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Shop for rare and valuable Australian opals at Lightning Ridge Opal Mines, a family-owned business with over 40 years of experience. Learn about opal types, cutting, mining and valuation at their showroom in the CBD.
We offer you only high grade Solid Black Opal, Dark Opal, Crystal Opal and Light Opal. The Black opal is still the most renowned and desired opal in the world. Lightning Ridge is the main source for precious black opal gemstones.
We source the very best Australian Opals from Lightning Ridge, Coober Pedy, Andamooka and Winton to bring you a stunning range of jewelry and gems to choose from. Explore our collections now.
- Jewelry Opal Jewelry Our jewelry is 100% natural Australian Opal jewelry. Unlike may other stores – we don’t use synthetic opal in our jewelry and unless stated all the opal is solid. Each piece has been designed around the opal to make it shine and show it off. Because of its inherent uniqueness opal jewelry always stands out and you are sure to get comments. Wearing an opal ring or earrings or n...
Black Opals The black opals you’ll find on this website are perfect for making that extra special opal ring, opal pendant, black opal earrings, and even as part of a bracelet with mounted opals. Since black opals come in unique shapes and sizes there’s no way to exactly custom design your opal jewelry until you find the perfect opal. Finding the right opal to use in your jewelry is really a love a...- Crystal Opals Within this online catalog you’ll find a wide selection of precious gemstones from Lightning Ridge, Australia. Since these are Australian crystal opal they are all stronger than opals from other parts of the world. That stronger quality makes them easier for jewelers to work with when making your custom jewelry designs. Crystal opals differ from their black opal and white opal siblin...
- Dark Opals Dark opal is just a few shades lighter than black opal and can have just as much brightness without the price tag. dark opals are a great way to own a larger impressive stone in carat weight and display a lighter bodytone of between N5 and N6 on the bodytone scale.
- Rough Opal This is our full catalog of rough opal single gemstones and parcels of rough opals. All of the opals you’ll find here are from Lightning Ridge, Australia. These are all natural precious opal gemstones in their original state, without any treatments. These are strong, stable opals that won’t easily fall apart or crumble as you can cut, sand, polish, and carve them into the shape you need...
For over 30 years, Down to Earth Opals has specialised in designing and selling unique jewellery pieces and top-quality unset solid opals, all locally mined in Lightning Ridge. Explore one of the largest collections of black opal globally at our showroom in Lightning Ridge or online.
- History
- Deposit and Mining
- From Mine to Market
- Eye-Catching Research
- Preserving The Culture
Opal was discovered in Lightning Ridge in the late 1880s, but its value was not recognized until Charlie Nettleton sank the first shaft in 1903 and sold the first parcel of black opal later that year. The town dramatically expanded with the influx of miners from White Cliff, another world-famous opal mining area in Australia. By 1909–1910, when the...
In addition to the mines within 10 km of Lightning Ridge, opal is mined in the town’s outlying fields. Opal is recovered from the claystone, siltstone, or clayish sandstone layers and lenses of Early Cretaceous age. Locally opal tends to form close to the boundary between the Wallangulla Sandstone and Finch Claystone units. The depth of the deposit...
We saw that the whole chain from mine to market has been developed in Lightning Ridge. The best rough from the mines is kept in town for polishing. Experienced opal cutter Jerry and his wife, Helen, guided us through the polishing process. They have been polishing opals for over 25 years and have finished many spectacular stones for world-class jew...
Lightning Ridge is the only place in New South Wales where opalized fossils have been unearthed. From gigantic dinosaur bones to microscopic tissues, opalization transformed these organic objects into precious gems. These opal fossils are not only valuable but also ideal for biological research. Many are perfect 3-D replicas of the once-living orga...
We met opal miners, cutters, dealers, and researchers in Lightning Ridge. One thing they all have in common is the belief they hold in opal. The sporadic distribution of opal in the deposit makes it hard to find; therefore the miners can sometimes have no valuable production for years. But most of the miners still choose to stay and keep mining. Mo...
All opal is sourced direct from the opal fields in Lightning Ridge. I service jewelers, collectors, investors, hobbyist & professional gem cutters and people who just want a piece of Lightning Ridge Opal.
People also ask
What types of opal are available at Lightning Ridge?
Where can I buy Lightning Ridge Black Opal?
Where are Black Lightning Opals made?
Who is Lightning Ridge opal mines?
At Lightning Ridge Opal Mines, we cut about 90% of the solid opal ourselves. We specialise in the cutting & polishing of the opal and we have specific local jewellers make the settings.
