Friday, 13/05/2005

It is hoped a new drilling rig will uncover another opal field in South Australia's far north.

The number of miners in town has dropped from 1,000 to 300 in the past decade.

President of the Coober Pedy Miners' Association, Frank Pannisi says the last field was found 20 years ago and most of the opals have been mined.

He says the $100,000 rig, funded by the South Australian Government, is a big step forward.

"The industry's been going down, down, down, and we realise that we need to open up a new field and once we open a new field there's work created in town, there's people coming in, there's more outside investors and it livens the town up a bit and it will be an ongoing drilling program," he said.

"So not only do we find one field, we just keep on finding more fields and it keeps the town alive and keeps the younger generation going."