Australia produces the great majority of the world’s opal, and the outback is laced with fossicking country: Lightning Ridge for black opal, Coober Pedy for white, Andamooka, Quilpie and Yowah for the boulder opal, the Anakie and Rubyvale fields for sapphire, and the whole of the goldfields for nuggets. Australia is unusually generous about it, most states sell cheap Miner’s Right / fossicking permits that let anyone hand-dig on designated ground. PUBLIC fossicking by permit, state by state.
Opal, sapphire, gold
See it on the map
