Opal- Graham Black Opal : Only Government Heritage Mining Site

Opal Photos

PHOTO (1) This photograph above is of the early pioneers town of lightning Ridge New South Wales Australia where the very rare gemstone black opal was found by the Europeans, and is still known as the capital of the black Opal gemstone . The first black opal pioneers were from Britain that discovered the rare and exotic Australian black Opal, to day lightning Ridge has government services and private owen businesses .

PHOTO (2)The photograph above is a picture of some of the home-made technology, that was used to wash and process the opal clay where water was added to the mesh agitator and only solid material were left for viewing by the prospectors, they also used drive tumblers and handheld mesh where they threw shovel lows of old clay, which has been bought to the surface and allowed to dry in the sun before screening.

PHOTO (3)This photograph is of one of the steps in opal cutting, basically they are rubs and then one step further they are glued to the doubing sticks ready for the many stages of polishing and will be the finished product at the end of the process. Where rubs are ready for sale only to people in the industry that understand that there still is a gamble in buying rubs.

Appearing to entrap fire and light in a myriad of colours, Opal is renowned as Australia’s national gemstone. Between 65 and 140 million years ago (the Cretaceous Period) much of central Australia was an inland sea bearing sediments rich in silica. Over time this sea receded leaving the silica deposits and forming a region which is now mostly desert (the Great Artesian Basin). Changes to these sediments caused by heavy weathering approximately 30-40 million years ago allowed the silica to dissolve and seep into the crevices and cracks of the earth. This silica solution hardened to form what we now identify as opal. However not all opal formed has the majestic play of colour of Australia’s precious opal. All opal is unique, and the colours and patterns within each stone changing with angle and view. No two opals are exactly alike and it is their ever changing rolls and flashes of colour that make opal a truly fascinating and beautiful gem. Opal forms in three key regions around Australia- New south Wales, Queensland, and South Australia- and we provide the world with 95% of this gem.

Queen Victoria wore opals throughout her reign.

OPAL PATTERNS

The photograph below is of the heritage Opal feel at lightning Ridge New South Wales Australia

The black and white photograph below is a very old picture of the only heritage listed opal fields in Australia,the photograph is of the 3 mile Opal feel adjoining the township of lightning Ridge New South Wales. this particular location produced the highest quality black Opal in the world, and was where the rarest pattern the harlequin was first discovered and is still unbeaten even in modern times the amount of Opal that was produced at the 3 mile.

This photograph is of the corner peg, which every leaseholder needs to place one at every angle change in their claim. Most claims on the black Opal Fields of lightning Ridge New South Wales are 50 x 50 metres either square or rectangular.

Another picture of the famous 3 mile Opal feel lightning Ridge where the early pioneers first found the rare harlequin pattern Black Opal .

This next picture is when I was preparing to open cut a claim on the 3 mile Opal feel lightning Ridge. You can clearly noticed where we have surveyed the claim, we strained a high tinsel wire across the open cut and hung plum bolts from string to indicate the position of the new cut, as two of the sides had already been removed and open cut this was the best method of surveying.

Another picture of the heritage listed 3 mile Opal feel Australia New South Wales

You can never have enough photographs of the richest feel in the history of the lightning Ridge opal industry, this Only heritage listed Opal feel was the riches and even in modern times it is still the riches Opal area of all, it is definitely worth a visit as shortly there will be a fossil Opal Museum located underground about 100 m from the 3 mile open cut which these days would be approximately 1 km by 1 km cut and you can clearly see the profile of many millions of years of evolution of the rainbow coloured clay textures, and you can clearly see the diggings and shafts and tunnels of the hearty European pioneers which dug by hand and candlelight, picks and shovels these early pioneers were truly brave and fearless and extremely tough individuals that open up the Opal industry in Australia.

Why? lightning Ridge was named this way, you can clearly see in the photograph above the many rain clouds and as lightning Ridge is sitting up higher than the black soil plains of the marginal agricultural land that surrounds the township. The Ridge has large amounts of ironstone which naturally conducts lightning to the highest positions around the township of lightning Ridge, the old legends and stories explain about a early pioneer transporting a large flock of sheep . This was the last any person heard of him as he never returned and as a party of travellers come across what was a deceased person camping on the Ridge he would had never felt a thing as he had been hit by lightning.

The 3 mile was also termed lunatic hill mostly because people had found opal and were working their claims in the 3 mile gully around lunatic hill, and as the gulley was a lower elevation the effort needed was only half the amount of digging to get to the opal. One day some miners in the gully looked up on the hill and seen a group of men diging a rectangle sharf by hand, and as you would imagine to the people in the gulley below it seemed madness so naturally the men in the gully spoke the words look at the lunatics on the hill. This term did not take long to travel around the grapevine and ridges where other miners were working and even today in modern times people who live at lightning Ridge still understand this term which relates to the famous 3 mile feel of lightning Ridge New South Wales Australia.

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