Another week gone so fast - I have been flat out mining all week except for some of the weekend when Lyn was here. We put on a bbq on Sat night when some miners came over for dinner - it is great to get together and have a chat over a beer or two when opal is not the main topic - family, football and fuel prices being the usual talking points. There are a number of different nationalities here on this field and it is like a meeting of the united nations when we all get together but this time we Aussies outnumbered them with only one from Italy and one from Germany - what great company they are.

I have been wanting to get on and explain my mining programme and guess now is as good a time as any but where to start! There are two main methods used here at Koroit as on most fields - open cut and underground. Underground is where the miner works underground using a jackhammer or digger and moving dirt to the top via a hoist or blower ( giant vacuum cleaner ) into a truck and then moving to a mulloch heap - I will not go into the details too much because this is definitely not my game - doing the rabbit thing is not my idea of a good time.

Open cut mining is the only way for me - this is done using an excavator to remove dirt and a truck to move dirt to the mulloch dumps. The ideal scenario is to be taking the dirt out of one side of the hole and after removing the opal bearing nuts dumping the dirt back into the other side of the hole already mined - filling behind as you go. It sounds simple but it most certainly isn't because the dirt you take out just does not fit back into the same area - the overburden or mulloch is the biggest problem for the open cut miner and I would spend a third or more of every day moving mulloch. The biggest challenge is to organise this from the start so that mulloch does not have to be shifted a number of times. There has not been a lot of previous work done on these leases so I spent most of last year trying to organise the hole so that I could dispose of the mulloch as simply as possible - I don't doubt for a minute that it will eventually catch up but hopefully I will get a number of years before this happens. There are plenty of miners who have moved onto leases that have been worked haphazardly with great heaps of dirt everywhere and they have great difficulty trying to work out which ground has been worked and more importantly which is virgin ground.

The name of the game is to find the levels of ironstone nuts or boulders containing opal and this can be the same as the proverbial needle in the haystack scenario. Fortunately we have reasonably modern methods to narrow things down a bit - the main one being an exploratory auger drill. We are very fortunate to have a nine inch drill here on the field so this method is used by most miners frequently - it doesn't always find opal, in fact I have had many holes drilled here and have found colour in only a couple but the information it gives on where the levels of nuts are is invaluable.

At present I am mining from the surface down to a depth of about 18 feet or 6 metres approx. There are a number of levels of ironstone nuts starting from virtually under the surface to 6 feet then another main level at about 12 feet but the levels differ greatly at times so every bucket has to be processed so as to not miss any nuts - patience is the key in this game and it is always in the back of your mind that the nut you miss could be the one you have been looking for all day. The presence of natural faults in the ground play a major role in what is happening with the levels and I will endeavour to explain this as time goes on.

The results this week were ordinary after a couple of good weeks previously but a couple of buyers came by so I was able to sell what rough or unprocessed material I had on hand. The stone has been very dry but I know I am heading toward more promising ground - it is just a matter of moving the dirt. Hopefully I will have some rough opal to show next week and will explain my processing procedure.

Images show a great sunset we had this week, the gang we had for dinner, Lyn breaking nuts and the hole where I am working at present.

Lyn came out as usual for the weekend all geared up for the vege - garden to be built. Lyn works in Cunnamulla during the week on a casual basis doing the books for two businesses in town - she enjoys this immensely and the extra income doesn't hurt either. After a run down to the property owners cattle yards for some manure, the vege and herb garden came to fruition in an old bath tub and old copper. It was then up to me to put the fence around to stop the goats and kangaroos from cleaning it all up first night. It all came out well and the boss was happy.

Has been a week away from mining this last week. I broke a filling off and was lucky enough to get into our dentist on reasonably short notice so it was off to Toowoomba 7 hours drive away. Our kids both live in Toowoomba so it was great to catch up with them. We stay with Tammy, our daughter, husband Trent and grandson Bailey. Our son , Mitchell and partner Krizara live around the corner so it is family time when we are there. Lyn had a couple of old fillings to have repaired as well so $1100.00 later we were both fixed up and ready to do some shopping which always happens when you get to the " big smoke". Saturday saw me off to watch Bailey play soccer while Lyn did the usual trip to the hairdresser, then we all went to lunch with Lyn's sister Kay and husband Greg coming up from Ipswich. Sunday was a cold windy day but we all went off to the markets after I made contact with a couple of opal buyers who live in Toowoomba. I didn't sell a lot but it is always good to make contact and keep in touch with them.

We did some final grocery shopping on Monday morning and then it was on the road home to Cunnamulla arriving back about 6pm. The shops in Cunnamulla certainly provide all the basic items but it is nice to visit the big stores to get those little extras that you miss. It was back out to the camp today after getting more fuel and some groceries for a couple of other miners.

I will start on the business part next post showing where I am up to with the mining.

Images show the vege- garden being created and the family in Toowoomba.

Koroit Opal Field

I thought I might explain a little about the area where I mine. Koroit field has been mined at various times since the late 1800s / early 1900s. We have found tunnels on these leases down 20 ft that are only 3 to 4 feet in depth running 40 to 50 feet in different directions from a hand dug shaft. These were most likely dug with candle and pick, the miners most likely laying on their side pushing the dirt behind them - not my way of making a living. Koroit produces many types of boulder opal - the main one being boulder matrix and is world famous for this product. Matrix is where the opal is part of and runs through the ironstone making fabulous patterns and each stone is individual - you don't see two stones exactly the same. The ironstone is exactly that , very hard and takes a very good polish. The opal is found in ironstone nuts - these can be from the size of a ping pong ball up to huge in size but the average on these leases is about two tennis balls joined together and I break them with a hammer as gently as possible - you can't see any opal on the nuts so they have to be broken. As a rule the nuts are found in distinct levels but on my leases here there are no rules - the levels are all over the place, every excavator bucket has to be gone through so patience is the key. Miners do a lot of exploratory work before committing to digging an area and this is usually done over time by simple divining and using an exploratory drill to find levels - if colour comes up from a drill hole then you are feeling pretty confident that you are on a winner but there are plenty of exceptions to this theory. I have had many holes drilled here and it is a great tool for deciding where to dig and though I have found some very nice opal I have had only limited success from the drill holes. There are many different areas on Koroit field and every lease is individual in the depths of opal bearing ground as well as type of matrix opal. These leases I am working are certainly diferent to most on the field and I will endeavour to show them as time goes on.

This might do for this post so will put on some photos of the opal matrix and some other nice stones I have found here.

Tuesday 6th May, 2008 - First Posting

I have been wanting to start my blog for some time so it is with a mix of excitement and trepidation that I start on my first posting.
My wife Lyn and I live at Koroit Opal Field, we are the the only resident miners on the field, only leaving during the hottest summer months ( January/February ) to visit family and friends.
Koroit is only a small field but has been mined at various times since the early 1900s - there are approx 25 to 30 miners here during the winter months every year, arriving this time of the year and most leaving as soon as the hot weather starts around Sept/October. There are only a few like myself who actually mine opal for sole income - most come for the buzz of finding opal and for the simple and uncluttered lifestyle of living in the outback.
The field is spread over quite a large area - our 2 leases are close to the main part of the field but in an area of their own called " The Shallow Patch ", thus our leases are called " The Shallows " and " The Shallows Extension " ( very original ) comprising an area of approx. 8 acres. The reason for the name is that good opal is found at a shallow depth , it can be found at 2 feet and down to 45 feet. I only mine by open-cut methods, ie - using an excavator , loader and truck to operate our mine.
I have built a simple but comfortable home or "camp" as we call it, ( see photos) using a large caravan incorporated in a steel shed with insulated iron all round. This helps with the excess temperatures in winter and particularly the summer months. I will show more of the camp in future postings as we have put a lot of time and effort into it and are very proud of the results.
I will endeavour to explain my mining programme as it unfolds and hopefully some nice opal from the time it comes out of the ground to the cutting of the stones and the final result for sale.
Koroit produces a unique type of boulder opal and I will explain and show the different types next posting.

Images show camp when first built and main working area on lease.