Who Died In Aussie Gold Hunters?

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What happened to the Mahoney from Aussie Gold Hunters

Former model turned gold hunter on life in the Aussie goldfields Published: 00:17 BST, 26 February 2023 | Updated: 16:39 BST, 26 February 2023

• Tyler Mahoney doesn’t fit the image of a gold prospector as a bearded old coot with a pick gripped in one hand and a shotgun hanging from the other.
• The onetime model is the modern face of mining for gold and has been breaking down sexual barriers as well as digging up precious metals most of her life.
• Mahoney is the 27-year-old Australian star of the hit Discovery Channel show Gold Rush and has just written a book about her life titled Gold Digger.
• The memoir covers a childhood spent fossicking in the desert with her family before a brief big-city foray and eventual return to what she says is her true calling.
• It describes a male-dominated industry where discrimination is rife and workplace sexual harassment still includes men asking women to bend over.
• And it also reveals the extraordinary lengths to which treasure hunters struck with gold fever will go in search of untold riches buried below the ground.

Tyler Mahoney doesn’t fit the image of a gold prospector as a bearded old coot with a pick gripped in one hand and a shotgun hanging from the other. She is the star of the Discovery Channel show Gold Rush and has just written a book called Gold Digger Mahoney’s memoir covers a childhood spent fossicking in the desert with her family before a brief modelling stint and eventual return to what she says is her true calling.

1. ‘It’s even more exciting when it’s your income and you’re only making as much as you’re finding.’
2. Mahoney’s biggest find was a 5 ounce nugget but she also located an ironstone lode which produced ten times that weight.
3. On a normal day, the family records their finds in grams (gold was about $85 a gram this week) and on a good day in ounces ($2,600).

‘I don’t get a set salary from gold prospecting,’ Mahoney says. ‘I get paid in gold. ‘Every day is different and it depends on what we are finding. It’s not a secure income at all. Some days it’s baked beans and some days it’s lobster.’ Mahoney, who has also starred in Gold Rush: Parker’s Trial, is aware of the image of a typical prospector but says the internet has attracted people to the pursuit from all walks of life ‘The stereotype is definitely an old man with a beard swinging a pick over his shoulder,’ she says.

‘Which I definitely am not. ‘I think people having this image in their mind isn’t inherently sexist as it is normally how prospectors look but how they treat me after meeting me is what is telling.’ Mahoney’s parents Ted and Lecky are full-time gold prospectors and she now works with them alongside her brother Reece on tenements outside of Kalgoorlie.

Driving a loader (above is her favourite job at the family’s mine

• Mahoney says gold mining is still dominated by men and there is ‘a very long way to go’ before women reach equality with their male counterparts.
• ‘As a woman it is very hard to get a place at the table and then when you’re at the table it’s bloody hard to be respected and heard,’ she says.
• ‘I watched my mum experience sexism, she was never taken seriously as a prospector like my dad was.’
• Mahoney recalls when the family owned a dealership a man came into the shop wanting to sell his ‘gold’.
• ‘I told him it wasn’t real gold and he yelled and carried on that he wanted to see the boss because I had no idea what I was talking about,’ Mahoney says.
• ‘I got Mum and he still wasn’t happy and said, “I want to see the real boss, I know a man works here”.
• ‘Dad heard what was going on and told me to tell him to get out of out of the shop, so I did.’

Mahoney’s biggest find was a 5 ounce nugget but she also located an ironstone lode which produced ten times that weight. Pictured above is 7 ounce nugget her father found on one of their prospecting trips worth about $20,000 Mahoney says she would need to write ‘a whole other book’ if she were to record every time she had been sexually harassed or faced discriminatory behaviour.

‘Until you have been on the other end of it your whole life you won’t understand the implications that come with it,’ she says. Mahoney believes the role of women in the original Gold Rush which started in Australia in 1851 has been largely ignored. ‘The heroes of the Gold Rush, the places towns are named after, and the people who started it all are all men,’ she says.

‘The women who were holding the forts at home, teaching the children and saving the lives of them men as nurses are rarely spoken about. Their roles were equally as important though.’

1. ‘We should be able to go to work without men making comments on our bodies and making us feel objectified.
2. ‘I’m at work to do a job, not for a fully-grown adult man to ask me to bend over again.’
3. Mahoney is a fourth-generation prospector whose great-grandfather Ned has a large patch of productive ground he discovered named after him on the Murchison goldfields of Western Australia.

‘The next generation is my beautiful grandmother Nola,’ Mahoney says. ‘She loved prospecting and definitely had gold fever. ‘There weren’t many woman prospecting in her time so she definitely helped paved the way for me to come through.’ Mahoney describes growing up on the fields as ‘quite different’, with her friends spending holidays at the beach while she trekked with her family to outback locations.

‘We spent most of my childhood in places hundreds of kilometres from the closest town but we loved it,’ she says. ‘I am so appreciative of the childhood I had. ‘We would run amok out bush, riding dirt bikes, exploring old shafts, chasing goannas. We didn’t even have electricity after dark when we were out bush.

No TVs or computers or any technology.’ Mahoney did not always know she would make a career of gold prospecting. Mahoney grappled with an eating disorder for years and has been diagnosed as bipolar. She is pictured (L-R) winding down with a beer alongside Gold Rush co-star Parker Schnabel and producers Fred Lewis and Danny Etheridge At 19 she moved from the goldfields to Melbourne to pursue modelling and open a business selling jewellery she designed.

‘I also did some events management,’ she says. ‘But after a couple of years I came back to the goldfields because I knew the gold world was where I belonged.’ Mahoney’s parents Ted and Lecky are full-time gold prospectors and she now works with them alongside her brother Reece on tenements outside of Kalgoorlie.

Reece drives an excavator while Mahoney and her dad operate a loader. All the family use metal detectors, and do research, exploration, panning, testing and processing. ‘It is physically demanding work,’ Mahoney says. ‘We are out in the elements all days in the outback, so it’s hot and there are flies.

‘The biggest danger would be the remoteness – you can’t really muck up because help isn’t always a phone call away.’ The family works all over the Western Australian goldfields, ‘depending on what’s going on’. In the winter they conduct exploration looking for new ground and in summer work closer to home.

‘To be a prospector you need to know how to read the ground, follow the gold and know the best way to mine the gold.’ Left to right: Tyler is dark red top is pictured with her brother, far left, dad, left and her cousins during one of their prospecting trips in the Outback Tyler and her father Ted at Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of Western Australia while filming with a specialised underwater metal detector for Aussie Gold Hunters in 2018 Mahoney, who grappled with an eating disorder for years, has been diagnosed as bipolar and says that condition has parallels with gold prospecting.

• Mahoney’s boyfriend Jake is an excavator operator at a big gold mine in Kalgoorlie but says it can be hard to find love in the desert.
• ‘It’s definitely slim pickings when you live in a remote location but even more so trying to find someone who supports my career when it means we spend a lot time apart,’ she says.
• ‘I was only home for two months of 2022 so it’s good Jake is very supportive and secure.’
• As well as mining and appearing on television Mahoney runs a business providing resources for those interested in the industry called The Prospectors Club.
• She also hosts a podcast called Let’s Unpack That which she calls ‘a place for me to share my mental health journey and help give people insight into bipolar.’
• ‘I don’t necessarily do a good job of juggling it all,’ she says of her busy workload.

Gold Digger by Tyler Mahoney is published by Affirm Press and is available now ‘I just do the best job I can. Sometimes I drop the ball. I just try to prioritise the important balls like family and friends and my mental health.’ For most people prospecting for gold is not a quick way to get rich, Mahoney says.

‘These days it’s extremely hard. I am very lucky that I was born into a family who have ground, contacts and generational knowledge.’ What prospectors consider ‘good ground’ is much harder to acquire than it was 20 years ago and gold is becoming increasingly hard to find. ‘You have to be really on top of your game to make it work,’ Mahoney says.

‘Gold is never in the easiest of places because if it was everyone would be out there finding it.

1. Mahoney has enjoyed working in television and likes meeting people who are interested in the world of gold.
2. ‘I am definitely still a bit of bogan from the bush but I do get recognised from the shows, which is nice.’
3. Gold Digger by Tyler Mahoney is published by Affirm Press and can be bought,

• Tyler Mahoney reckons there is definitely a state of mind that can accurately be called gold fever.
• ‘Gold fever is the contagious excitement of a gold rush,’ she says.
• ‘And anyone who has been in the gold world knows how much it can change people.
• ‘We have seen it ruin friendships and change people for the worse.
• ‘Gold really impacts some people in a negative way and brings out their worst traits.
• ‘All of the crazy stories from the gold underbelly stem from people having gold fever.
• ‘Our family have a rule now because of what people with gold fever have done to us, we don’t work with anyone but family, and only very selective family.’
• Mahoney tells a story she says shows the ‘underbelly’ driven by gold fever.
• One time a rookie prospector was in the middle of the desert and found a vial of flakes in a place not known for gold.
• ‘He took them into my parents’ gold dealership and my parents urged him to go back and have a look around because it was a very bizarre find,’ Mahoney says.
• ‘Some time passed and he came back into the shop after being out in the desert.
• ‘He walked in looking like he had seen a ghost, which actually wasn’t too far off.
• ‘He looked around the vial and ended up finding a dead body hidden behind some old branches in a little cave.
• ‘The experience had really shaken him and he left without telling us any more details.’

: Former model turned gold hunter on life in the Aussie goldfields

Is Outback Opal Hunters scripted?

Production – In August 2017 it was announced had commissioned Outback Opal Hunters, a factual series from which follows opal miners across (NSW), (QLD) and, (SA). The eight episode first season premiered on 8 February 2018. In September 2018 it was announced the series had been renewed for a 13 episode second season which would expand into (WA).

The second season which was filmed in, (QLD), Coober Pedy (SA) and premiered on 31 January 2019. The third season consisting of eight episodes was filmed across Lightning Ridge (NSW), Opalton (QLD), Laverton (WA),, and, The season premiered on 17 October 2019. Season four which consisted of 12 episodes premiered on 6 February 2020.

The fifth season premiered on 8 October 2020. In December 2020 it was initially reported as part of ‘s 2021 Upfronts the series would return for its sixth season on 11 February 2021. However, the season in fact premiered a week earlier on 4 February 2021.

What happened in Outback Opal Hunters Season 5

Episodes –

1. The Young Guns’ season begins with JC breaking his body while competing in a bull-riding fundraiser. Rod partners up with a pair of local wild boys and flooding causes the Cheals’ mining to drag. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
2. S5 E2 – The Opal Whisperers Isaac and Sofia – the Opal Whisperers – set out to prove themselves as miners. Jaymin and Noah explore a dangerous mine alone while the Blacklighters are hit with a crippling excavator breakdown. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
3. The Tarantos family is struck down by illness while trying to resurrect their glory days. Oscar and Rory operate the exploration drill for the first time and the Bushmen look for timber to support their collapsing mine roof. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
4. S5 E4 – Young Gun Returns JC returns to White Cliffs after his accident while Blacklight Xavier misses a massive pocket of opal passing through the noodling machine. The Tunnel Rats start their season in a vermin-infested mine. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
5. S5 E5 – Trouble Underground The Tarantos’ excavator grinds to a halt at the bottom of their mine. The Cheals also face machinery failure as Rory busts their digger underground. The Bushmen’s roof is on the edge of collapse. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
6. S5 E6 – The Value of Misfits The Misfits give it all they’ve got to prove their worth in the mine fields of South Australia. The Bishop loses his prized claim to competitors while the Tunnel Rats risk electrocution while operating their digger. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
7. Joe and Tash fossick on the surface with hand tools after the Tarantos fails to bring up any color. The Opal Whisperers try constructing a noodler from scrap material while the Misfits narrowly avoid an avalanche. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
8. Machinery woes cause the Cheals to end their opal dreams and consider splitting ways. The Blacklighters move to a new site while Jaymin and JC work alone in claustrophobic tunnels. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
9. The Bushmen’s new rookie rushes into a deadly no-go zone while the Cheals attempt to revive their season. The Mooka Boys try a new technique to expose opal in colorless rock. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
10. S5 E10 – Impenetrable No More A bomb expert comes in to blast impenetrable rock for the Bishop. The Cheals race to move a rock-extracting blower before heat damages their machine and the Misfits battle avalanches and dust storms. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
11. S5 E11 – Follow the Clues Handwritten clues left by Leif’s late father help the Mooka Boys hunt for an abandoned mine. The Blacklighters battle choking dust on their dry claim and the Tarantos make emergency repairs on their bulldozer. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
12. S5 E12 – Cathedral Secrets Greg explores the hidden tunnels on his massive claim searching for white opal. The Tarantos’ excavator springs a leak and the Blacklighters look for a new house. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
13. S5 E13 – A Mine that Stings The Bushmen drill with a 50-year-old exploration rig for the first time and the Mooka Boys hunt for treasure in a scorpion-riddled mine. The Cheals close in on a promising pocket. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
14. August 12, 2022 42min TV-PG The Young Guns face dangerous roads and impenetrable mine walls and faulty electronics spark a fire in the Opal Whisperers’ HQ. The Blacklighters risk losing their plan as their generator dies. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
15. August 19, 2022 42min TV-PG The Bushmen find a hidden shaft by falling into it and the Blacklighters brand-new investment is dead in the water. A busted jackhammer forces JC and the Young Guns to make emergency repairs halfway down the mine shaft. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
16. August 19, 2022 42min TV-PG The Bushmen are dismayed after taking over their new recruit’s mine and finding it is both treacherous and light on opal. The Bishop turns to explosive means to move a wall while the Misfits work underground for the first time. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
17. S5 E17 – Dangers of the Abandoned August 26, 2022 42min TV-PG Scott and the Bishop cause an avalanche while trying to secure a wall. The Mooka Boys’ bobcat suffers a critical failure and the Blacklighters dig into a rich-and-dangerous abandoned mine. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
18. August 26, 2022 40min TV-14 The Young Guns hopes of breaking their drought are shattered after they accidentally smash a valuable gemstone. The Bishop loses Scotty underground and the Tarantos’ hopes of exposing a rare opal pocket are at risk. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
19. S5 E19 – Digging with a Dinosaur September 2, 2022 42min TV-PG The Misfits prove their worth to Opal Joe with an ancient bulldozer on their last dig. The Opal Whisperers suffer from infighting and the Cheals race against the clock and seasonal storms to rescue their mission. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase
20. S5 E20 – No Risk, No Reward September 9, 2022 42min TV-PG A massive lightning storm causes the Young Guns to work on a series of flooded dirt roads. The Bushmen risk it all in a dangerous area vandalized by opal thieves and the Blacklighters take their chances with night mining. Subscribe to discovery+ or Max or purchase

Are Shane and Russell still together

Keri Russell and husband Shane Deary are no more. The couple have split after nearly seven years of marriage. The breakup news comes on the heels of a burglary at the “Felicity” alum’s New York apartment this week. Russell’s rep announced the separation to People, which first reported the split.

They have been separated since early summer,” the rep said, “The separation is amicable and their focus is on their children.” PHOTOS: Celebrity splits of 2013 Russell, 37, and Deary, a contractor, married on Valentine’s Day in 2007. They are parents to son River, 6, and daughter Willa, 23 months, People reported.

The burglary took place early Wednesday morning while Russell was sleeping; it was unclear where “The Americans'” star’s family was at the time. Two men, reportedly an uncle-and-nephew cat-burglar team, were later arrested after allegedly breaking into another person’s home that night.

• The men were subsequently charged with burglary and criminal possession of Russell’s stolen items, which included a Filson handbag, a laptop, necklace and earrings, Us Weekly reported,
• PHOTOS: 50 most beautiful female celebrities Some of the items were returned to Russell while she was on the set of her FX drama, according to the New York Post.

“Everything’s OK is all I want to say — and the police were so great,” the Golden Globe winner told the New York Daily News upon returning home with her daughter after the incident. “They were so fast. They were so great.” ALSO: Amanda Bynes is out of rehab, considering college Paris Hilton slams ‘stupid’ Twitter hoax mixing up Mandela, MLK Kelly Clarkson’s glamorous pregnancy: Vomiting a dozen times a day Follow Ministry of Gossip @LATcelebs,

What was the largest piece of gold found on the Aussie Gold Hunters

Not bad for an afternoon’s work. – 1.3k Shares The Lucky Strike nugget is roughly the size of a curled armadillo. Image courtesy of Lucky Strike Gold An Aussie bloke armed only with a budget metal detector has come across a gigantic gold-filled rock worth a cool AU$240,000 (US$160,000). It was recently discovered in the Australian state of Victoria in an area known as the “Golden Triangle” – between Ballarat, Bendigo, and St Arnaud – by an amateur gold hunter.

He took it to the prospecting shop Lucky Strike Gold who reportedly estimated the gold-loaded rock weighs just over 4.6 kilograms (10.1 pounds), with the precious metal making up 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds). “He said, ‘do you think there’s $10,000 worth?’ And as soon as it hit my hand I said, ‘try $100,000’,” Darren Kamp from Lucky Strike Gold told 9News,

“And he said, ‘oh wow, the wife’s going to be happy with that’.” It turned out this was just part of the discovery and the digger had left the other half of the rock at home. Unfortunately, he accidentally split it into two halves when unearthing it as it was caked in dirt and he could not tell it was brimming with gold, Another look at the Lucky Strike nug. Image courtesy of Lucky Strike Gold, The anonymous gold hunter sold it to the company, which named it the “Lucky Strike nugget.” A find like this would always be good news, but it’s an especially good time to make the discovery since gold prices are currently reaching an all-time high.

Victoria was the site of a huge gold rush in the 19th century and recent years have seen yet another boom of gold discovery in the area. The Geological Survey of Victoria estimates there could be up to 2.1 million kilograms (75 million ounces) of undiscovered gold across the central and north-central Victorian goldfields.

This prosperous patch of Australia also gave the world the biggest gold nugget ever unearthed. It was found in Victoria on February 5, 1869, by two Cornish miners called John Deason and Richard Oats. The nugget was dubbed the “Welcome Stranger”, weighed 72 kilograms (158.7 pounds), and was 61 centimeters (24 inches) long.

What happened to Neville Perry and Mick Clark?

I was wondering just yesterday what happened to Neville & Mick Clark after they just vanished off Aussie Gold Hunters. Got the feeling the Govt was never going to let them dig German Gully. Maybe we will all find out what has transpired. Hello fwdoz: and Members I had Neville Perry ring me last night, and he asked me if I could tell members of Aussie gold forums to watch A Current Affair tonight.

• He is hoping to get everyone’s opinions of the story tonight, he said he was told that Government Departments will be watching the reaction of the prospecting and mining industry on forums like this tomorrow etc.
• Nev has been driven into the ground on this matter, he has been fighting them tooth and nail all the way, as he knows he has a fortune in gold sitting there under his own land.

Contrary to what some have stated on the forum in the past, there was no Historic or Heritage Titles over any of the divided blocks. I have proof here that shows a small study had been carried out, but nothing was ever agreed on, or followed up any further.

It was left to sit, among many many other studies that were done elsewhere. Some ambitious Shire Councillor had a sign erected on the side of the road many years ago to say it was an Historic area with no detecting allowed. Maybe the previous owner Colin Flett, was tired of trespassers jumping the fence?? But all the action started well after Nev had purchased the whole of the properties for sale, Nev and his partner Mick applied for a 5 Ha, mining claim on the North end of the property, after many hurdles and hoops and a heap of money, this was finally granted.

They had all the necessary documents from each Department signed and sealed, (Including Heritage Victoria’s OK). The boys worked their legal Mining Licence as they could, but when they pegged another large claim that’s when it all started. This over-the-top treatment has taken a big toll on Nev and Mick, they both have Cancer problems now over the last 12 months, both stressed out to the hilt.

We all should remember that the gold income was theirs’s and their Families livings. Both have Children, how do you make ends meet without the gold coming in? How do you pay your bills and keep going for years? To add insult to injury, Heritage Victoria has taken legal action against them, for carrying out the work done on their granted Mining Licence Area.

How can they do that?? This stinks!! I hope you all watch the show tonight, and comment on your thoughts about it tomorrow on the Forum. Best Regards to all Members; ossiegold: John C.

What happened to Aussie Ron?

Aussie reality star is killed in freak accident as an investigation into his sudden death is launched –

Outback Opal Hunters star Ron Selig, 66, killed in tragic accident Fell 5.8 metres from a workshop when a sheet of iron roof gave way Top rating TV series, viewers and shattered family led tributes

Published: 23:32 BST, 22 January 2023 | Updated: 01:24 BST, 23 January 2023 A much-loved Australian reality television star and opal miner who died in a tragic workplace accident has been remembered as a one-of-a-kind character. Outback Opal Hunters star Ronald ‘Ron’ Selig, 66, suffered fatal injuries when he fell 5.8 metres from a workshop when a sheet of iron roofing gave way at an industrial site in remote Queensland on November 26.

1. Mr Selig called the Sunshine Coast home, but worked in the mines of the tiny town of Opalton in outback Queensland.
2. He was a popular character on the top rating Channel Seven series, which led the moving tributes earlier this month.
3. ‘Ron was a much loved member of the Outback Opal Hunters family.
4. A great character and amazing Opal Hunter, always chasing that colour’ the show posted.

‘We will always fondly remember Ron.’ Mr Selig’s grieving family were touched by the show’s moving tribute. Outback Opal Hunters star Ron Selig died after he fell 5.8m in a tragic workplace accident ‘The passing and the loss of our father has been the most challenging time for me and our whole family, Ron’s mother, children, grandchildren and friends included, as well as yourselves,’ his daughter Mel wrote.

‘Ron is exactly how he is in real life, as he was on Outback Opal Hunters!’ She remembered her dad as an amazing son, father, grandfather and friend to everyone who knew him. ‘Dad was a kind, caring and a fun loving man, who always would come out with the funniest jokes! Ron was an easy going guy too!’ she added.

‘Our family has amazing gratitude for the fact that my dad/Ron, was apart of ‘The Outback Opal Hunters’. ‘We will also continue to enjoy the episodes he was on, as I’m sure, you all will too. ‘Thanks again for your loving kindness and condolences to Ron Selig! He was definitely one of a kind.’ Ron Selig (left on Outback Opal Hunters) has remembered by his family as the most amazing son, father, grandfather and friend to everyone Investigations into the workplace tragedy which claimed the life of Ron Selig continue.

Pictured is the site of the accident Viewers also paid tribute as they recalled their fondest memories of Mr Selig. ‘Oh no RIP what a legend love watching him on the show. Such a caring man,’ one fan wrote. Another added: ‘R.I.P. Ron, always a smile on his face when they found good colour.’ A fellow opal miner wrote: ‘ Us opal miners will keep on digging dirt mate, and doing our best to unearth the best opals the worlds even seen.

Fair well (sic) mate. Queensland’s Mineral Mines & Quarries Inspectorate announced last week investigations into the workplace tragedy continue. Police are also preparing a report for the coroner. Outback Opal Hunters has paid tribute to Ron Selig, one of the series’ much loved characters ‘It is understood the worker accessed the roof of the workshop to make repairs following damage caused by a severe weather event when a structural member failed,’ a Mineral Mines & Quarries Inspectorate statement read.

‘Investigations are ongoing and further information may be published as it becomes available.’ The department also issued a safety alert reminding site senior executives to have adequate training and knowledge of working at heights, and appropriate facilities to minimise the risk of persons falling from heights should be provided, including scaffolds, elevated work platforms, fall restraints on equipment, and PPE that prevented falls.

Launched in 2018 by the Discovery Channel, Outback Opal Hunters follows opal miners in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Now in its eighth series, the show has aired in more 100 countries including New Zealand, the UK and US. Viewers have fond memories of opal miner Ron Selig whenever he found ‘colour’ on the job

What happened to Col Duff from Outback Opal Hunters

Gems in the rough capturing imaginations – Opal miner Col Duff has called Opalton home on and off since 1991, and is currently fixing up his campsite in preparation for retirement. Mr Duff has been watching the region he loves slowly develop over the past 30 years, but few can say they’ve contributed more to the spike in Opalton’s global reputation than him. James Evert and Col Duff are busy making things easier for newcomers, marking out the boundary of Opalton’s designated fossicking area. ( ABC Western Qld: Dan Prosser )

• His opal fever and larrikin persona caught the eye of the producers of Outback Opal Hunters, resulting in his mining operation in Opalton debuting on the first season of the show, and securing the remote outback town’s presence for the following six seasons.
• “This has been the best opportunity to promote the outback, Winton Shire, Opalton, and the Bush Park for the past couple of years,” he said.
• “We’ve had heaps of people coming through, and that means it grows, we get more water tanks, more dongas, more shower and toilet blocks.

“This is a little community way out in the middle of nowhere, so to get people to come and visit is great, it gives miners a chance to sell stones, a bit of socialisation, and people get to enjoy the outback as it really is.”

1. But is the dedicated opal hunter worried about all the extra fossickers and miners digging into his profits?
2. “We’ve probably only dug about 5 per cent of the known opal reserve here in Opalton, so we’re not going to run out of ground to chase opals in,” he said.
3. “This’ll last 1,000 years.”

: Outback Opal Hunters TV show inspires tourists to begin fossicking in Opalton – ABC News

What is Alex from Gold Hunters doing now

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• A 38-year-old man from has revealed how his childhood hobby of collecting rocks has led him to become a TV star and the owner of 12 gold mines.
• Father-of-two, Alex Stead, has spent the past decade travelling between the UK and Western Australia on the quest for treasure.
• As a boy Alex was inspired by and Cornwall’s rich mining history – and that soon became his life as he travelled to the other side of the world on a gold hunting trip and returned home with his pockets full of precious nuggets.
• Two years ago Alex sold his vape shops to build a bigger portfolio of historic gold mines – under the company name United Mines – inspired by the disused 19th century copper and tin mines he grew up exploring near,
• After seven years living in Australia, Alex was picked up by the producers of a Discovery Channel show and invited to interview for a TV programme following resilient gold prospectors in the outback.

Alex Stead (Image: Amanda Miller/Discovery Channel) Now with a team of five men and film crew behind him, the Cornishman, who previously worked as a software developer, says he aims to collect 10oz of gold a week, which he would sell for £10,000. Despite visiting his home county around every three months, Alex is hoping to sell his second home in Flushing to buy more gold mines and add to his $300,000 empire. Cornish-born Alex Stead who mines gold in Australia. Pictured here in the United Mines area of Cornwall. (Image: Sally Adams) “It was horrible polluted water and I found a line of gold. There were fine little specs of gold in the pan. “Now I know more, I know it was gold but at the time I was disheartened so I set it free back into the river – my hopes and dreams were shattered. Rod Bell, Alex Stead and Eric-Richards from Aussie Gold Hunters (Image: Discovery Channel) “Being a small boy my mum had a rest home and people in the home were often reading books and I heard about Poldark. It was a local story so that sparked my interest. Cornish-born Alex Stead (Image: Sally Adams) Alex said that now he spends most of the year in Australia, which is where he met his wife Julie. He added: “I am trying to get historic gold mines that were active in the 1800s – a lot of them were dripped around World War One. Alex Stead in Western Australia (Image: Amanda Miller/Discovery Channel)

1. “We work the gold mines like they would have done in earlier times in Cornwall.
2. “It started in Australia when I was out there with a metal detector trying to find specs of gold – I have a nice collection of nuggets now.
3. “There is quite a lot of research involved – I look for the GPS points and look for the gold mines to find out when they were open some take a 100km trek to get to.

Alex relocated to Australia seven years ago (Image: Sally Adams) “I am now getting blocks of land and finding gold and mines, digging out mines.” Alex continued: “We are going down old shafts and crushing the rocks by hand which is what they would have done in the old times in Cornwall. Alex Stead and his metal detector (Image: Amanda Miller/Discovery Channel) “I always say it is bloody work because we are always cutting ourselves – there’s always someone who is bleeding. “At the start of the series I had $150,000 worth, but now I have $300,000 because I reinvested more money purchasing ground. The father-of-two travels back to Cornwall every three months (Image: Sally Adams) “If we have a part that breaks we have to travel 1,000km to replace it so there are things that stop you – people ask why we don’t have duplicates of everything because we have to shut down for a week while we replace the part. Aussie Gold Hunters (Image: Amanda Miller/Discovery Channel) “I have a tiny daughter now who is 11 weeks old – she arrived early as well which messed up our timings so we are closed down for a bit now. “We are trying to expand United Mines now so we will try to get as many as these small gold mines and have 200 controlled by myself. Alex Stead (Image: Sally Adams)

• “I try to convince more people to come over and give it a go.”
• Alex said that he didn’t have to become a citizen or resident to work the mines because of a miners’ rights agreement in England and Australia being a part of the Commonwealth.
• He said: “I’ve been through customs before and was stopped because I had gold with me, but the superior customs officer came out and said ‘he can take it back with him’.

The Scrappers: Rod Bell, Alex Stead and Eric Richards (Image: Amanda Miller/Discovery Channel) “My mum always knew I would do something with rocks. “Mines in Australia are usually owned by big companies or corporations and are multi-billion pound businesses – you don’t often get people that are just individuals.

1. There are a lot of untapped resources in Cornwall – there are too many regulations in this county.
2. He mines gold in Australia (Image: Sally Adams) “I mention Cornwall a lot in the show – I am proud to be Cornish and a miner and doing it the old way.
3. I was talking on an online forum when the producers got in touch.

I’ve also spoken to one of the men from Gold Rush in Alaska. “Gold mining isn’t a massive community – I was posting pictures of a specimen which contained 50oz of gold where someone asked me questions and asked me for picture of me. Aussie Gold Hunters (Image: Amanda Miller/Discovery Channel)

1. “I set up an interview and got on board – it is great fun.
2. “It was funny having cameras around because I am a quiet individual and I like being in the wild – it was different but after a while you learn to ignore them.
3. “The show has been out for a while in Australia – when I am on TV I am just me, doing my thing and trying to chase gold.”

: How this Cornish man became an Aussie TV star and owner of 12 gold mines

Are Parker and Tyler dating?

In Season 4 of “Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail,” Tyler Mahoney, the young gold miner, model, and star of Discovery’s “Aussie Gold Hunters,” showed Parker Schnabel where to look for the valuable metal on everyone’s mind in her native Australia. Considering the pair are of similar ages and compatible interests, plenty of fans began wondering whether the two are an item.

Are Aussie Gold Hunters Jacqui and Andrew a couple?

Andrew and Jackie light their Weddoween unity candles – By John Leo Scott, Fuze Celebrant Jackie and Andrew are a couple who don’t take life too seriously and are always up for a laugh. Their wedding day was a planned Halloween affair at the stunning Bowfield Hotel & Country Club in Johnston.

• The Bowfield, part of the Manorview Hotel Group, were absolutely delighted to host their creative festival of colour.
• At the ceremony planning meeting I introduced the unity candle symbolic gesture, which completely resonated with Jackie and Andrew’s personalities.
• They also wanted to add their favourite movie, HOCUS POCUS, into the mix hence their special day naturally turned into a Weddoween of fun, laughter and love in abundance.

The ceremony and its splashes of laughter really highlighted what they were all about. They perfectly dressed the ceremony room to match their Halloween theme which was topped off with little pumpkin candles spaced out in the atmospheric window alcoves. Jackie and Andrew’s Halloween wedding also features on ‘friend’s of Fuze’, the Your Scottish Wedding website. Click HERE to see the full story.

Where is Tyler from Aussie Gold Hunters now?

At an age when other kids were playing with toy animals and playdough, Tyler Mahoney was cradling a metal detector. As a kid, she spent days and days in the scorching sun of the Western Australian desert searching for gold. School holidays were spent in the outback, in places like Leonora and Laverton in the goldfields of Western Australia. A young Mahoney, third from left, with her dad, brother and cousins on one of many outback prospecting trips she went on as a child. ( Instagram: Tyler_m_mahoney ) She’d ride quad bikes, play in mineshafts, chase animals and generally get gloriously grubby in the red dirt.

• So, it’s little surprise that Mahoney, who today lives in Kalgoorlie, WA, grew up to become a full-time goldminer, the fourth generation in her family to do so.
• I’ve always had that gold fever since I was a little girl,” she says.
• The hunt is addictive.
• When you find a gold nugget, it’s that little dopamine hit.

Like when you win a scratchy or you win on the lotto. You get that rush. “I just escape it.” Not that Mahoney wants to. Despite a dark side to the world of mining that she’s had to navigate — and that she is still pushing back against — she loves what she does.

What is the biggest find on the Outback Opal Hunters?

Manage to hunt the biggest find EVER on Outback Opal. Hunters, collecting the unique yowl nut opal, which will. make them $1.2 million!

How much do opal hunters make

J John Dunstan recalls 15 consecutive days in 1978 when temperatures in his hometown of Coober Pedy, Australia, didn’t drop below 52 Celsius (126F). He spotted birds dropping from the sky and trees keeling over because they couldn’t survive the heat. “As soon as you walked outside, you felt as if you were stepping into a fan-forced oven,” Dunstan, 62, said.

But, he vowed years ago never to leave the town of 2,500, where the next sign of civilisation, Port Augusta, is 540km away. It wasn’t just family loyalty that motivated him to stay. It was opal fever. By rough estimate, Coober Pedy’s mines produce around AUD $15m ($13.9m) in opals each year, said Mining Department Program Leader Peter Lane.

The figure might be much higher since many miners do not report their findings and often sell them for cash, Lane said. The majority of the world’s white opals come from Coober Pedy, reports the Government of South Australia. A miner’s life doesn’t sound glamorous or easy, to be sure, but the attraction of the hunt, and the desire to discover that next big find, has drawn people to Coober Pedy and other mining and prospecting towns around the globe.

1. Popular reality shows like Prospectors on US television network the Weather Channel and Dirty Jobs on Discovery Chanel Asia have made the appeal of hunting for gems and precious metals appealing to more people.
2. Many prospectors come to mining towns expecting to stay a few months, maybe a year.
3. A look at the town of Coober Pedy sheds a little bit of light on why, exactly, many who come for a brief stay end up settling into a life and “career” most people never think about.

A passion for precious stones An opal mining town since 1915, Coober Pedy has had a long history of immigrants arriving on the barren grounds eager to strike it rich. The opening of the Transcontinental Railway combined with the end of World War I turned the trickle of new miners into a boom.

By the 1960s, the mining population consisted of people from 45 countries. Today, the population remains diverse, with people emigrating from countries like Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Serbia. Yanni Athanasiadis was one of them, leaving behind his coastal hometown of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1972 when he was just 22.

He planned to get a permit to peg his own mine then stay for one year – enough time, he imagined, to make findings worth thousands or even millions of dollars. (Opal miners aren’t paid a salary because they make money off what they find on their own). This video is no longer available “I was hooked by opal fever. Everyday, we’d hear that someone had found ‘lots of money,’ so I strongly believed that the next day was going to be my day,” Athanasiadis said. It’s a common story for the hundred or so estimated people who arrive each year expecting to strike it rich, Lane said.

• The thrill of the hunt, the potential big payouts, the independence of working for yourself on your own schedule are big attractions.
• The prospect of a big find draws people in and many stay, as they often do in other mining towns.
• Opal mines, in particular, in the United States and Mexico tend to be smaller in scale than those in Australia.

In north-central Mexico, the state of Querétaro is known as the country’s opal cradle, with fire-coloured gems embedded in its dry mountainous terrain. Many opals also come out of the arid and desolate Virgin Valley in Humboldt County, Nevada. Lane said mining for other minerals like gold can be easier because seismic and aerial magnetic surveys make locating deposits easier.

1. Made of silica, opals do not appear in these types of surveys.
2. The only way to locate opal is to drill holes in the ground until you find it,” Lane said.
3. Once opals are located, there’s no set price like there is with gold.
4. I know people that one day were broke and next day had half a million dollars of opals in their back pockets.

So then you think, ‘nothing is stopping me from finding a million bucks,'” Athanasiadis said. One of the biggest opal findings from the area was the Jupiter Five in 1989 by Steve Zagar, which weighed 26,350 carats. In 2003, Dunstan, also made a big find: the Virgin Black Rainbow Opal, a 72.65 carat, 120-million-year-old Belemnite fossil, which he recently sold to the South Australian Museum for an undisclosed amount. Coober Pedy’s mines produce around $13.9m in opals each year (Desrey Jones) Desrey Jones, Coober Pedy Tourism Officer, said each miner is required to hold a Precious Stone Prospecting Permit from the local Miners Department to gain access to small, medium or big claims.

There are a few big companies in town, like Dunstan’s, but that the majority are small claims run by partnerships, Jones said. Currently, there are 260 permits operating in the area, according to Lane. Athanasiadis continues to mine but he also owns and operates the Umoona Opal Mine Museum in town. He said running a stable, secondary business is important because, as he found out, the likelihood of sudden wealth isn’t very high.

The average opal miner rakes in around the equivalent of a $40,000AUD ($37,257) annual salary over the long term, he estimates, but someone might make $180,000AUD ($167,628) in a single day with a big find, but then go years without another opal discovery.

Life underground The daughter of opal miners, Jones grew up underground with five siblings in a five-room house. When temperatures spike or a dust storm rolls through, families like that of Jones retreat to their cool underground homes, which like half of houses in the area are built by burrowing into sandstone embankments and carving out an intricate network of rooms.

These residences have all the amenities of any other house. While living over five hours drive to the next nearest town might not sound appealing, the people of Coober Pedy have most comforts, including two supermarkets with fresh produce shipped in twice a week. Most homes are built underground-with full amenities-because of Coober Pedy’s extreme heat. (Desrey Jones) “There’s not many places you can go, like in a city where there’s ice skating or the movies. You also miss out on seeing the ocean,” Dunstan said.

When Jones was a little girl, entertained herself by “noodling”, that is, pumping excess dirt up from underground and sorting through it for opals. There are trade-offs to this simple life and the prospects of making a big opal find. Flying to Adelaide, the closest major city, from Coober Pedy’s airport will likely run you AUD $400 ($370.42) one way: the same price as a round-trip ticket from Perth to exotic Bali, Lane said.

Otherwise, it’s a 12-hour bus ride or 10-hour drive. The newspaper arrives one day late, shipped in via overnight bus. The local drive-in movie theatre screens films only once every fortnight, and big blockbuster movies don’t arrive for months after their debut.

Athanasiadis’ son, Niko, who has also become a miner, thinks his dad is a bit crazy, but not because of their lifestyle. His father continues to hold on to some of the best opals he has found over the years — displaying some of them at his museum and keeping others in his safe — instead of cashing them in.

“I see a lot of opals and good ones are difficult to replace,” the elder Athanasiadis said. ” One day, I will pass them on to my son.” To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter,

Who are the misfits on Outback Opal Hunters

‘ANDAMOOKA MISFITS’ crew on ‘Outback Opal Hunters Watch the ‘ANDAMOOKA MISFITS’ crew on ‘Outback Opal Hunters’ on the Discovery Channel. The ‘ANDAMOOKA MISFITS’ are Angel Dempsey, Juan Vasco and ‘Opal’ Joe Kalmar. As of May 2020 the series has been broadcast in over 100 countries including in the United Kingdom on Quest and in the United States on Discovery Channel.

• Outback Opal Hunters Season 7 introduction to Andamooka:
• “Deep in the South Australian Outback on the edge of a vast salt lake lies the world-renowned opal town of Andamooka.
• Population 316, barren and remote, summer temperatures can hit 50 °C.
• “This here will separate the weakness out of your soul, there are no free rides in the opal fields, it will either kill you or make you tough” says ‘Opal’ Joe Kalmar.
• For almost a century the lure of opal has drawn miners here from around the globe searching for legendary Andamooka opal.
• “Andamooka’s got the best opal in the world, much more stable, its got a lower water content, moisture content ” says Opal’ Joe Kalmar.

The lower the moisture content creates a stronger stone capable of being cut into large shapes. A massive 203 carat gem named the Andamooka Opal presented to Queen Elizabeth in 1954 was found by opal hunters in these fields.’ 8:30PM (AEDT) on Discovery Channel

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: ‘ANDAMOOKA MISFITS’ crew on ‘Outback Opal Hunters

What killed Wade in Outback?

Down Under for an adventure-filled vacation, a young American couple quickly find themselves stranded in the unforgiving Australian outback. Outback tells the terrifying tale of a young couple lost in the wilderness and fighting for survival. Wade and Lisa head to Australia hoping to recharge their failing romance. When their GPS fails, they leave their car and head off on foot to find a new route. As night falls, they must spend the night in the bush without food, water, or weapons, surrounded by snakes, scorpions, and wild dogs. Now, one decision could mean the difference between life.and certain death.

Lisa Sachs and Wade Kelly’s Australian vacation in June 2015 gets off to a troubled start after Lisa rejects Wade’s marriage proposal during the plane ride. Wade also injures his leg when he is stung by a jellyfish while swimming. A GPS malfunction strands the couple deep in the outback. Wade and Lisa walk to a distant ridge to get a lay of the land, but lose sight of their car and become lost. The couple camps as night falls. Day 1 – Wade’s leg infection worsens and he loses mental focus as he and Lisa wander aimlessly. A scorpion stings Lisa while she sleeps that evening. Day 2 – Waking to find Lisa unconscious, Wade begins carrying her through the desert. Wade leaves Lisa to look for water and to build an SOS marker out of rocks in a dry creek bed. Lisa regains consciousness, but a howling animal compels her to flee from the spot where Wade left her, separating the couple. Day 3 – Wade finds his way back to the car, which no longer has electrical power. Thinking he is siphoning water from the pump, Wade drinks windshield wiper fluid. Wade resumes his search for Lisa, who records a confessional video on her phone. Day 4 – Lisa discovers the trail Wade left behind and follows it to his location. Lisa finds Wade collapsed and vomiting blood. Before dying, Wade gives Lisa a bottle of urine for hydration and directs her toward the car. Day 5 – Lisa makes it back to the car where she narrowly escapes an encounter with a snake. Lisa recovers Wade’s engagement ring from the glove box and puts it on before collapsing. Day 6 – Having seen Wade’s SOS in the creek bed, a cattle musterer rescues Lisa. Epilogue text reveals Wade died of kidney failure from drinking wiper fluid. Lisa enrolled in nursing school and moved to Minnesota. (copied from culturecrypt)

Who finds the million dollar opal on Outback Opal Hunters?

They found $1.2 million of opals on their first hunt. – Isaac and Sofia’s “Opal Whisperers” team decided to look for opals near Yowah, a town of 141 residents located about 11 hours west of Brisbane, Australia, by car. According to the Opal Whisperers website, Yowah has a local type of opal called the Yowah Nut, which is considered to be the rarest formation of opal in the world.

Article continues below advertisement Article continues below advertisement And on that debut hunt, Isaac and Sofia found $1.2 million of opals, including an egg-shaped stone the size of a human fist. “It’s literally every single color of a rainbow you can imagine to hold within your hand,” Sofia told the Daily Mail,

According to the newspaper, the average Outback Opal Hunters find is $18,000, though the Discovery Channel docuseries — which has aired since 2018 — has featured opal discoveries of up to $250,000. But the team’s discovery is close to five times that amount.

Article continues below advertisement “Valuation, I mean, it’s something that I’ve done since I was 11 years old. It’s always an exciting thing, usually,” Sofia said on the show, after the massive opal find. “But today, I would say that it was the first time in my opal career that I’ve ever intimidated by an opal collection.

There was just so much there, and there was a lot of adrenaline and anxiety of where to start.” Isaac told the Daily Mail that the million-dollar opal find could help the siblings buy their own mine and “will make life a hell of a lot easier and more enjoyable.”

What happened to the opal miner in the ocean at the end of the lane

Plot summary – The book starts with the unnamed protagonist returning to his childhood hometown for a funeral. There he revisits the area in which he and his sister grew up and remembers a young girl named Lettie Hempstock, who had claimed that the pond behind her house was an ocean.

He stops at the house where Lettie had lived with her mother and grandmother and encounters a member of her family and starts to remember forgotten incidents from the past. The main narrative starts as he recalls a time when an opal miner, who was living at the boy’s home, steals the narrator’s father’s car and commits suicide in the back seat, having gambled away his friends’ money; this death allows a supernatural being to gain access to the narrator’s world, leaving money for people in unpleasant ways.

After a coin becomes lodged in the narrator’s throat overnight, choking him, he seeks his neighbour Lettie’s help. She agrees to help, insisting that he accompany her on the travel necessary to find the spirit and bind it. Having been instructed never to let go of her hand, in a moment of surprise he does, and in that instant something lodges in his foot.

1. Once home, he pulls what appears to be a worm out of his foot, but a piece is left inside him.
2. The next day, his father tells him he is starting a new job and a woman named Ursula Monkton is to look after him and his sister.
3. The narrator takes an instant dislike to her and soon realises that she is actually the worm he had pulled out of his foot.

She had used him as a way to travel out of the place he and Lettie had visited and is now inhabiting his house. Ursula quickly ingratiates herself with his family, winning over his sister and seducing his father, while the narrator is alienated from his family and is almost drowned in the bath by his father as Ursula watches.

Most of the narrator’s time is then spent locked up in his bedroom, avoiding Ursula. Frightened, he manages to escape one night. He barely makes it to the Hempstock farm, where the Hempstocks take care of him and remove the wormhole from his foot, which had been left behind by Ursula as an escape path.

Lettie and the narrator confront Ursula, who refuses offers from the Hempstocks to leave peacefully for a world that is less dangerous for her. Unwilling to believe that there could be anything in the world that could harm her, Ursula is attacked and eliminated by “hunger birds”, entities that serve a purpose similar to scavengers.

• These insist on eating the narrator’s heart, as a piece of Ursula’s wormhole still remains there.
• The Hempstocks bring him back to the safety of their property through the ocean by their house, which Lettie carries to him in a bucket.
• While in the ocean, the narrator understands the nature of all things, but the memory fades once he gets out.

The Hempstocks promise to keep him safe, but the hunger birds begin to eat his world to force him off the property. This proves effective and the narrator attempts to sacrifice himself, only for Lettie to jump in between him and the hunger birds. Lettie’s grandmother threatens the hunger birds, which she refers to as “varmints” who have committed a major transgression by attacking Lettie in their attempt to get to the narrator, with annihilation if they do not leave.

• They comply, but Lettie is near death as a result of their attack.
• The Hempstocks place Lettie’s body in the ocean behind their house, where they say that she will rest until ready to return to the narrator’s world.
• After these events, the narrator’s memory of the incident fades.
• He has no recollection of Lettie’s near-death, instead believing that she had gone to Australia.

The book then returns to the present, where the narrator finishes his remembering and is shocked when the Hempstocks inform him that this is not his first time returning to the house – he had visited the house at least twice during his adult years and it is implied that he visited the farm at least once more before that to return a kitten that he had found during his initial travels with Lettie.

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How much do opal hunters make

J John Dunstan recalls 15 consecutive days in 1978 when temperatures in his hometown of Coober Pedy, Australia, didn’t drop below 52 Celsius (126F). He spotted birds dropping from the sky and trees keeling over because they couldn’t survive the heat. “As soon as you walked outside, you felt as if you were stepping into a fan-forced oven,” Dunstan, 62, said.

But, he vowed years ago never to leave the town of 2,500, where the next sign of civilisation, Port Augusta, is 540km away. It wasn’t just family loyalty that motivated him to stay. It was opal fever. By rough estimate, Coober Pedy’s mines produce around AUD $15m ($13.9m) in opals each year, said Mining Department Program Leader Peter Lane.

The figure might be much higher since many miners do not report their findings and often sell them for cash, Lane said. The majority of the world’s white opals come from Coober Pedy, reports the Government of South Australia. A miner’s life doesn’t sound glamorous or easy, to be sure, but the attraction of the hunt, and the desire to discover that next big find, has drawn people to Coober Pedy and other mining and prospecting towns around the globe.

Popular reality shows like Prospectors on US television network the Weather Channel and Dirty Jobs on Discovery Chanel Asia have made the appeal of hunting for gems and precious metals appealing to more people. Many prospectors come to mining towns expecting to stay a few months, maybe a year. A look at the town of Coober Pedy sheds a little bit of light on why, exactly, many who come for a brief stay end up settling into a life and “career” most people never think about.

A passion for precious stones An opal mining town since 1915, Coober Pedy has had a long history of immigrants arriving on the barren grounds eager to strike it rich. The opening of the Transcontinental Railway combined with the end of World War I turned the trickle of new miners into a boom.

1. By the 1960s, the mining population consisted of people from 45 countries.
2. Today, the population remains diverse, with people emigrating from countries like Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Serbia.
3. Yanni Athanasiadis was one of them, leaving behind his coastal hometown of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1972 when he was just 22.

He planned to get a permit to peg his own mine then stay for one year – enough time, he imagined, to make findings worth thousands or even millions of dollars. (Opal miners aren’t paid a salary because they make money off what they find on their own). This video is no longer available “I was hooked by opal fever. Everyday, we’d hear that someone had found ‘lots of money,’ so I strongly believed that the next day was going to be my day,” Athanasiadis said. It’s a common story for the hundred or so estimated people who arrive each year expecting to strike it rich, Lane said.

The thrill of the hunt, the potential big payouts, the independence of working for yourself on your own schedule are big attractions. The prospect of a big find draws people in and many stay, as they often do in other mining towns. Opal mines, in particular, in the United States and Mexico tend to be smaller in scale than those in Australia.

In north-central Mexico, the state of Querétaro is known as the country’s opal cradle, with fire-coloured gems embedded in its dry mountainous terrain. Many opals also come out of the arid and desolate Virgin Valley in Humboldt County, Nevada. Lane said mining for other minerals like gold can be easier because seismic and aerial magnetic surveys make locating deposits easier.

1. Made of silica, opals do not appear in these types of surveys.
2. The only way to locate opal is to drill holes in the ground until you find it,” Lane said.
3. Once opals are located, there’s no set price like there is with gold.
4. I know people that one day were broke and next day had half a million dollars of opals in their back pockets.

So then you think, ‘nothing is stopping me from finding a million bucks,'” Athanasiadis said. One of the biggest opal findings from the area was the Jupiter Five in 1989 by Steve Zagar, which weighed 26,350 carats. In 2003, Dunstan, also made a big find: the Virgin Black Rainbow Opal, a 72.65 carat, 120-million-year-old Belemnite fossil, which he recently sold to the South Australian Museum for an undisclosed amount. Coober Pedy’s mines produce around $13.9m in opals each year (Desrey Jones) Desrey Jones, Coober Pedy Tourism Officer, said each miner is required to hold a Precious Stone Prospecting Permit from the local Miners Department to gain access to small, medium or big claims.

• There are a few big companies in town, like Dunstan’s, but that the majority are small claims run by partnerships, Jones said.
• Currently, there are 260 permits operating in the area, according to Lane.
• Athanasiadis continues to mine but he also owns and operates the Umoona Opal Mine Museum in town.
• He said running a stable, secondary business is important because, as he found out, the likelihood of sudden wealth isn’t very high.

The average opal miner rakes in around the equivalent of a $40,000AUD ($37,257) annual salary over the long term, he estimates, but someone might make $180,000AUD ($167,628) in a single day with a big find, but then go years without another opal discovery.

1. Life underground The daughter of opal miners, Jones grew up underground with five siblings in a five-room house.
2. When temperatures spike or a dust storm rolls through, families like that of Jones retreat to their cool underground homes, which like half of houses in the area are built by burrowing into sandstone embankments and carving out an intricate network of rooms.

These residences have all the amenities of any other house. While living over five hours drive to the next nearest town might not sound appealing, the people of Coober Pedy have most comforts, including two supermarkets with fresh produce shipped in twice a week. Most homes are built underground-with full amenities-because of Coober Pedy’s extreme heat. (Desrey Jones) “There’s not many places you can go, like in a city where there’s ice skating or the movies. You also miss out on seeing the ocean,” Dunstan said.

• When Jones was a little girl, entertained herself by “noodling”, that is, pumping excess dirt up from underground and sorting through it for opals.
• There are trade-offs to this simple life and the prospects of making a big opal find.
• Flying to Adelaide, the closest major city, from Coober Pedy’s airport will likely run you AUD $400 ($370.42) one way: the same price as a round-trip ticket from Perth to exotic Bali, Lane said.

Otherwise, it’s a 12-hour bus ride or 10-hour drive. The newspaper arrives one day late, shipped in via overnight bus. The local drive-in movie theatre screens films only once every fortnight, and big blockbuster movies don’t arrive for months after their debut.

1. Athanasiadis’ son, Niko, who has also become a miner, thinks his dad is a bit crazy, but not because of their lifestyle.
2. His father continues to hold on to some of the best opals he has found over the years — displaying some of them at his museum and keeping others in his safe — instead of cashing them in.

“I see a lot of opals and good ones are difficult to replace,” the elder Athanasiadis said. ” One day, I will pass them on to my son.” To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter,

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