Mintabie, South Australia

The Mintabie - opal field, on the Aborigines of the Anangu hold a native title is about 200 km ² and is located in South Australia in Australia, about 25 kilometers from Marla and 980 kilometers from Adelaide. About 25 kilometers away from the opal field, there is a settlement of about 200 to 250 miners and the Lake Mintabie.

The Mintabie - opal field located at the borders of the Eromanga Basin, which formed about 1.5 billion years ago and consists of granites and gneisses. Are the sediments of the Officer Basin, which consists of more than 500 million years old sandstones, quartzites and shales on the western borders. The sedimentary rocks formed hills like Mount Johns Range in Marla. The opals of Mintabie occur in a sandstone complex.

The geology of Mintabie differs from the other opal fields in Australia, as the opals are in rocks of the Paleozoic. The opals occur in rock structures beneath the layers of the Early Cretaceous, derived from the Ordovician. The opals are mined near the surface to a depth of 30 meters.

By 1920, Larry O'Toole was the first Opal in Mintabie and through this discovery it became clear that the Aborigines, who at that time sold Schwarzopale that resembled those of in the area of Coober Pedy, came from Mintabie.

The Opalsucher who had invaded after the First World War in the area of Mintabie no heavy equipment to Opalsuche and sandstone opposed to mining, because he was much stronger than the of Coober Pedy. Only in the 1970s, there was a run on Mintabie, were used primarily bulldozers, which are able to dig deep.

1986 for 65 years produced the Mintabie - opal fields for the first time more than the Opals of Coober Pedy.