In the baked centre of the n outback a once-thriving – and wild – opal mining town stands abandoned in the red dirt, four years after it was forcibly shut down.
Mintabie is about 1120km north-west of Adelaide and 485km south of Alice Springs, on the edge of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.
Residents of the town were ordered out by the South n government after a review found ‘serious law and order issues’ would persist until it was permanently closed.
Mintabie was deemed a staging post for drink and drugs being supplied into the APY Lands, a 103,000 sq km swathe of Indigenous-owned country where alcohol is banned.
In the baked centre of the n outback a once-wild opal mining town stands abandoned in the red dirt, four years after it was forcibly shut down
The residents of Mintabie were ordered out by the South n government after a review found ‘serious law and order issues’ would persist unless it was permanently closed
Mintabie was deemed a staging post for drink and drugs being supplied into the APY Lands, a 103,000 sq km swathe of Indigenous-owned country where alcohol is banned
Goanna Bar and Grill in Mintabie (above) was a popular watering hole for thirsty locals. Flames tore through the pub in 2021, the year after the two was closed
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mintabie was the largest producer of opal in and one of the most feral frontier settlements on the continent.
Among the hundreds of hard-living miners who came to the fields seeking their fortunes from the region’s famed black opal was a fair share of fugitives, loners and misfits.
Stories were told of Chinese millionaires arriving at Mintabie’s airstrip on chartered flights for opal buying sprees and some who struck it rich bringing prostitutes into town by the busload.
Darker rumours abounded about bodies being buried in mine shafts, amid high-stakes gambling, drug dealing and alcohol-fuelled violence.
Today, Mintabie is a ghost town where unoccupied houses have been plundered of anything valuable and overturned cars stripped for parts.
The last 15 or so inhabitants drove out of Mintabie in January 2020, leaving behind homes and businesses they had built with earnings dug out of the ground.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mintabie was the largest producer of opal in and one of the most feral frontier settlements on the continent
Today, Mintabie is a ghost town where unoccupied houses have been plundered of anything valuable and overturned cars stripped for parts
The last 15 or so inhabitants drove out of Mintabie in January 2020, leaving behind homes and businesses they had built with earnings dug out of the ground
Mintabie is about 1120km north-west of Adelaide and 485km south of Alice Springs, on the edge of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands
Now those buildings sit vacant and vandalised as Mintabie’s traditional owners, the Anangu, wait for the land to be rehabilitated after four decades of opal mining.
The opal field remains open, at least until 2027, but without accommodation and services most miners moved to Coober Pedy or gave up.
When award-winning photographer Brendan Beirne recently visited Mintabie he found a desolate collection of substantial stone structures and corrugated iron sheds lying idle.
‘It felt like a zombie film set to me, without anyone in it,’ Beirne said.
‘The cops go out there every now and then just to have a look around. Otherwise it’s just a ghost town.’
From the outside, some buildings looked like they could still house families. Inside, they had been torn apart.
Broken furniture was piled up in rooms with the windows smashed in and clothes covered the floor of a second-hand goods shop.
When award-winning photographer Brendan Beirne recently visited Mintabie he found a desolate collection of substantial tone structures and corrugated iron sheds lying idle
‘It felt like a zombie film set to me, without anyone in it,’ photographer Brendan Beirne said of Mintabie
Smashed solar panels glinted in the harsh desert light and a pair of old work boots rested on a 44 gallon drum
Mintabie’s homes sit vacant and vandalised as Mintabie’s traditional owners, the Anangu, wait for the land to be rehabilitated after four decades of opal mining.
Weeds grew around swings and a slippery dip in an empty children’s playground, while shattered solar panels glinted in the harsh desert light.
A motorbike stood on its forks with nothing much left but the frame and an in-ground swimming pool was half-filled with refuse including car tyres.
A blackboard menu listed prices in chalk for hot food at Goanna Bar and Grill: $5 for a Chiko roll, $7 for a pie, $8 for a roast chicken roll, cheeseburger or hot dog.
‘I don’t know why it went the way it went,’ Beirne said.
‘You could tell a lot of people’s lives were disrupted when they got kicked out. Everyone just kind of left all their stuff there and moved.’
The town’s fate was sealed after the Mintabie Review Panel recommended its closure in a report to the South n parliament delivered in January 2018.
Among the hundreds of hard-living miners who came to the fields seeking their fortunes from the region’s famed black opal was a fair share of fugitives, loners and misfits
A blackboard menu listed prices in chalk for hot food at Goanna Bar and Grill: $5 for a Chiko roll, $7 for a pie, $8 for a roast chicken roll, cheeseburger or hot dog
‘I don’t know why it went the way it went,’ Beirne said. ‘You could tell a lot of people’s lives were disrupted when they got kicked out. Everyone just kind of left all their stuff there and moved’
The town’s fate was sealed after the Mintabie Review Panel recommended its closure in a report to the South n parliament delivered in January 2018
The review was undertaken by the Weatherill Labor state government in partnership with its federal counterpart and the Anangu, who have freehold title over APY Lands.
‘The Mintabie township is an untidy village, with many abandoned, derelict structures across the landscape,’ the panel found.
‘Numerous car bodies, general rubbish and disused mining equipment add to the need for a significant (expensive) remediation program.’
Little appears to have changed since the panel’s report, except for the absence of people, as the now forsaken town’s infrastructure continues to fall apart.
Opals have been mined at Mintabie on an industrial scale since the late 1970s and the industry peaked a decade later. From 1978 to 2016, opal worth $411.13million was mined.
In 1988 there were 775 miners working the Minatabie Precious Stones Field and opal worth $39million was pulled from the ground.
By 2000 there were fewer than 150 miners left on the field, removing opal worth $7.75million, and every year from 2012 costs outweighed results.
A review of Mintabie was undertaken by the Weatherill Labor state government in partnership with its federal counterpart and the Anangu, who have freehold title over APY Lands
‘The Mintabie township is an untidy village, with many abandoned, derelict structures across the landscape,’ the review panel found
‘Numerous car bodies, general rubbish and disused mining equipment add to the need for a significant (expensive) remediation program,’ the panel found
Little appears to have changed since the panel’s report, except for the absence of people, as the now forsaken town’s infrastructure continues to fall apart
When the review panel visited Mintabie in October 2017 there were about 30 permanent residents remaining, with 30 more sometimes living in the town.
At that time there were four stores still operating, selling goods including groceries, second-hand furniture, clothing and motor vehicles, as well as the Mintabie hotel.
[Flames ran through the pub – hand-built by locals in the 1980s – in 2021, the year after the town was shut down].
The review panel found some businesses were still using a ‘book-up’ system whereby customers left their ATM cards (and PINs) at shops to pay off purchases by installment.
Unscrupulous operators took advantage of Anangu by removing more money from their accounts than the debt they owed.
There was a Telecentre offering a Post Office, internet cafe and government services such as Centrelink, a Telstra tower, State Emergency Service/Country Fire Service shed and school.
While the school had a capacity for 100 students there were just eight enrolled.
In 1988 there were 775 miners working the Minatabie Precious Stones Field and opal worth $39million was pulled from the ground
By 2000 there were fewer than 150 miners left on the field, removing opal worth $7.75million, and every year from 2012 costs outweighed results
When the review panel visited Mintabie in October 2017 there were about 30 permanent residents remaining, with 30 more sometimes living in the town
In Octobor 2017 there were four stores still operating, selling goods including groceries, second-hand furniture, clothing and motor vehicles, as well as the Mintabie hotel
From the outside, some buildings looked like they could still house families. Inside, they had been torn apart
The state government was paying for six teaching and support staff, as well as regulating the mining industry and maintaining the town’s one access road.
The nearest police station was at Marla, about 40km to the east. A church, golf club and pistol club were no longer in use and the town hall had burnt down.
‘Serious law and order issues occur regularly in Mintabie,’ the panel found.
In December 2017 there were reports of a woman being imprisoned in her house and sexually assaulted, and an arson attack which destroyed a home.
The same month, three cars were set alight, store owners were verbally threatened, numerous residential properties were burgled and there was a break-in at the school.
At the time, there were temporarily no police based in the station at Marla and officers instead had to come from Coober Pedy, 270km to the south-east.
‘There are major concerns by Mintabie residents that the community is not safe, and that further major crimes are inevitable,’ the panel found.
The nearest police station to Mintabie was at Marla, about 40km to the east. By 2017, a church, golf club and pistol club were no longer in use and the town hall had burnt down
In December 2017 there were reports of a woman being imprisoned in her house and sexually assaulted, and an arson attack which destroyed a home
‘There are major concerns by Mintabie residents that the community is not safe, and that further major crimes are inevitable,’ the panel found
The panel also found a long history of Mintabie stores selling Anangu dodgy second-hand cars.
‘The vehicles sold to Anangu are likely to be unroadworthy and are exploitative of the community, with book-up being the focus of the purchase,’ it reported.
‘The roadworthiness of the vehicles in the APY Lands is not closely policed as it is considered that access to transport (in the context of family violence) is a priority.
‘There are many abandoned vehicles across the APY Lands that have broken down and are left on the side of the road (they are soon stripped and burned).’
The most widely reported concern about Mintabie was its position an access point for drugs – mostly cannabis – and alcohol into the APY Lands.
‘It is thought that the persons who supply illicit substances in Mintabie are both from within and from outside the township (they are easily identified by residents),’ the panel found.
The review panel considered three main options for Mintabie: keep the town and opal field open, close the town but keep the field open, or close both
In 2017, Mintabie had a Telecentre offering a Post Office, internet cafe and government services such as Centrelink, a Telstra tower, SES/Country Fire Service shed and school
‘Mintabie has been a valuable opal mining field for many years, but production has now significantly reduced,’ the review panel concluded
‘The review panel has been informed by many stakeholders that South Police does not maintain a strong enough presence in Mintabie to combat these incursions.
‘Service providers are generally of the view that the issues relating to drugs and alcohol in Mintabie will remain, so as long as people remain in the township.’
The review panel considered three main options for Mintabie: keep the town and opal field open, close the town but keep the field open, or close both.
‘Mintabie has been a valuable opal mining field for many years, but production has now significantly reduced,’ it concluded.
‘It is unlikely that this will change without significant government funding for road infrastructure improvement and an expansion of the opal field.
‘The Mintabie township has up to 60 residents over the year. It is unstructured and seriously degraded, with residents living, for the most part, in substandard buildings and shacks.
‘The Mintabie township has up to 60 residents over the year. It is unstructured and seriously degraded, with residents living, for the most part, in substandard buildings and shacks’
The panel recommended Mintabie be closed and returned to the management of Anangu. It estimated cleaning up the town would cost $2-3million
‘A significant number of people in Mintabie are living in the township without authority, and there have been significant difficulties with compliance in respect of these requirements.
‘There is increasing lawlessness, drug trafficking and violence in the area, and unconscionable book-up practices continue.’
The panel recommended Mintabie be closed and returned to the management of Anangu. It estimated cleaning up the town would cost $2-3million.
In June 2018 the state government gave residents one year’s notice to leave, then issued a six-month extension.
The Mintabie Miners and Progress Association launched Federal Court action in 2019 to remain in the town or receiving compensation for leaving. The result was financial assistance for relocation which for most residents was about $30,000.
Time ran out on New Year’s Eve 2019 but a few days of leeway was granted due to 50 degree temperatures that made moving almost impossible.
Mintabie has been left to crumble and Anangu have said they do not want the town returned to their management until it is cleaned up
Since then, Mintabie has been left to crumble and Anangu have said they do not want the town returned to their management until it is cleaned up.
The Malinauskas Labor state government allocated $7.7million for the remediation of Mintabie in the 2023-2024 budget.
A spokesman for the South n Department of Energy and Mining, which has responsibility for managing the site, said ‘preliminary clean-up scoping work’ had been undertaken.
‘The Department for Energy and Mining is progressing with the remediation of the former Mintabie township in partnership with APY and the n Government’s National Indigenous ns Agency,’ the spokesman said.
‘All decisions on the clean-up process will be taken in consultation with the APY executive and Mintabie traditional owners.’
READ MORE: Inside APY Lands where Aboriginals live on $296 a week, Uluru is still Ayers Rock and other ns can only enter with a permit
