Allawah Opals

Allawah is an opal mining field about 20km north of Lightning Ridge. 
The name Allawah comes from the local Aboriginal term for ‘make your abode here’ or ‘remain here’.
It was first prospected around the year 2008/2009.
At that time, it was an exceptionally big find for miners as there were no large areas found in the last decade.
There was a lot of issues and disputes in the beginning over land access with farmers in the area.
However, things were settled when the government bought the land off of the farmer to enable miners to access the area without dispute.
At its peak mining time there were over 150 claims (1 claim is 50m x 50m) and over 50 mining teams were working there.
The peak of this ‘opal rush’ lasted many years, however, the best material was found at the beginning around 2008-2010.
There was not much black or dark opals being found there, however there was exceptionally good crystal opals being discovered with pinkish orangish color.
If you are to find any black opals that were discovered in Allawah, they are fairly rare but usually of exceptionally good quality. Allawah black opals are often some of the best you can find, and demand a very high price.
The Allawah field has been one of the best producing regions of gem quality black and crystal opal in Lightning Ridge EVER!
The average depth that miners were finding precious opal was at about 30 feet.
As the story with Allawah, opals are often found in very hard soil which usually means they are good quality, though quite difficult to dig.
There is still a few miners in Allawah digging today, however, production has slowed down immensely over the last few years as there is not much being discovered.