Laverton prospector Peter Piromanski explains fire opal discovery

In the late 2000s, Laverton veteran prospector Peter Piromanski was searching out old ocean beds in the "middle-of-nowhere" when his truck became bogged down to the axles.

The sun started to set over the desert's vast arid plains, prompting Mr Piromanski to light a fire and set up camp for the night.

He woke the next morning and made a cuppa, before reflections of ruby red in the ground's rough stone caught his eye.

It was unlike something Mr Piromanski had ever seen in a lifetime of mining for gold, gemstones and bare minerals.

Unbeknown to him, the reflections were pockets of the first-discovered Australian fire opal.

And they had been found in a settlement (Laverton) with a chequered career as a gold and nickel mining town.

The only other known occurrences of fire opal - a warm orange to red to yellow-bodied gemstone - have been in Mexico and Ethiopia.

Perhaps the chance finding could be described as fate - given Mr Piromanski's history in prospecting, WA's size of 2.5 million square kilometres - and the fact more than 90 per cent of the world's opals are in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.

Would the rare opal have been found if the vehicle - which ironically was an old fire truck - had not broken down exactly where it did?

Mr Piromanski's son Adam and daughter-in-law Cass tell the story with pride.

And who could blame them?

It is impressive to say the least.

Moving from Europe, Mr Piromanski spent most of his childhood exploring the Australian outback on horseback in search for gemstones and mineral deposits.

He was one of the first opal miners in Coober Pedy, South Australia in the late 1950s, served as a combat engineer in the Vietnam War and spent decades working as an exploration diamond driller in both Australia and Canada.

"Dad was actually part of the big discoveries in Coober Pedy of normal opal when he was about 16 years old," Adam said.

"He started digging because he wanted to make money and had always been fascinated by rocks and minerals."

When Mr Piromanski unearthed the fire opal, he rushed home to show his wife Vikki, who was equally as astonished by the discovery.

After six months of analysis by the Gemological Institute of America the gemstone was identified.

"WA is known as gold country," Cass said.

"There were camp stories of opal found in the State, but nothing official."

Fire opal is found a metre underground, compared to other Australian opal, which rests up to 20 metres below the surface.

It is formed in the depths of ancient volcanoes and created when water seeps into silica-rich lava, filling its seams and hollows.

Under the heat and pressure, lava traps water within itself, forming intense, sun-bright droplets.

Mining began at the fire opal field - about 600 kilometres from Kalgoorlie - in 2013.

However, the Piromanskis found it difficult to compete with Mexican and Ethiopian markets, with prices and cheap labour.

Cass said while fire opals in those markets were vivid in colour, they did not compare to Australia's earthy, orange tones.

"You know it is Australian because of the colour - the science of the land is what's in the stone," she said.

"The iron gives it its colour.

"We use a jackhammer and pick to carefully scratch out the opal.

"Whereas other countries just blow sites up."

Overseas markets aside, the Piromanskis have found the biggest hurdle to be fighting the look of traditional opal.

Cass said many jewellers chose to stay away from the fire opal because it was difficult to set.

"There is a risk of it shattering, but you just need to show it a bit of love," she said.

"It is a unique, specialised stone for an industry where everyone is more comfortable with mainstream because of the higher prices."

Before meeting Adam, Cass had never been camping - let alone prospecting - in her life.

She described it as an incredible experience, which she wished she could give others.

"The actual process of digging it out, seeing it in the rough and then seeing it faceted.

"It is a massive journey.

"When we first started, I remember we made a pair of stud earrings.

"It was emotional because I couldn't believe they were made from opals we had found."

Adam and Cass describe Mr Piromanski's prospecting skills as magic.

Even today, the old-time miner can be found in the outback with his dividing rods.

Mr Piromanski knows exactly where to find gemstones and minerals simply by observing the land and using trial and error.

"Dad knows what to look for - the trees, the shrub, the elevation," Adam said.

"He even uses the ant mounds because they are digging in the rock and bring up everything that is down there.

"He will scratch through the ant mounds and be like 'Oh there's some potch in there' and sure enough there are traces of opal.

"It is an experience to watch him work - that's his happiness."

Cass added, "we've travelled on windy roads, here there and everywhere before finally stopping and he will say 'yep, this is where I was 10 years ago.

"He's out there and he's in his element, it is really rewarding".

Mr Piromanski's largest and record-breaking fire opal was unearthed while starring on the Discovery Channel series Outback Opal Hunters in 2017.

The Piromanskis were invited to appear on the second and third seasons of the show, which followed opal miners across various sites in Australia.

They invested their savings and jumped at the opportunity to showcase fire opal and WA to the world.

In what was the final dig of the season, Mr and Ms Piromanski joined Adam and Cass in returning to an old site in a last-ditch effort to extract opal from granite.

After some difficulty in fixing the broken jackhammer, the Piromanskis - who were known on the series as The Fire Crew - had one day to reach their season target of $120,000.

But after hours of labour, they hit a wall when a large body of fire opal shattered into shards from impact.

With three hours of daylight left Cass took the lead and managed to carefully sheer a large seam (a horizontal layer of opal in the ground) free from granite.

The value of the opal lying beneath the granite depended on whether or not it had been fractured.

"It is like glass between cement," Adam said.

"You have to loosen up around it, so you can pop it out.

"It is really difficult, which is probably why people get excited when they see it and smash it.

"Sometimes it can take all day to take the stone out - you scratch all day and then return the next to take it out."

Cass added, "with the big find we had, we heard a crack - in a good way - and there were four big pieces side by side".

"When we lifted it up, it was like opening a treasure chest."

Speaking on the show Mr Piromanski was ecstatic with the find.

"I couldn't ask for better - it is a dream," he said to the cameraman.

"The world hasn't seen anything like this."

About 30 kilograms of AAA quality fire opal was unearthed at the site with colours ranging from deep orange to pale yellow.

Gems classed as AAA are opaque and have very slight surface blemishes.

The find was estimated to be worth about $250,000 and pushed the Piromanski's season total to a whopping $353,000.

Adam and Cass agreed it was among their greatest memories of prospecting.

As was the experience of Outback Opal Hunters and the exposure of WA's fire opal - also commonly named Jewel of the Desert.

"Mum and dad have been involved for many years and they didn't really make much headway," Adam said.

"So to be able to get onto the show and be televised across the world - Peter Piromanski has found fire opal - well it was the cherry on the cake.

"For dad getting the name of fire opal out there means more than the money.

"If he believes the opal is worth a certain price and he doesn't get offered that price, he would rather leave it in the ground."

Like every other gem, prices of the fire opal depends on the karat.

Adam said the larger the gem, the rarer and therefore more expensive they are.

The experience of prospecting and making a collection of fire opal jewellery inspired Cass to become a jeweller.

She quit her office job and started making studs from the gemstones.

"The first collection I made was fire opal jewellery and it snowballed from there," Cass, who owns She Fine Jewellery, said.

"As the demand slowed down, engagement rings came up and I decided to follow that path.

"Once we have a bigger operation and are established, I am keen to bring the fire opal back as a collection.

"Even though it isn't robust, it should be enough to tantalise people to want to do something with it.

"I live in WA and I love the country - we have fresh water pearls, gold and fire opals - why aren't we making those three things into something?"

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