Then they must clear out an underground room large enough to start digging at the rock.įrederick: The basic idea of mining is basically extract the opal clay out from the ground, put it onto a truck, I take the truck to a puddling site in town, and check if there's opal in that. Narrator: Miners start by drilling a vertical shaft in an area that they think contains opal. But even for experts, finding black opal isn't easy.įrederick: If you were to start mining tomorrow, and once you learn mining skills - and I've been mining for 40 years - we'd be an equal chance, just because there's nothing really that can tell you, "Oh, there is opal in that piece of ground" or "There's not opal in that piece of ground." Miners have been searching for opal here for over 100 years. It's located on the edge of the Outback, with a population of just over 2,000 people. And a lot of the black opal is found here, at Lightning Ridge. But over 90% of the world's opal comes from Australia. Narrator: Opal is found in several parts of the world, including Ethiopia, Brazil, and Mexico. You can put the thing away for a week, pick it out and look at it, and you can still see things inside it that you've never, ever seen before. Compared to common opal, which is usually one color, black opal exhibits many different colors contrasted by a dark body tone.įrederick: It's simply the most stunning gemstone on the planet. So, what makes black opal so hard to find? And why is it so expensive?īlack opal is one of the most enchanting stones in the world, sought after for its seemingly infinite display of colors. ![]() ![]() After investing tens of thousands of dollars, a miner might not find a single gem. Narrator: High-quality black opal can cost over $10,000 per carat, making it one of the world's most expensive gemstones. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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