Mining Black Opal
Australian Opal Fields
The main mining areas in Australian opal production over the last century have been White Cliffs,The Queensland Fields,Lightning Ridge,Andamooka,Mintabie and Lambina.
Black Opal Mining
Mining Black Opal occurs deep underground and can be very dangerous,it is also very expensive trying to find opal. Methods of mining are extremely variable with miners using their own combinations of equipment and initiative. Traditionally shafts were sunk using picks and shovels with waste dirt being raised in buckets by hand windlass. Methods have now become much more mechanised though. Shafts are now sunk with drilling rigs, which bore a hole 3ft in diameter and prospecting is done with 9" auger drills. Jack hammers or a digger is used to take the Opal dirt off the face of the drives. A hoist and mechanised bucket or blowers (giant vacuums) are used to remove the dirt from the mine and to deposit dirt into trucks. Opal dirt is then washed in agitators or concrete mixers fitted with mesh windows that allow silt to flow out. This removes the dirt from the hard material. The dirt is then removed from the agitator (tailed-out), onto a sorting tray, where the miners will collect the Opal nobbies from the Opal dirt (tailings).
It is believed that only 10% of people that mine for black opal actually find any opal. Out of this 10% of people only 10% actually make a good living from opal mining. In other words you need a lot of hard work and luck to find good quality black opal.
The main mining areas in Australian opal production over the last century have been White Cliffs,The Queensland Fields,Lightning Ridge,Andamooka,Mintabie and Lambina.
Black Opal Mining
Mining Black Opal occurs deep underground and can be very dangerous,it is also very expensive trying to find opal. Methods of mining are extremely variable with miners using their own combinations of equipment and initiative. Traditionally shafts were sunk using picks and shovels with waste dirt being raised in buckets by hand windlass. Methods have now become much more mechanised though. Shafts are now sunk with drilling rigs, which bore a hole 3ft in diameter and prospecting is done with 9" auger drills. Jack hammers or a digger is used to take the Opal dirt off the face of the drives. A hoist and mechanised bucket or blowers (giant vacuums) are used to remove the dirt from the mine and to deposit dirt into trucks. Opal dirt is then washed in agitators or concrete mixers fitted with mesh windows that allow silt to flow out. This removes the dirt from the hard material. The dirt is then removed from the agitator (tailed-out), onto a sorting tray, where the miners will collect the Opal nobbies from the Opal dirt (tailings).
It is believed that only 10% of people that mine for black opal actually find any opal. Out of this 10% of people only 10% actually make a good living from opal mining. In other words you need a lot of hard work and luck to find good quality black opal.
