Looking inside the bag of precious opals, Mike Poben knew he'd found something special, he just wasn't quite sure what. As an opal dealer, he'd seen plenty of gems over the years — Mike found his ...

Rain in the outback South Australian town of Andamooka usually comes with the promise of rare opals washing up — prompting locals to walk the streets with buckets, in search of newly unveiled rock and ...

SPENCER, Idaho — From Interstate 15, the tiny town passes in a moment, just a blip of brown buildings in the desert. But inside the local stores is a treasure trove. The fire of opals erupts from ...

Cloaked in white dust and surrounded by expansive plains, the town of Lightning Ridge produces the bulk of the world’s precious black opal. This rare gemstone, prized for its dazzling play of color, ...

Marianna Tolo is well aware of the irony in being an opal-hunting Opals star. But there are aspects of the hobby that are key characteristics reflected in her basketball.

A new season opal hunting begins! The Rookies face potential disaster from the get go; for Col's Crew, their mining quest is derailed by a serious illness, and the Opal Queen brings in new muscle and ...

As the 40ft (12m) drill rattles down through the red dirt, miner Craig Stutley makes a statement that sounds a lot like what he said 30 minutes ago. "This is the hole," says the 45-year-old. Mr ...

The Queensland government's purchase of Vergemont Station last year led to months of uncertainty for miners with tenures inside the former cattle station, which is larger than the Australian Capital ...

Few realize that the world’s most famous black fire opal – the official Nevada State Gem – was discovered in Nevada’s remote Virgin Valley in 1918. Col. W.A. Roebling, a civil engineer who helped ...

It's brother vs. brother as Peter and Mick Cooke go head-to-head in an epic scrapheap challenge to build a monster opal-hunting machine. Meanwhile, the Rookies are forced to start hunting at night.