Our opal mines
Here are some photos of:
Boulder opal fields around Opalton, 125 km south west of Winton, Outback Queensland, where we mine our opals.
The Australian "bush" with animals, scenery, pictures of our mining and opal cutting equipment.
Some mining scenes in the open air and some of the tunnels we dug by hand (with electric jack pick).
Those tunnels are on average 12 metres deep underground and 2.5 metres high.
Some rough boulder opal and some half finished stones.
All of this should give you an idea of the process involved .
Here are some photos of:
Boulder opal fields around Opalton, 125 km south west of Winton, Outback Queensland, where we mine our opals.
The Australian "bush" with animals, scenery, pictures of our mining and opal cutting equipment.
Some mining scenes in the open air and some of the tunnels we dug by hand (with electric jack pick).
Those tunnels are on average 12 metres deep underground and 2.5 metres high.
Some rough boulder opal and some half finished stones.
All of this should give you an idea of the process involved .
| Click on each picture to make it bigger |
Brolgas
Wild camels
Goanna
Black headed python
Young lace monitor
Boulder opal country
Boulder opal country
Early morning on opal field
Small opal mines
Sunrise on opal field
Elisabeth going down the shaft
Automatic hoist
Elisabeth in tunnel
Air cooler underground
Elisabeth in tunnel
View from bottom of shaft
Tunnel vision
View from top of shaft
Underground
Tunnel vision
| Elisabeth checking for pipe opal traces |
Underground
Elisabeth on waste dump
Underground
Hand shaft started
Starting a shaft
| Bottom of automatic hoist |
Jacky and dead tree
Elisabeth in tunnel
Repairing hoist
Elisabeth having a rest
Mining with back hoe
Mining with back hoe
Mining camp
Mining with back hoe
Earth boring machine
Rough boulder opal
Mobile camp
Hot weather is upon us (40° C in the
shade ), we're going fishing; Wishful
thinking! We are actually going home
to start cutting the opal we found.
shade ), we're going fishing; Wishful
thinking! We are actually going home
to start cutting the opal we found.
Mobile camp
Sieve and trailer
Boulder opal split in 3 pieces
Rough boulder opal
Rough boulder opal
Rough opalised fossil wood
Boulder opal split, then sawn
Polished boulder opal specimens
| A beautiful parcel of faced boulder opal |
Small rough boulder opal specimens
A wheel barrow full of opal
| Elisabeth and Jacky hard at work again. After finding it, boulder opal has to be cut and polished. |
| We hope you enjoyed our pictures Back to top of page Copyright © 2004 - 2008 Delarue opals |
Watch also the following videos posted on You Tube of 3 very rare and exceptional boulder opals, we have mined:
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