In November 2021 there were 541 active opal claims in the South Australian Opal Fields: 120 claims in Andamooka, 403 claims in Coober Pedy and 16 claims in Mintabie. Australia is responsible for 95% of all worldwide opal production with South Australia accounting for 80% of the world’s supply, contributing more than $1 billion per annum to the GDP. (contributing more than $1 billion per annum to the GDP ( Characterisation of Australian Opals Thesis by Leslie Dean Brown, University of Technology, Sydney, 2005)

Opal mining in Andamooka photo by Peter Taubers