Researchers say they have found a way to dramatically improve the process of finding opals in the ground.
The researchers say they have discovered that opals emit a radioactive glow that can be detected by using special instruments.
Professor Lewis Chadderton from the Australian National University says the process will now be a lot more effective than the current hit-and-miss method.
"In terms of time, it's going to be a hundred to a thousand-fold quicker," he said.
"I'm most optimistic about that aspect of it."
Professor Chadderton says that now that it is known how opals grow naturally, they will be able to be grown in a laboratory.
"We're on the way to synthetic opal of extremely high quality," he said. "Even to the extent that maybe your lady friend might demand, 'I want one which is completely red fire or green fire or blue fire' or so on.
"It's extremely interesting."
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