New opal prospecting area at Lightning Ridge

The gazettal of Opal Prospecting Area 4 in Lightning Ridge will see the opal fields opened up for further prospecting and mining.

The area covered by OPA 4 is located south of Grawin about 40 kilometres southwest of Lightning Ridge.

The decision on the establishment of the new Opal Prospecting Area 4, under the provisions of the Mining Act had been reached after exhaustive studies had taken place.

This included a major environmental study commissioned by the NSW Government over the Narran-Warrambool Mining Reserve at Lightning Ridge, which provided key environmental information to help manage future development of opal mining and prospecting activities.

The Review of Environmental Factors was completed in late 2004, there were Agricultural Land determinations and the recent completion of the Mining Wardens Inquiry into landholder “improvement” objections.

The Mining Warden recently gave his recommendations on improvements requiring a buffer from mining after the inquiry, which heard evidence from the public, landholders and miners under section 222 of the Mining Act.

To ensure future opal prospecting and mining in OPA 4 occurs in an efficient and responsible manner, only a limited number of opal prospecting blocks will be opened up for exploration at any one time.

Initially, this will be areas where there are no major environmental issues, or where significant mining activity has already occurred.

All prospecting and mining activities within OPA 4 will be subject to far stricter environmental conditions than are currently applied to existing operations.

Prior to any activities commencing, landholders will be closely consulted through the new Access Management Plan process.

The new OPA 4 covers an area of approximately 1600 square kilometres and comprises elevated ridge country and some adjoining black soil country immediately to the south of the existing OPAs 1, 2 & 3.

OPA 1 was created in 1981; OPA 2 in 1983 and OPA 3 in 1993.

Lightning Ridge is the world’s number one source for black opals in both quantity and quality.

It is hoped that by opening up these new areas for prospecting opal mining can be rejuvenated at Lightning Ridge ensuring a prosperous future for the industry.