We search a dangerous abandoned opal mine in Coober Pedy Australia (Opal mining documentary).
Vložit
- čas přidán 16. 07. 2024
- After 5 weeks at the literal grindstone (opal cutting and jewellery making) I manage to tootle up to Coobs for a quick mission.
While still half asleep my mind wandered to an area of the Old 15 Mile that I realised we had never been down. This is significant in that there is almost nowhere we haven’t thoroughly searched on this field since discovering how beautiful the opal can be here about 30 years ago.
As is often the case, anticipation quickly turns to frustration, not helped by precipitously dangerous ground with opal traces that is ready to collapse with a sneezing mouse.
We do however escape the deadly red back spider and find some stunning crystal opal shells.
In this video there is a fossil shell that is described as being often found in ‘skin’ form, almost always broken and as far as I’m aware never fully opalised. It is a strange phenomena as this field has produced hundreds of thousands of fully opalised shells of all sorts, but perhaps because of its size, this particular species never fully opalises. It possibly suffers the same fate as the plesiosaur skull, too large to opalise except in the rarest of cases.
This short opal mining documentary is brought to you courtesy of worldclassopal.net , Kimberleyopal.com and opalauctions.com/stores/graceopal .. - Jak na to + styl
Dude that made me so anxious for you. Here I sit watching a video of you crawling around an old mine who’s roofs are falling in praying you come back out safe.
Thank God above you did.
Sometimes the rewards just don’t outweigh the risks.
Be careful bud, I’d much rather see you staying alive and making more videos.
Thanks mate, we certainly plan on not getting squashed wherever possible! 😅🙏
Amazing and fantastic clip.
Scarry just watching and thinking about getting stuck underground. My sense of get the heck outta there is overloaded
Going through old tunnels is absolutely awesome, I reckon it was southern cross and we went down some old tunnels and some of the thinner seam they left and itcut amazing and would make great doublets. Thanks for sharing!
Haha yep, we used to be restricted by 240 v leads for the black lights, now you can just keep going until there’s some opal. (Energy permitting) lol. Not a problem for young guns like yourself.
I love Southern Cross, only had a few finds there but what I found was mind boggling!
Nice look around a very unstable tunnel, thanks for the trip, love piece of crystal shell you found, pity there wasn’t a kilo more 😂😂😂😂
Thanks as always for watching mate!
Yeah it was very promising, but the absence of footage is often an indication of disappointment. Still, there were some interesting areas that under other circumstances (big machinery) could be on the edge of some productive areas.
I guess it’s about the hierarchy of potential, we have several spots far more enticing so hopefully more ‘opaly’ vids to come!
Reality and from someone with great experience. Loved this clip.
Thanks mate! Much appreciated.
Like old les said. You only have to find one good stone! Hes 74 and not found one yet tho lol. Goos luck and happy hunting.
Haha, gotta love Les, he gives me hope that I could still be scratching around for a while yet!
@Opaldigger absolutely love les and Rod they're my favourite by far. This last season with digital diggers and such are ruining it tho. I enjoy the hunt and success/ failure. I don't want a eco lecture. Good luck buddy all the best to ya.
@@jay71512 I am 100% with you on that one! No school like the old school mate! 😁
watching this makes my knees hurt. those flies? I couldn't even...
nice little bits of color. Stay Safe and happy hunting!
Haha, I know the feeling. I don’t mind doing it occasionally, but I used to do this almost daily for decades for a working wage. No complaints as it is a life of incredible freedom work wise, but we have to amp it up eventually because the knees probably won’t last forever lol.
Hey opal miner! Your a George Clooney twin
Haha! I identify as Jack Black.
Stay safe lads..
Cheers mate! We just crawl around like mice until it looks safe then attack it like a beast haha.
Sorry brother, i cant even watch you crawling around underground like that.
Ok, thanks for trying though! 😁
I’d love to buy some of this material do you sell it online ?
Hi! Thanks for watching! Our rough parcels are mostly found at opalauctions.com/stores/graceopal Thanks for looking!
First
i love South Australia. 15 mile is only 900km up the road from my house or just a stones throw away.
Dad dragged us all up there from Saddleworth in the mid 80’s became home immediately.. Love it!