Lightning Ridge’s new Australian Opal Centre (AOC) will have to wait a little longer after the museum’s board opted to pause construction.
The two-story building in the area’s opal fields is “80 per cent” complete, according to board chair Raymond Griffin, but he says “some cost headwinds along the way” have forced them to hit the brakes until they can meet a “sizeable” funding shortfall.
Construction has been paused since late May…