Rough opal has made the lapidary world in America and Europe as a massive hobby for thousands of people. Most keen lapidists and opal hobbyists travel to Tucson in Arizona every year to buy rough opal from the Australian opal dealers that travel their with bags of rough opal to sell. The rough opal ranges from Top quality black opal to lower grade white opal. To the uncolored common opal that is used for doublets and triplets.
The larger opal exporters come to Lightning Ridge to buy rough opal straight from the miners and use the expertise and experience to cut and sell the opal in the markets around the world. Most of these large opal dealers have pulled back on the opal buying in Lightning Ridge because of the world economies. Not to mention that black opal is running out and supply is getting scarce.
The new way of dealing in opal is in the digital world of the internet. The opal market has taken a different direction and if the opal exporters don't get digital they are going to die out. This is sad but true.
Their is a great need for new opal fields to be found and the Australian Government is a tough nut to crack. Not to mention the farmers don't want opal miners on their farm land. But that is a whole other can of worms.
Opal prospectors are the the only line of defence against an opal shortage. They are still out there every day test hole drilling trying to find the next big patch.
You know it's a pretty unique life out there in a mix of 50% heat in Summer and -5% in Winter. The harshness is so extreme. Living in a shed and escaping the heat by going down their opal mines. Underground is a constant all year round comfortable 22 to 23 degrees. Living underground in Lightning Ridge is not done because the ground is not solid enough and collapses are common. Coober Pedy has harder ground and most of the town is underground.
Opal fossicking is a great pastime in Lightning Ridge with people even today finding valuable opals on the Mullock heaps that miners dump opal dirt that they think has no opal. Big mistakes are made by not washing all mining level dirt. The last big rough opal piece I heard was last week. The fossicker sold a rough piece for $12,000. Pretty good for someone who does not mine. Their are people that fossick for opal full time and actually make a great living from it. Without the overheads of earthmoving. Which is what opal mining really is.
Lightning Ridge has produced many carats of top grade black opal. Lightning Ridge is one of the only places in the world that produced black opal. 95% of the worlds black rough opal comes from Lightning Ridge Australia.
Rough opal has been a mans dreams and broken dreams to find the elusive black opal from Australia. Most people who become opal miners only manage to scratch out a living when mining for the colourful gemstone. A small handful of people actually find any opal with any gem colour.
Opal miners come in every day with there buckets of rough opal. Some will cut the opal they get and others will sell the rough opal in its raw state. Most miners only find enough opal to pay the fuel and running costs f there mining operation
This can be very heart breaking and misleading for the miner as they are hoping to find that big rough opal nobby that they have been dreaming about. It is an addiction for some people, hunting for the there pice of rock that holds the elusive black opal fire.
The lucky 3% of miners in Lightning Ridge who find opal in quantity and make great riches. They usually find the opal bearing ground by prospecting with a 9 inch drilling rig. Once the prospector has drilled up some rough opal with color they start to pepper the ground with more hole to try to find which direction the opal is heading. Once they have found the patch they drill down with a 3 foot drill so the can start mining underground.
For more information on opal cutting or purchasing opal. Please email blackopalsdirect@live.com or you can call me on Skype My username is Blackopaldirect and it's free!
