As the sun rises on our 15th day mining out at Lightning Ridge I thought I would share a few images of what life is like working on an Opal mine in the middle of the outback. It's been a great first two weeks, with a lot of fun to come! For those of you who didn't see my last blog post, we are running an Opal Mining Adventure on the 21st to 25th July. This is open to absolutely everyone and anyone interested to get a taste in what Opal Mining is like.
The Lightning Ridge adventure includes:
Experience true opal mining with a dinky di Aussie bloke.
Delve underground with Mac in a working Li...
Hello fellow Opal lovers, I am currently busy packing my mining equipment, filling my spare petrol cans and making sure everything is in order for another trip to Lightning Ridge! I wonder what I might be lucky enough to find this time......
Who wants to join me in the Outback Downunder?
All through the month of July I will again be out in Lightning Ridge trying my luck mining for black opal. You are invited to join us for a few days if you'd like to visit the outback and see the whole opal mining process from the inside. It's a one of a kind experience that was very well received by eve...
What is the World’s Largest Opal Matrix?
The largest Opal matrix ever found is a colossus of an Opal Matrix found in the fields of Southern Australia. It's an unbelievably huge stone of some 55,000 carats in size. Thats 11 Kilos of Opal, the same as 4 bricks or 4,500 penny's!
The Opal has the mighty dimensions of 30 centimeters long, 15-20 centimeters high and 4 centimeters thick. Uncut it's worth is estimated at more than a million dollars, but once cut up and made into jewellery the total value will be far greater! The previous largest opal weighed “only” 6,100 carats and can be considere...
