News / biography
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August 12, 2022It's early July 2022, the Grace Opal brothers venture up to God's country to see what we can achieve in our quest to find enough opal to retire and go opal mining / gardening and fishing (when it's 45c in the desert).
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March 12, 2022
A week in the life of Coober Pedy Pillarbashers, Australian opal mining. Early March 22.
The Grace Opal brothers return in early March 2022 to pillarbash in hopes of getting the kitty back in the black. No fortunes were found, but decent wages were made and nobody has to apply for work with a boss, so, no complaints! 😁 #outbackopalhunters #opalmining -
January 12, 2022
The common expectation VS reality of opal mining in Coober Pedy.
If quality opal was abundant and cheap to obtain and filled the jewellery market with beautiful top quality material, every one could get a showstopper for ten bucks a piece.. but that’s probably not happening any time soon.. -
November 24, 2021
Mining and cutting a 35K super gem crystal Belemnite Pipe..
In early December 2020, our mining company was prospecting on the Donna's Rush opal field about 50 kilometres north of Coober Pedy Australia.
Donna's Rush is a field named in honor of John and Yoka Dunstan's late daughter. I knew her a little personally and can attest to what an amazing person she was, she certainly brightened the day of anyone she interacted with and is very much missed by all who knew her, not least her family.
So with that in mind, it is fitting that some of the most beautiful opal we have ever found has been from the relatively small field of Donna's Rush.
This particular day we winched into a mine that had been dug recently with a tunelling machine with little trace left behind. I tried out a battery powered drill we spent over a thousand dollars trying to see if it was feasible, you can see in the video the small holes it made before the battery overloaded and cut out. Turns out it's too soon for that tech, we will have to stick with 240 volts and elbow grease for the time being.
Just as we had almost finished checking the entire claim, i found some small 'feeders' of trace in a patch of beautiful opal level (the chocolatey weathered sandstone around the opal in the video), and as I was cutting them out, it was very fortunate that a few crumbly chips fell away from the pipe, exposing the end as seen in the video. This piece will be for sale at our mining companies accounts following: