Hunting, Mining for Opals in Lightning Ridge Australia
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- Meet the legend, Otto a long-time opal hunter, gouging for the opal in Lightning Ridge.
We are approximately 45-foot (14 meters) underground in this video.
Please like and subscribe to see more of Otto and friends.
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Lightning Ridge Opal Field
- Lightning Ridge is the most famous opal field in the world
- Lightning Ridge is located in New South Wales, Australia
- Lightning Ridge is home to some of the world's finest opals
History of Lightning Ridge
- Lightning Ridge was first settled in the 1890s
- The town was named after a lightning bolt that struck a nearby tree
- Lightning Ridge quickly became a boom town
The different types of opal found at Lightning Ridge
- There are many different types of opal found at Lightning Ridge
- The most common type of opal is the white opal
- Other types of opal found at Lightning Ridge include black opal, blue opal, and green opal
How to get to Lightning Ridge
- Lightning Ridge is located about 600 kilometers from Sydney
- The best way to get to Lightning Ridge is by car
- There are also flights from Sydney to Lightning Ridge
Tips for opal hunting at Lightning Ridge
- Do your research before you go
- Get a good guide
- Be prepared to spend a lot of time - Zábava
Please like and subscribe if you enjoy! :D
Very different to chasing quartz veins looking for gold. I could not really make out the bands and seams that Otto was talking about. Not that I know what they look like. Maybe a future vid with Otto and close ups would be great. I have never been to Lightning Ridge and am hanging out to go. Keep up the hard work and find that big one.
Chasing quartz veins for gold sounds interesting, I didn't know that was a thing - Thanks for the feedback - we will try and do some better close ups in the future.
I would say that old fella could talk under water if you let him.😃
Haha it's true, and i enjoy listening to him - he has many stories to tell us he says :D
Nice, keep trying
At last some prospecting without the soap opera.
Hello from Michigan USA!! I'd like to watch you find a good one A! Nice of the old guy to show you a thing or two! Nice of him to compliment you on knowing a little bit of what to look for!! Being down in the mine must be a spooky feeling?? I'll Sub just to watch you hit it big time!
Hello, we plan to some recording of us finding when we do. It is nice of the old timer, Otto, to teach me, I do appreciate it. It is a little bit spooky - especially when you are on your own, it's very quiet and the darkness if you turn your light off is incredible. Thanks for subbing and we hope we hit the big one too!
@@opalAdventures I was a boilermaker for 20 years here in Michigan! I've been down a few copper ore mines!(Fixing the boilers) If you can't feel air flow "it's time to go" I'll be coming along for the ride! Thanks for the response!
Another Michigan guy right here too!! I'd sure love to visit Lightning Ridge and Coober Pedy, and check out the opal Mines! My favorite gemstones are opals. Fascinating to look at!. Oh by the way..I'm down by Jackson
No black light
No I don't think they are as useful in Lightning Ridge as opposed to other places opal in mined.
not going right to the roof is dangerous you need to find a real miner like Patt Ellies or Ken Hunt (skall)
It's such a small drive? The roof seems pretty solid? Do you know if that is the skall from the Ridgey Didge camp by any chance? I subscribed to you.
@@opalAdventures Ken and Mary hunt I can't remember what area of the ridge they're in I know once you go from the main street up to pass the supermarket you go up over the hill and uncertain is the second dirt road on your right from The crest on the hill it goes down past two houses by memory and then Ken and Mary Hunt have a place up on stilts down there I mind out at grawin with Ken for a long time and what I was saying about your roof when the dirt starts drying and the steel band dries it appears away from the red roof sand I always go up to the red roof sand just to be safe and sometimes there is real good seam opal up there in mine and my mining partner's mine in grawin just passed the airstrip. Just below a roof we have opalised muscle shells steel band and porcelain clay then we get that cracky dirt that you have with sandbars through it Anderson Sandy clay with clay mud floor
Wow, they are LITERALLY my next-door neighbor! (but separated by the old open cut no man's land) I'm at old Willy Not Nelsons - But i don't think they don't stay in the ridge much anymore since I have been here. I know he's a legend but haven't got to know him - if he ever allowed me to come out mining with him, I'd be there :D. I'll keep in mind what you said about the roof - I'm pretty sure Otto did say we should take more out like you say. I might bump into you one day out at the club in the scrub or Hilton.
@@opalAdventures yeah I started working with Ken a few years back when he first got his pacemaker he couldn't operate the jackhammers or anything like that anymore I learnt a lot of that man a mind with him for a fair few years who used to drill with shield's but at the club in the scrub Pat Ellis and a few of the boys there can give you a lot of advice patelis was a driller as well so he knows the fields really well I do have to come back over to the ridge and pick up my motorbike and a few other things so I may see you around good luck with finding your opal I'm flat out with my mind and the mind that I work with a mining partner we're just about to start another open cut I hope you find the big black one there in the ridge good luck mate
Yeah - there's so many people to learn from and being new to it you appreciate all the advice you can get - you will get to see a couple of the other people I mine with in some upcoming videos too :D - It would be cool to cross paths one day, we probably will, wow open cutting, good luck to you too!
It’s more the chase than becoming rich because if it was that easy everybody would be out there 💁🏼♂️
Even ol mate new all about it but still not made it big 💁🏼♂️
Yeah that's probably true. I can confirm it's not easy. People do become rich but maybe they are just the lucky ones?? Old mate has been one of the unlucky ones - many of he's school mates he grew up with in the ridge hit it big