Welcome to opalholicsanonymous.com where opal season lasts forever.

Fokls as a result of some shocking practices by a local store owner, basically robbing the local abos blind, the town has been under the spotlight.

To cut a long story Mintabie, given its very very remote location, has atracted a growing population of scum.

As result of many criminal activities mostly drug related, selling drugs into Aboriginal lands etc, the Sth Australian Govt is closing down the town asap demolishing the lot and the mining activities are under a serious cloud and expected to be closed down and handed back to the blacks.

Whatever Mintabie you have may be the last.

mick wrote:As result of many criminal activities mostly drug related, selling drugs into Aboriginal lands etc, the Sth Australian Govt is closing down the town asap demolishing the lot and the mining activities are under a serious cloud and expected to be closed down and handed back to the blacks.

Whatever Mintabie you have may be the last.

You've got to be kidding, mick, please tell me you're just messing with us.

One would think they could simply arrest the drug pushers and any other criminals, and leave the town to the good townfolk who are dedicated to mining, but no, their solution is to demolish the town??? What's wrong with this picture?

EVERYTHING! I smell a rat, like they're interested in having the area vacant for their own, likely nefarious, purposes. That sucks big wind, and I really feel sorry for the real miners who aren't involved in shady dealings, who will probably now lose their homes and livelihoods.

Please keep us posted on how this plays out. All I can think is, leave it to the government to throw a wrench in the gears...again.

Interesting. glad i never cut then sold that parcel we traded into decades ago yet. Its the way of mankind. See a situation and try to take advantage of it. If it was really crook, then it need to be rubbed out. Aboriginal rights to stolen lands is a big thing now. They just voted to remove McKindleys statue in my Arcata, college town, becasue he was a "colonization" president and allowed genocide while in office.

You can google mintabie in the news and the saga will pop up.
There are only a few mining there anyway and some noodlers.
It all assists the claims for more fields to be released for mining or maybe not.

mick wrote:It all assists the claims for more fields to be released for mining or maybe not.

Or maybe not is the disturbing part.

Here's one John found, from Johno's opals.

Mintabie Opal Town to be Closed Permanently
18 Feb

"Mintabie Opal Town, one of South Australia’s famous opal towns, is to be permanently closed and its residents forced to leave within a year. The South Australian Government found many of the residents had been living there illegally. The ABC reports that Mintabie Opal Town was an access point for drugs and alcohol into the APY Community. (APY stands for Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytatjara)

Mintabie is situated west of the Stuart Highway and is approximately 35 km west of Marla in South Australia. It is situated in an arid but very beautiful area.

The aboriginal people of the area were the first to mine opal at Mintabie and reportedly sold black opal at Coober Pedy around the time of the first world war. European opal miners also tried there hand at Mintabie but found the sandstone extremely hard and very difficult to mine using the early mining methods of digging with pick and shovel. There is evidence of their work shown in the form of tunnels and shafts opened up by later open cut mining.


Open Cut diggings showing old mine tunnels

Around 1976 heavy machines such as bulldozers and front end loaders were used open cut the sandstone. This proved a much better way of coping with the hard sandstone.


Open cut mining using heavy machinery

It was also around this time that the fledgling township of Mintabie was set up to cater for the miners and the local APY people.

In 1981 Anangu was awarded the freehold title to the land in the area after long, and often bitter, negotiations. There was a lot of opposition from the miners as they believed they had a right to mine there. As part of the negotiations the Anangu agreed to lease back to the Crown the Mintabie Township Area. At the time of the grant, many more miners rushed to the area.

In the lead up to the grant, a bill was presented to Parliament recognizing that opal mining would continue at Mintabie. This did not ... "
https://www.johnosopals.com/2018/02/min ... ermanently

full report here well worth the read as contains info on opal mining in general

http://minerals.statedevelopment.sa.gov ... n_mintabie