As i mentioned, CP is built around opal mining but unlike other minerals and gems, because it is silicone based which is essentially glass, there is nothing that can detect where it is prior to mining for it. Thus the landscape is covered in shafts -they have to take pot luck by drilling a hole and seeing if it comes to a fault line which the opal is found in. Even then the fault line may lead to nothing. Each exploratory hole costs around $200. Some miners have been known to look for years to no avail but great expense with no return.
Opal mining is also done by individuals, there are no big companies behind it, therefore no resources being pumped back into the community. I think that's why it resembles a shanty style town. Any money that is in the town is found underground in the dugouts so you cant even see it! There is a lot of discarded equipment lying around because one, they use it for spare parts -the miners make their own digging equipment (the CP miners invented the 'blower' -a giant vacuum that sucks up the dirt and rubble and blows it out at the top) and two, theyre too lazy to get rid of it -all this adds to the shanty town look..
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