all.

Looks like an overgrown prairie dog town.

And people think Kansas is flat!!

I thought they were termite mounds as the picture came up.

Coober Pedy is a place I've wanted to go since I learned about it in third grade in 1975.

Interesting. Are the opals near the surface?

If I hadn't read what it was, I'd have never guessed. I didn't know Opal mines existed.

We think this must be a new field, or an old photo. These days huge machines and conveyor belts take the material into huts where it is examined under ultra-violet light. Opal fluoresces. You can still noodle (look for missed bits) on the dumps. Over the years Coober Pedy has lost much of its More...

Barb--I think most of the opal is reasonably deep but not like coal mines--but as Supergran says--you can go noodling on the dumps above ground.

Yes, it is as flat as a pancake! But what glorious jewels come out of the ground!