nice looking opal

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/a-gem-of-a-discovery-for-couple/story-fn7x8me2-1226172274831

If it's not gold it's opals, the stuff of dreams. but an opal with a bit of fire in it, that's something else.

i did five years in roxby,andamooka 32 kms away, never dug a hole. bugga. thought gold was at roxby tavern, oops.did speak to MATT TAYLOR for an hour,noice guy.

Yep, ya don't find nothing in pubs except an empty wallet or two

What a beautiful stone...I want one!

i was luck as one of my mates live up there and he had taken me unerground to show me what they are looking for. i loved it as we found a heap of opals and to see how it all worked. i have a few necklaces made up that i still have...
cheers
stoppsy

not in the class of the other one lol but I found this in Reedys creek Eldorado about 4 foot down in a line of great gold and gemstones ,topaz,citrene,smokys, zircon, agate.

these are 2 of the opals i had found when i was digging along the walls of my mates opal mine. i have a few more somewhere they are very eye catching


cheers
stoppsy

We are opal miners in the winter & gold fossickers in the summer. I always say to Bob "you have to be lucky to find an opal but we ALWAYS find some gold". It is very true. They are beautiful stones & if you find the right one you will be rewarded handsomely. But..... they are very elusive. Franma

Hi franma.
Dont wish to pry, but what region do you mine opal?
From '74 to '89 lived in Bathurst, mate and self had claims at L/R. another local had claims at the Sheepyard.
We were all good supporters of the Diggers Rest!.
I owned 2 blocks at Trunkey, so chased gold there in the hot months.
mike

Hi Mike
we had a mine at Mulga Rush that yeilded some nice opal. Have given up our Grawin leases & moved back to the Ridge now. We have a residential claim at McDonalds 6 mile out near the first shaft monument. Not doing a lot of mining these days. It is only shallow ground (15-20ft) so it is good for the Grandies to have a bit of a dig.
We have been going to the Ridge for 40 odd years & hadn't been to Grawin until about 7 years ago. Still have a lot of good friends out there so we visit often.
Cheers
Fran

Hello fram.
Yes, it is good to keep in touch with an area you know so well.
We have just retired after 16yrs. of boulder opal mining in W.Qld. Missing it already even though we would not be out there this time of year!
Sold the excavator, D7 sold but still awaiting payment, planted 250 tree on 2 leases for bond repayment (would have planted trees anyway) and keeping an EP for a J/V perhaps 3yrs. hence.
Opal does get into the blood stream, but now retired (?), a GPX 4500 detector, WA in our sights for next year, its difficult to get the bush out of ones system.
Opal mining has been kind to us, but then research, prospecting on the ground (and there is plenty in Qld.) is of great importance.
Have been lucky in that an old time alluvial gold miner taught me how to read country, and an old opal miner the same.

Sadly the kids aint interested, but am sure they are thinking about what other things we may be leaving!
mike

Love the opals and guess its a bit like gold if it has your name on it etc etc.
A couple of years ago myself, sister and a few friends camped on a property near "The Ridge" for the Easter Festival. There was a working mine on the property and the owners used to dump all the overburden? for visitors to speck through.
My sister and I had been to the Chamber of the Black hand (which is another story in itself) and on the way back to the campsite we stopped off at one of the heaps and had a bit of a look through the dirt and rocks picking up tiny little bits of colour etc. We were just about to leave when the late afternoon sun reflected of a rock that my sister spied and picked up. There was a tiny little bit of colour there so we took it back to the campground and asked the owner if she would mind giving it a bit of a clean up on the polishing wheel. She replied that rather than her do anything with it we would be better off taking it into town to one of the opal shops and getting them to have a look at it. Her reason was that she thought it may be actually worth something and she wasn't experienced enough to risk damaging it.
This is the result:





Not bad for a weekend away.

magnificent!!!

Thats fantastic....would love to find a stone like that 1day...Maybe when they invent a detector that can locate them

Cheers fellas, yeah the sister was pretty happy about that and has since had it made into a pendant. Its value has been put at between $300 and a couple of grand but I don't think that worries her as she probably won't be selling it anytime soon

I think $300 is way low !!

Magnificent colours.Congratulation.
And thanks to mother nature