วีดีโอ

Ok & Thanks, hopefully we will do it better next time. Enjoy Newcastle, hopefully you can make it to the beach.

Lol I was hoping someone would enjoy that, cause I kind of did :) - nice to get it com on camera, the rock got right close to the top too but then no :) We have much love for our American buddies too.

Thanks and we hope so too!

Winter stopping you I would have never thought off seeing I've only seen light snow once, Yeah we have a blacklight, it's hard to film it (and not as useful in our area compared to others mining for Nobbies rather than seam opal) - but I'll try to get some footage of that soonish. Will definently bump into Unc soon and certainly say hello for you

@opalAdventures i appreciate the interaction!! We don't get much winter anymore!! -8 degrees that F° not sure on C°!!

omg that's unbelievable to me - it's can often be 105 degrees Fahrenheit here in summer - 127 Fahrenheit was the highest I've ever seen

@opalAdventures id melt!

Very True.

This year will retire you two legends. Goodluck!!

No we don't live underground, it's not dry enough here to reside underground unlike Cooper Pedy. It's pretty much the same all year around, about 23 degrees Celsius (i think), I'll take a thermometer one day in a future video, because I never have.

Yep, will put that in the next video and will try to getter better close ups in the future. I need a camera person. And I appreciate the suggestions, cheers.

Yes, I try to learn this from the old timers but still am learning. We're at least getting SOME material now - as opposed to the 2 years we spent at Emu's out at Coocoran. Fingers crossed again.

@opalAdventures field called emu here in coober aswell

Hahaha so true!

True most the time, however people do get lucky. Fingers crossed still.

Welcome! Harry Bibby is my next door neighbour & Kiwi has a claim at New Chum which he hasn't put a hole down on yet.

Welcome and Thanks!

As I watch! I'm like, I can fix that, I can fix that!! Im a boilermaker 20 year's XP!!! Weld, structure steel erection! Confined space certified! Ive worked iron ore mines here in michigan!! Would love to have a working vacation to lightning ridge! You got a internship program??? I'm 50, I'll out work two 20 year olds!!!in my younger years, I was in the united States Marine corps!!

Haha, If somehow you can make it here, you'll be an honorary team member for as long as your here :) . Wouldn't recommend coming in our summer though might be a temperature shock for you. 50 degrees Celsius is 122 Fahrenheit. (although it hasn't got that hot this summer yet). "US Marine goes Opal Mining" would be cool

lol small world dominated by Chinese goods - it costed us $625 US new - they probably ripping us off down here

@opalAdventures id say!! 150 bucks!

@@JamesFoster-z9s gear must be a lot cheaper over there!! that price is amazing to us

Thanks and sure thing we will show the next one.

Thanks!!

@@opalAdventures are there meany miners still mining there is there still a lot opal coming out? Or has town dwindled down to about 100 or so mining here 1 thing i notice price is all time hi Chinese payn better then they ever have

I'm not sure how many people there are mining - I might estimate a at least 500+ including surrounding areas but probably more. If you specifically talk about Lightning Ridge its a lot less, maybe its 200?, if that, way down from the peak times as I understand but really I could be complexly wrong - some miners say the mines departments needs to release new area for the drillers to search for more opal. Seemingly there aren't a lot of young people getting into either as the old timers pass. It's also hard to guess how much opal is coming out of Lightning Ridge & surrounds (Coccoran and Grawin) as people are pretty private about that - but my understanding is that it's no where near as much as it used to be. People are saying prices are going up, but I'm not sure how much of those price increases are getting passed onto the local miners who often sell directly to local buyers whom many feel rip the local miners off a lot. This was one of the reasons we've started creating videos on TH-cam, we're hoping if we get more of a following here we might be able to market the opals we find directly here, and skip going through the local buyers.

Threw A Noodler? (Do you mean dry rumbler? - which less people do use) To me a noodler is someone who searches through discarded mine tailings or leftover dirt and rock for overlooked pieces of opal. There are some black lights which will make some material glow (depending on the field it comes from) but there is a lot of material in Lightning Ridge and surrounding fields that doesn't glow and also is often hidden inside rocks, as oppose to opal in Coopery Pedy which all glows (I believe). Thanks for watching, subscribing and your question :)

@opalAdventures here in coober pedy we have a thing called a noodling machine you use a concrete mixer to wash here we sive it threw a noodle machine.if you a miner you would know what a noodling machine is.

Righto thanks for explaining, I've only been mining a couple of years, just haven't heard of anyone using a noodling machine around here (would be interested to see one though, hopefully when I make it to Cooper Pedy) - I see here www.cooberpedy.com/noodling-mining/ - you have Noodling areas

See latest video

We like to believe we all have big hearts, thank you. The biggest opal found in that mine was 80 carats, many years ago.

Mate, we are genuinely honored, we appreciate you!!

This made us laugh :D :D :D

Appreciate you watching!

Hey mate, yeah life got a bit too hectic to be able to make videos and do much mining but we're trying again. Uncle is good he's still kicking around, I was mining with him on the weekends (he works a fulltime job Monday to Friday) but couldn't make it out with him for a couple of months worth of weekends :( he's got some other opal mission his working on at the moment (looking for some new and fresh ground), but I really hope and believe we will get up some adventures together again in the future! Nice work finding indian arrowheards, that's so cool. The thing I want to find the most is a dinosaur! Some miners out here have found them!

@opalAdventures that be cool! What kind of dinosaur you got over there in lightning ridge

@@JamesFoster-z9s Dinosaurs A wide range of fossil dinosaur material has been found in the region, ranging from the bones of from large herbivorous sauropods and through to fearsome theropods. In just the last five years palaeontologists have described several new theropods from Lightning Ridge including representatives from the megaraptorid, carchardodontosaurid and noasaurid groups. Species amongst these groups can range from terrifying large robust predators to relatively small and agile omnivores. - Incredibly, all of the vertebrate, invertebrate and plant fossil material found at Lightning Ridge has been opalised, creating a beautiful and relatively unique snapshot of prehistoric life. While fossil material from the site is often quite fragmented and rare, the region has still produced an impressive diversity of flora and fauna. For example, the areas has yielded the only dinosaur material known from NSW and some of Australia’s very few Mesozoic mammals (mammals from the time of the dinosaurs). --- This is from: australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/fossils/sites/lightning-ridge/ -- Now to be more specific I want to find an opal dinosaur!

@opalAdventures you'd get to name!! If your the first!! There's a though! Thanks for your time!! Love and respect from michigan USA

I'd look right at it..... and name it.... Bob

I was wondering if i should keep using it? I've got an identical one but brand new in the box i can use - but even though there is that hole - it still goes good and does the job, I was thinking its ok still and got more life? It is one the cheapest ones you can buy though, probably smarter and safer just to swap it out though, thanks for the advice will do.

Yeah you said it, there's alot more to it than just digging! Thanks for your support

We just started, see latest video :)

I hope to visit your town some day! Will try to keep the videos coming :)

Hello!! Nice to see you watching and yes see you very soon! :)

I'll ask Ian to show the slide his identified with the rod if he can. The history of this mine if that it is Ian's mine that he worked in for over 10+ years with numerous mining partners. I think the rod does identifies the faults (according to him, many people are skeptical), and faults are often where opal forms because water and other elements runs through those faults - my understanding is that faults are a key ingredient for opal to be able to form, I've been told no faults means no opals. Does it also identify where good opal was found - not sure, but that's a great question, I'll ask him and let you know in a future video. Thanks for watching!

Yeah Someone could I guess - I want to learn to carve but haven't yet

I haven't found too much yet - but i've done both, i can't cut and polish myself yet (I need to get my ow equipment, wheels first) I've been getting other people i know like Otto (from previous videos) to do it for me.

Righto Will Do

What's stopping you? 😉

Yeah It's not easy, Thankyou!

@@opalAdventures Gday mate ,, I’ve been subbed for a long time , you only had a few subs when I found you ,your content is great I really enjoy it , my advice from being a smaller channel is put out at least one video a week , it will help yt push you in the algorithm, even if it’s a bit of a history video of the town or a interview with some fellow miners , that’s if you can’t film digging , You have real potential with this channel if your constantly posting ( try to release on the same day each week and same time of day for each video, your subscribers will get used to it and watch more ) , really hope this helps you and the channel out , keep diggin be safe and hope you hit the jackpot mate 🤘🤘

Yeah i was disappointed to drop the ball a bit in the last couple of months after getting a little momentum. I know I should be uploading weekly just didn't manage lately. Will keep trying, thanks for your advice and from being around from the beginning!

Glad to be here , it’s not often you get to seen these type of small miner operations stuff , oh that old lister , from what I know of them from working on them , they are usually really reliable , hope you get it started up 🤘

Hello from 🇮🇪 👋

Wow the Opal Leprechaun has graced our presence, thankyou.

Thanks for your kind words! Fans like yourself keep us motivated in uploading our next opal hunting adventure. The first safety measure for new miners is to do the Mining Safety Workshop where you'll learn the essentials for novice miners in unstable underground environments in Lightning Ridge. We all had to do it. It was a great way to visit the Ridge and learn something different. www.resourcesregulator.nsw.gov.au/safety/safety-events-and-education-programs/lightning-ridge-courses-and-workshops

Looking forward to take our hunt for colour out in Hill End some day!

@@opalAdventures yeah for sure mate come on down and learn to look for gold!

You've only seen 5 percent of it, probably less :)

Not really complacency, just finished my university trimester and haven't been able to do much on TH-cam, wish I had time to be more consistent, will try and get back into it.. and with some different content, stuff about Lightning Ridge, will try and do some noodling at some point too, thanks for the feedback, I know there's so many ways for me to improve - on way out to the mine now :)

Yeah we know... we haven't worked out how to get better sound quality yet - it is something we work on :) for now it is what it is. Thankyou for your feedback!