Well, opals are a very beautiful gem, and quite valuable. They are actually remains of ancient, fossilized beings, and have qualities that diamonds do not have, and unlike diamonds, which can be created in a lab, are very unique. Australia is very well known for it's opal mining systems. My source: the Opal Museum in Sydney, Australia.
To reformat, check out this website: http://www.rcaopal.com/ I just reformatted mine. Click on the Opal tab and then upgrade downloads.
There are many online jewelry retailers which sell fashion opal earrings. Some examples include Lyla Loves, JG Jewelers, Opal Mine, Opal Auctions, JE Gem and Johnston Opals.
It is saleable.
I think they were called "Opal Fruits." Opal fruits is the answer. The ad jingle was ''Opal Fruits, made to make your mouth water''.
They have to dig for it There are several different mining sites in Australia where different types of opal is found.
Opal is typically extracted from the earth through open-cut mining or underground mining methods. Miners use heavy machinery to remove overburden and dig into the opal-bearing layers, where they extract the opal-bearing rocks. These rocks are then processed to extract the opal gemstones.
The types of Opal that i am familiar with are White Opal, Fire Opal, Boulder Opal, Black Opal, Crystal Opal, Light Opal, Doublet Opal, Triplet Opal, Common Opal, Synthetic Opal, and Immitation Opal.
There are 5 basic types of opal. These types are Peruvian Opal, Fire Opal, Girasol Opal, Common opal and Precious Opal.
There are nearly 200 mining claims and 5 patented (private) mines in Virgin Valley. Several are open to public digging (Royal Peacock, Bonanza, and Rainbow Ridge). Of these three public mines, the Rainbow Ridge produces the most stable opal, according to Eckert (1997) "The World of Opals." The stability of the opal depends on its primary formation and to a lesser degree the moisture content of the enclosing deposit. A dry bank will produce more stable opal than a wet one (generally). A large amount of opal from the Royal Peacock is actually stable. Most opal in Virgin Valley cracks (known as crazing) shortly after mining. Keeping it moist and out of direct light, and later drying methods, will 65% of the time produce dry stable opal for cutting.
The modern birthstone for October is Opal or Tourmaline, the traditional birthstone is Tourmaline, the Mystical birthstone is Jasper, the Ayurvedic birthstone is Opal and the alternative birthstone is pink tourmaline.
Another name for opal is "fire opal."
The town of Lightning Ridge is above ground. Only the opal mine shafts go underground, and these vary in depth.