Two South Australian Government grants totalling $100 000 have been used by the Coober Pedy Miners Association Inc. to fund the use of an auger drilling rig on a drilling programme designed to explore for opal at selected locations away from the known opalfields. 714 auger drillholes averaging 15.8 m deep were completed, at sites lying within the boundaries of the Coober Pedy Precious Stones Field which are located more than 500 m distant from established productive areas. Approximately 20% of the drillholes encountered prospective 'good sandstone', while the cuttings returned from 12% of the holes were observed to contain traces of potch or of 'colour' (precious opal). The execution of this drill prospecting programme has led to increased mining activity occurring in several of the drilled areas, and has demonstrated that opal prospectivity exists at locations away from the known fields. The now precious opal-productive Opal Ridge field was a new discovery which directly resulted from the drilling programme targeting a previously unexplored area.