Black Opal Lightning Ridge Australian Solid Loose Stone, Cabochon 4.35ct
You will find us located in the heart of the busy mining town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales , approx. 750 km or 468 miles, north west of Sydney, Australia. Lightning Ridge, or the Ridge, as it is fondly referred to by locals, is renowned for the largest production of quality Black Opal in the World! The illusory mystique of The Ridge has lured many a hopeful miner over the past 100 years to try their luck at finding the big one.
We prospect for opal with a 9 inch auger drill. When promising material is discovered we drill a 3 foot diameter shaft to a depth that bottoms on the opal bearing level. When, what appears to be payable material is found, we lower a mechanical digger down the shaft. Under ground Digger shown here. The dirt is extracted by a blower which, in reality, is more akin to a giant vacuum cleaner. Truck and Blower shown here.
When the truck is full, it is taken to an agitator- a modified cement mixer where the extracted dirt is washed for the duration of the weeks mining activity. Up to 10 truckloads of dirt go into each batch of wash, which accumulates and wears down to a much smaller concentrate by the end of the week. Then, we manually sort through the concentrated tailing and pick out the gems, often none, but once every few years hard work is rewarded by discovering a pocket of truly beautiful gems. Opal in the rough shown here. Then it is off to the cutting and polishing room.
We hope we can welcome you to our unique town one day! We can also meet you at the Tucson Gem show, Days Inn Gem Pavilion Absolute Opals Booth #3 and 4 every year late January early February as well.
We pride ourselves by doing our best to provide an excellent product and service to all our customers. We take extra care with our packing to help ensure the safe arrival of your items. ECheques take a minimum of 5 days to clear. The amount of time spent in transit within the postal system is outside of our control.
Each persons eyes see a little differently to the next persons eyes. There is a tendency for variation in many computer screens that are manufactured and calibrated a little differently to their competitor products. Example; a LED screen will have a lot more contrast than a Laptop Screen. The opal colours and patterns as seen in actuality are a result of a complex combination of refraction, diffraction, diffusion and reflection of light from the opal structure. When an opal is viewed with different light sources and different light intensities the effect of the stone can change a little from one light source to the other.
The seller is "absolutely-love-opals" and is located in Lightning Ridge. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Shape: Cabochon
- Country of Origin: Australia
- Treatment: no
- Authenticity: Miner Direct
- UPC: Does not apply