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:07,360 It can just turn at any moment. 551 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,160 There it is. Blow fly. Is it a blow fly?See the blow fly? 552 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,800 Can you get it? There, it is there. Just there. 553 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,600 Commonly known that when you find a blow fly down a hole, 554 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:18,280 it means you're on colour. 555 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:22,360 This is actually quite well-known with the miners of this area. 556 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,520 Come back! (LAUGHING) He landed just there. 557 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:27,200 We're gonna take that roof down. 558 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:29,960 Just going to drop it all down, eh. Yeah, get in there. 559 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:32,880 (JACKHAMMER WHIRRING) 560 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:50,200 Whoa, look at this. Check out that. 561 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,560 Far out. What did you hit? (LAUGHS) 562 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:55,880 That's just the goosel nut. There should be another piece. 563 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,440 You see anything come out? No, it might be here. 564 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:06,840 Whoa!(LAUGHING)(BLEEP) 565 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,600 (LAUGHING) Oh, wow! 566 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:13,080 Why'd you have to hit for, Lisa? Oh, I know.(LAUGHS) 567 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,640 If I wouldn't have hit it, we might have thought it was just a rock.Geez. 568 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:20,160 Look at that. It's gorgeous. 569 00:34:21,720 --> 00:34:25,200 That was the fly.Come on. (LAUGHING)Whoo! 570 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:33,320 MATTHEW: Yeah, we're just going to check slowly around 571 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,800 what we just dug cos there might be some more here. 572 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,120 I got a big band of level and rocks here, bro. 573 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:47,120 Yeah, running straight up in this wall. Big rocks in here man. 574 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,160 COLIN: There's some little rocks over here 575 00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:52,000 but it's definitely not as thick as what you got there. 576 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,520 There's colour, man, not much. Give us a look at that. Hold that, hang on. 577 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,480 Yeah. There's a big band and everything. 578 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:01,880 Look at that. That's colour. 579 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,520 (LAUGHS)Yee-haw! Colour!Yeah, man. 580 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:11,400 (LAUGHING) Bro, look at that. 581 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:13,560 Whoa! Wow! 582 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:15,600 Yellow bro, yellow. 583 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:18,880 I think we just found our first good colour pocket, man. 584 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:20,560 God, after the week we've had. 585 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,320 NARRATOR: With team leader Leif away buying machinery parts, 586 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:33,320 it's up to Cozza and Matt 587 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,160 to rub their opal haul and maximise its value. 588 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:40,240 Some big bloody chunks in here, man. 589 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:45,280 Yeah, if only half of this comes up, (WHISTLE) some good colour here. 590 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,560 It's not huge stuff. Look at that, bro. 591 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,960 That little chip there's got a red flash.Ooh. 592 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,000 So if we get this whole back side clean... 593 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,120 Yeah. Just give it a light grind and take that dirt off. 594 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,080 How's it looking, bro? Not too bad, man. 595 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,040 Getting a bit of a big broad flash. 596 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:12,960 That little piece of honey. That's nice.Colour all through it. 597 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,480 The Mooka Boys have seam and concrete opal, 598 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:20,400 with flashes of blues, reds and green. 599 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,960 Partially rubbed is 28g of seam opal, 600 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:26,280 and ten kilos of concrete. 601 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:28,880 We've got a lot of, lot of material here, man. 602 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,280 After 15 years of finding stones and selling them ourselves, 603 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,040 we get pretty good at valuating our own material. 604 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,520 We'll easily get five grand an ounce for this opal. 605 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,040 Yeah, what do you reckon of this matrix? 606 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,560 That's the stunner one here, really. 607 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,640 Chuck it on the scales, man. Let's see what she's weighing, eh? 608 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,080 Five-point-five ounces. 609 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:51,600 That's, you know, 100 bucks an ounce. 610 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,280 That's sweet. 611 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:55,920 Five grand of opal, ten grand of concrete 612 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,240 and, er, bits and pieces. An easy 15, man. 613 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,000 Not bad at all, bro. Not bad at all. 614 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:04,320 This has been one of the craziest weeks we've ever had opal mining. 615 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:08,200 Coming up with 15 grand's worth is a awesome win. 616 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,440 Yeah, we're digging in the right spot. We're definitely happy. 617 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,520 Good week, man. I'm just happy, eh, yeah. 618 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,480 JOSIAH: When you hit it with the jackhammer, 619 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,560 you know, you have exposed colour in there. 620 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:29,360 So many blues and greens.Yeah. It's, it's a beautiful specimen. 621 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:33,800 It's hard to price opal because opals are unique. 622 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:36,680 This could be worth a lot more but what if we cut it, 623 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,520 like, straight through there? 624 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:40,360 We could be looking at, you know, 625 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:42,840 500g, 600g of pure crystal. 626 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:46,680 It's, it's a gamble because if we made the cut, 627 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,720 and there's nothing there, we can't take it back. 628 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,320 We need the money. We can't just go play around. 629 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:54,360 How much would you sell it for? 630 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,120 I reckon start at it at 20. How low would you go? 631 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,040 We can't just sell it for, like, two grand if we wanted to. 632 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,240 I know, but we also got no money in the bank. 633 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,520 The Digi Diggers have unearthed a single Yowah Nut. 634 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:10,200 Blue-green with flecks of yellow and pink. 635 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:14,000 It's in the rough, and weighs 2.4kg. 636 00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:20,440 Jewellery artist Grace Griffin has driven 1,400km 637 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,120 from her workshop in Melbourne, 638 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,640 seeking opal for her next collection. 639 00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:28,280 Josiah's just given me a call. They're on some colour 640 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:30,800 so, erm, I'd love to see what they've got. 641 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,240 How you doing? Yeah, good to see ya. You, too. 642 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,160 I'm Lisa.I'm Grace. Nice to meet you.Nice to meet you. 643 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:40,480 What have you got to show me? We've got a really nice specimen. I hope you like it.Mm. 644 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,840 If you want to, er, have a look and reveal it yourself. 645 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:49,120 Wow! Nice, guys. This is fabulous. Yeah.Really cool. 646 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,200 What are your thoughts on it, price-wise? 647 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,480 That there is a lot of potential in this stone. 648 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,120 I think you can make a lot of jewellery out of it.Mm. 649 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:58,520 So we were thinking, erm, 20, 20 grand. 650 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:04,280 I think that might be a little bit out of my budget at the moment. 651 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,440 But how would you go for ten? 652 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:11,200 We can go down a bit, but maybe, like, ten's a little bit too low, I think. 653 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:12,880 What are your thoughts, Josiah? 654 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:15,680 Lisa does the talking, cos I don't like letting things go. 655 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,640 That's the biggest nut we've found here. 656 00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:21,160 This is interesting for me, but, yeah, 20 is too high. 657 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:24,840 I could meet you at 15. 658 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:31,440 Yeah, I think that's fine. Fabulous. Yeah. 659 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:33,280 Thank you.That's amazing. Great. 660 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:36,680 The sale went really well. It's exciting and I'm glad it went to Grace. 661 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:40,560 I'm pretty happy with how it all went. 662 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:42,400 Stunning, fabulous colour. 663 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,040 Lots of potential for rings, pendants. 664 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,160 I've got, yeah, a whole collection in mind. 665 00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:49,600 We made the right decision in not cutting the nut. 666 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,000 She loved the colours in it. We needed the money. 667 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:53,760 We sold it, so we're good. 668 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:57,400 I have already got too many ideas. (BOTH LAUGH) 669 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,760 We got 15,000 and that allows us to keep moving forward. 670 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,720 It feels great to just find opal underground 671 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:07,400 first time on solar panel. 672 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,520 It's just a gift of nature. 673 00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:24,160 Hey, Les, Ty. Come over and have a look at this. 674 00:40:24,240 --> 00:40:26,920 TY: Sounds like I missed a bit of action the other night. 675 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,360 There'd have been some sparks flying, I reckon. 676 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:31,560 As long as it gets taken care of. 677 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,040 Found a bit of opal the other day, which is great. 678 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:37,160 Rod's been giving it a touch up on the wheels. 679 00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:40,640 Get an eyeful of this, boys. Eh? They look all right, eh. 680 00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:43,840 LES: They're not too bad at all. And I've lined a buyer up. 681 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,600 So I just cut what I thought was the best of them.Yep. 682 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:50,200 And I rubbed one here just to have a look what it was like.Yep. 683 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,720 I reckon we got a few dollars' worth here, boys.I'd reckon. 684 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:57,800 What if we were to ask for 40 grand? 685 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:01,040 Don't take anything under 35. That sounds good. 686 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,920 The Bushmen have black and seam opal, 687 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,440 predominantly blue-green, with streaks of rare red. 688 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:12,240 It's been partially rubbed. And there's 120g. 689 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,840 Opal buyer and jeweller Steve Gallacher 690 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:20,760 has travelled 800km from the coast 691 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,640 to get first look at the Bushmen's package. 692 00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:25,760 The opals are very unique. 693 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,120 The colours, er, they only come from around this area, 694 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,760 and the patterns in them, they're so diverse. 695 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:36,200 How you going, Steve?G'day, Rod. How are you, mate?Mate, thanks for letting me come out. 696 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:39,320 You know Les, and this is our new partner Ty. 697 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,720 Les, how are you, mate? How you going, Steve? 698 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:43,760 G'day, Ty, pleased to meet you. Steve, Ty. 699 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:49,200 Got some nice stuff there, mate. There are a few nice stones in here. 700 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,880 Because you've been a good buyer to us and a good mate, 701 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,160 we're giving you an unbelievably low price 702 00:41:54,240 --> 00:41:56,080 of 40 grand for that parcel. (EXCLAIMS) 703 00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:59,040 $40,000? Come on, Rod. 704 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:00,920 There are some sparklies there, but... 705 00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:04,040 let me have a closer look. 706 00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:10,280 Yeah, I think it's the case that you've probably cut the best of the stones. 707 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,280 Well, if I can make an offer of 30,000.(GROANS) 708 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:20,240 I think I'll pack the stones up, I think. He doesn't want them. 709 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,160 It appears that way, Les, doesn't it? 710 00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:25,280 The buyers don't want to give you enough at any stage 711 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:27,480 and I thought you was a bit better than that. 712 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:34,960 I tell ya what, my final offer, 33,000. 713 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,840 I can see my value. I'd be maxed out at 33. 714 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:40,440 Is that cash?We only deal in cash. 715 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,080 Will you throw in a carton of beer for the old fella? 716 00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:45,600 And you can squeeze me for a 30-pack of cans. 717 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,280 What do you reckon, Les?Erm... 718 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:50,080 We'll do it?Don't like it. 719 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:51,880 He's not happy. 720 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:53,680 But we need the money. 721 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:56,720 Thanks, Steve.Thank you, gentlemen. 722 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,160 Thirty-three big ones, mate, eh. $33,000. 723 00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:01,000 We were hoping for 35. 724 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:03,800 I think 33 was a pretty good price. 725 00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:07,120 Sometimes it works well to sound a bit cranky. 726 00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:09,320 You get that little bit extra. 727 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:11,800 TY: $33,000 for that parcel. It's a relief. 728 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:13,480 We know we can keep mining. 729 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:15,920 Here we go, men. There's your carton of beer, Les. 730 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:17,640 Ah, that's what we need. 731 00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:19,720 I'll tell you what else I got for you, Les. 732 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,480 Oh, that looks good. Oh, that's what we need. 733 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:25,280 That's our biggest find for the season, Les. 734 00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:28,280 We haven't seen that for a while. No. You might be on your way 735 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:30,880 to retirement, old fella. Yeah.Ah, mate. 736 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:36,560 Subtitles by Deluxe 736 00:43:37,305 --> 00:44:37,704 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm