If I asked you what the difference between white and black opal is, there is a chance your answer would be something like:
Well the main difference must be that black Opal is black and white Opal is white, right?
Well actually nothing could be further from the truth. Don't worry though you would not be the only one who would make the assumption that black Opal is entirely black and white Opal is entirely white.
The colour actually refers to the body tone and not the colour of the Opal. The following Opal body tone chart gives you some idea of how the body tones can differ in the Opal world....
Did you know that 90% of the worlds Opal is found in Australia? You also might not realise that depending on which Opal mine you are at you will find very different types of Australian Opal. You can find black Opal in New South Wales, white Opal in Queensland and boulder and matrix Opal in South Australia and Queensland.
After the break I go over each of the different types of Australian Opal.
Black Opal - The Queen of Opals
Of all the different types of Opal in Australia, Black Opal is the most valuable with some stones being sold for over $15,000!
Upon seeing a Black Opal you will be st...
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...
