And a lot of the black opal is found here, at Lightning Ridge. It's located on the edge of the Outback, with a population of just over 2,000 people. Miners have been searching for opal here for ...

Those who choose this as a living are as rare as these opals,” said Hays, who has visited Lightning Ridge several times. The 21.65-carat "Pharaoh," which displays a "Flag Harlequin" color ...

C loaked 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 ...

Lightning Ridge is well known for the black opal, for its multicultural community, for its can-do approach which built an Olympic-sized pool from community donations, but it's not so well known as ...

It would change the game for at least one life-long opal miner and Lightning Ridge local. To sell, or save Butch McFadden's sprawling mining claim is like a living open-air museum.

Bernard agrees. Back in her store in The Rocks, she hands me a ring set with a huge Lightning Ridge black opal pegged at about the same value as a one-bedroom apartment in Brisbane’s CBD ...

It would change the game for at least one life-long opal miner and Lightning Ridge local. To sell, or save Butch McFadden's sprawling mining claim is like a living open-air museum.