Is this the last generation of opal miners?

Updated

An underground rebellion is brewing in the outback, as opal miners fight against growing rules and regulations.

Most days, 74-year-old Geoffrey Weller climbs down a ladder, descending through fifteen metres of red rock down a narrow mine shaft.

In the tunnels, below the harsh sun, he is searching the fault lines of the stone for boulder opal — a gemstone formed over millions of years from silica and water, and found only in this desolate stretch of western Queensland.

Above ground it is the heart of the remote outback. The rugged country is peppered by spinifex grass, gumtrees, and waterholes.

It is hundreds of kilometres down dirt roads to the nearest shop or pub.

But Mr Weller would not have it any other way.

"There's just nothing like looking at a really beautiful opal that has been forged underground and sitting there for so many years," Mr Weller said.

"Finally, sixty to seventy million years later we're plucking it out of the ground. It's a fever, something we just like doing."

At the turn of the twentieth century, Opalton was a town of more than 600 people who mined the opal fields extensively.

Now, burnt stumps and a small plaque are the only evidence of what was once a police station, and a camping ground mostly used by grey nomads in winter is the closest thing to a town centre.

'Keep out' signs painted on corrugated iron mark the openings to underground mines which dot the landscape like ant hills.

Ramshackle sheds and caravans hidden among the gidgee trees are among the few signs of human habitation.

The underground mines exist inside the designated fossicking zone, and excavators cut into the ground for small open cut mines in the bushland outside of this zone.

But Mr Weller said the way of life for opal miners is diminishing even more with increasing costs, rules, and regulations making these small businesses and hobbies unviable.

Last generation of opal miners

Miner Sheldon Dealy lives in Opalton at his camp with his wife Sandy, but he won't encourage any of his children to follow in his footsteps.

"I would love to have my kids come out and opal mine with me," Mr Dealy said.

"But I can't recommend it because of the way fees and regulations are going.

"I think we're the last generation of opal miners. I don't think there'll be much in the future."

High fees, regular changes to rules and regulations, and long wait times for mining tenure applications to be approved or renewed are among the stressors for Opalton's miners.

Recently, miners renewing their leases and claims were given new, self-assessable calculators for fees of financial surety calling for new payments of up to thousands of dollars.

"It's on our minds all the time. Every time you're turning around you're waiting for these people [mines inspectors] to turn up and assess your camp," Mr Weller said.

Miners said the one-size-fits-all approach to fees failed to consider the different circumstances of small-scale opal mining to some of Queensland's bigger mining operations, and lacked flexibility.

"[The fees] are so extreme that it's actually difficult to rehabilitate the land without the money they've actually been pulling away from you," Mr Dealy said.

"We're among the most clean miners in the world. We don't produce any toxic chemicals [and] we don't leave a lot of mess."

A Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME) spokesperson said in a statement that it is currently reviewing forms used by mining claim holders to help cut through red tape.

"The review will be completed by the end of 2019 and will help identify any redundant requirements and forms that could be made simpler to complete and easier to understand," the spokesperson said.

"Mining claim applicants and holders seeking assistance can contact the Small Scale Mining Hub."

Echoes of Eureka Stockade

But miners have little faith things will change swiftly.

"There's [always] a lot of promises from the opposition, if we're talking to them, that they'll do something for us if they get elected. But it doesn't happen," Mr Weller said.

With complaints of exorbitant fees and a lack of representation and understanding from politicians, these 21st century opal miners draw similarities with a group of gold miners who toiled in Ballarat, Victoria, 165 years ago.

"We're at the point now where we're so unhappy with the whole deal that we flatly refuse to pay this amount and we'll just wait and see what happens," Mr Weller said.

Where the Eureka Stockade went down in history as a crucial turning point in Australia's democracy and a defining part of Australia's identity, Opalton's miners do not want their stand to end in a rebellion.

But they still see it as inspiration for having their voices heard.

"I don't think it'd come to that [like the Eureka rebellion], but the way things are happening lately with people power — especially in Hong Kong and the Adani system there, and all those people coming out and saying a lot — people power in some countries has done a great job," Mr Weller said.

Nearby, Paul Hunton is working with his wife Lexi at their new mine site.

Only new to opal mining, Mr Hunton said with some forewarning they would have chosen to mine in another state, rather than Queensland.

They spend half their year at Opalton — Paul using a hand-held jackhammer in ironstone fault lines and taking any shiny gems to the surface for Lexi to identify, cut, and polish.

"Someone's got to stand up to the government at some stage," Mr Hunton said.

"We're hoping there will be some negotiation [with State Government] and that things can be sorted."

'We're very stubborn'

Australia supplies most of the world's market of opals, followed by an emerging industry in Ethiopia.

Opals are also Australia's national gemstone and form an important part of the gemstone mining industry in central Queensland.

Mr Dealy said should more people inevitably leave, the loss of the opal industry would be a loss to Australia's heritage.

"I think our culture would be a significant loss to Queensland. We're a very individualistic group of people," Mr Dealy said.

"We're self reliant. We're very stubborn. We don't like people telling us what to do and I'm sure that's part of us being out here."

Topics: environment, mining-environmental-issues, government-and-politics, rural, mining-rural, science-and-technology, community-and-society, history, environmental-impact, environmental-management, environmental-policy, small-business, opalton-4735, lightning-ridge-2834, mintabie-5724, yaraka-4702, qld

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