OPAL miner Graeme Downton said when he moved to White Cliffs shortly after graduating high school, he thought of it as a temporary relocation.

“I suppose I thought, I’ll just do this until I figure out what I want to do when I grow up,” he said.

Over 30 years later and with an elaborate five-bedroom dugout home built on the property, Mr Downton said he’ll be opal mining forever.

“I’...