About Opals

This is a town famous for its rich, rare and glorious black opal. Black opal derives its name from the colour of the ‘nobbies’ or pieces of rough opal in which the gems are usually found. Lightning Ridge is located 770 kilometres northwest of Sydney in an area that also produces wheat, sheep, cattle and oilseeds.

Black opal was first discovered at Lighting Ridge in the late 1880s however, its commercial value was not at first recognised by buyers. Mining actually commenced in the early 1900s when some opal nobbies were found and trial shafts erected.

Opal occurs at Lightning Ridge either as ‘nobbies’, or in seams and thin layers within vertical or horizontal joint plains, in a soft greyish claystone that hardens and whitens on drying. This claystone is commonly referred to as ‘opal dirt’. The opal dirt levels occur between 6 and 18 metres from the surface but have been known to go as deep as 30 metres.

The fields also yield opalised shells, wood, and reptilian bones of the Cretaceous age.

Some of the traditional fields around Lightning Ridge include the Three Mile and Thorleys Six Mile however, most opal is now being found in newer areas away from the township.

White Cliffs is Australia’s oldest commercial opal field. It is located 295 kilometres northeast of Broken Hill. Opal was first mined at White Cliffs about 1889, and the population peaked at 5,000 in its heyday despite the water shortages. Digging was very easy, and the light opal was very clean and found a ready market in Europe. The light crystal opal found at White Cliffs quickly became famous on the world markets.

For 30 years the White Cliff opal fields produced the first commercially accepted opal on the world markets, far surpassing the quality of the Hungarian opal. Opal displaying such vivid colours had never been seen before. The colourful seam opal was very easy to value, and it did not shatter like other opal when cut and polished.

From 1903 to 1914, the richer areas of the opal field became exhausted thus resulting in a decline in production. White Cliffs suffered and never recovered from the effects of World War I and the loss of the European markets. Today, White Cliffs is a unique town and very popular with the tourists, fossickers and miners. The modern age has brought electricity to the town and water is readily available. Some of the townspeople still prefer to live underground where it is cool in summer and warm in winter.

Although there is not much new ground left on the old opal field to sink a shaft, one can fossick among the old diggings. There are those who say that more opal than the amount mined remains in the ground ready for discovery: a new lucky strike will one day turn White Cliffs into a boom town again!

The history of opal in Queensland dates back to the early 1870s, but it wasn’t until 1889 when the gem was successfully marketed that the industry became established. The discovery of opal was reported in many areas however, the real development of Queensland’s vast opal deposits began in 1873 with the discovery of fine quality opal north of Thargomindah. Within two years there had been many exciting finds throughout south western Queensland however, during those early years production was low because there was no ready market for the gem. It took the tireless efforts and sheer determination of a young entrepreneur named Tully Wollaston to convince world gem merchants to accept Queensland opal that the industry was finally established.

Today, the Queensland opal belt covers an extensive area in the southwest of the state that is around 1000 kilometres long by 300 kilometres wide. There are local areas throughout the region where opal mines are concentrated, such as Yowah, Quilpie, Eromanga and Jundah.

Coober Pedy was discovered in 1915. This is where the ‘white’ or ‘milky’ opals (generally known as ‘light opal’) are mined. Until recently, Coober Pedy was the main producer of precious opal, which is why it is predominantly seen in stores overseas, particularly in the USA.

Today, the opal fields encompass an area of approximately 45 kilometres. The opal level is formed of soft pinkish clay mixed with soft bleached sandstone.

The name Coober Pedy is derived from the Aboriginal word kupa piti, which when loosely translated means “White Man in a Hole”. An isolated and rugged location, Coober Pedy is blessed with freezing nights, days where the average temperature seldom drops below 40¡C, and bush flies by the million. Coober Pedy is too hot for life to exist comfortably on the surface, so homes were made in underground burrows, which gave the field its name. Virtual palaces have been built underground, providing a constant temperature of between 21°C and 26°C.

It is believed that Aborigines were the first to sell black opal from Mintabie at Coober Pedy just after the First World War. They were able to keep their secret for some time until eager miners discovered the opal field in the early 1930s. As a result of the remoteness of the area and the lack of water, Mintabie was worked only on a very small scale until 1976, when heavy earth-moving machinery moved in. The opal is sandwiched

between hard layers of sandstone, and the rock layers below the ground are drilled or blasted through with explosives to enable the bulldozers to get to the opal bearing ground.

This area is now producing very attractive light and semi-black opal. Mintabie black opal usually occurs on a mid-grey background therefore, although respected in the black opal markets, commands a lower price than the darker Lightning Ridge black opal.

Andamooka is found southwest of Coober Pedy in harsh desert country. Discovered in 1930, Andamooka is one of Australia’s most famous opal fields, having produced some of the most beautiful pieces of opal.

Andamooka is derived from an Aboriginal name, meaning ‘Large Waterhole’. It is located 600 kilometres north of Adelaide and is the only Australian town where none of the streets is named.

The opal fields in and around Andamooka produce top gem, crystal, light opal and some dark opal.