The Lightning Ridge Miners' Association (LRMA) and the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) have hit back at claims of poor mining practices at Lightning Ridge and surrounding opal fields.
An article in The Land newspaper last week criticised the rehabilitation practices of the mining fields and claimed the release of new areas for opal exploration, the proposed OPA 4, would have a devastating affect on the land.
The release of OPA 4 is currently being investigated and a draft Review of Environmental Factors was recently released.
Farmers are demanding stringent conditions on the release of the area including restricting access to claims and sunset clauses on mining leases.
LRMA director Drago Panich said the future of the black opal industry hinged on the opening up of new land for opal exploration.
"Unless access to new ground is given we won't have a black opal industry as such," Mr Panich said.
"This is largest black opal area in the word. We've probably got more stringent conditions than they have on other opal fields. We produce the bulk of the world's opal in Australia."
In The Land article it was claimed as many as 100,000 mines had been abandoned without rehabilitation in the Lightning Ridge area.
According to the Department of Mineral Resources this figure was a 'gross exaggeration', since there have only been 55,000 claims issued in the history of Lightning Ridge and some have been mined on top of other older mines.
The DMR conducts environmental sweeps of the mine fields and hand out fines to miners if they do not comply with their standards.
Miners pay a $250 bond, which was increased from $100 this year, when they register a claim which is forfeited if they abandon the mine without rehabilitating it and used by the DMR to rehabilitate the claim.
If miners abandon mines without rehabilitating them they are not able to register a new claim until they do, and even then the security bond on their next claim increases significantly.
Farmers say not one field had been rehabilitated and returned to its owner in 100 years, and want a more concerted effort in rehabilitation of mining fields.
Mr Panich said the results of rehabilitation could not be seen overnight.
"Time will give you the chance to see real establishment and real growth. We are dependent on good seasons as much as the farmers."
He said the farmers who were fighting to restrict opal mining were forgetting how much black opal had contributed to the town.
"The farmers can say what they want but the opal industry in Lightning Ridge built the town. Without the income coming from that they certainly wouldn't have the facilities they've got.
"They all use them, they just won't recognise the fact that it all came out of mining. The government has given an enormous amount of capital into this town.
"If the government doesn't want to stand behind us and give access to the land then they've just poured a lot of money down the drain."
Email a friend