Rainbows and Opals in the Desert

Way out in the sagebrush and sand, a micro burst dispenses a drink to the thirsty land. It's hard to envision this terrain as anything but a vast arid landscape but it was, a long while ago, a forested oasis. In this paradise, a rare and precious gemstone lies long buried and that’s what we’re after.

The long stretch to the Virgin Valley

Some areas like this through central Oregon were rainforests and it is believed they received more than 10 feet of rain a year during the Miocene era. In addition, the region was rife with volcanic activity creating the perfect atmosphere for an Opal nursery. Imagine the scene below filled with water! Steve would love to be fishing from that inland sea, perhaps bagging a Loch Ness monster or two.

Ancient lake basin near the Oregon-Nevada border.

Alas we're not fishing for dinosaurs but instead fossils and hopefully precious ones at that. During a volcanic episode, one of these lake beds trapped wood, water, and silicates in the perfect circumstance for precious Opal to emerge. The Opal found its way into petrified wood, created limb casts, and the rare vesicles.

Royal Peacock Opal Mine Virgin Valley, Nevada.

The morning we arrived, my heart was racing. I was nervous and excited, I had waited my whole life to hunt Opals! As luck should have it, we were there for one of only a handful of days a year where rain closes the mine. No way! Surprisingly, the silver lining to the storm clouds was the laundry facility there since we had been camping over a gritty, rock hounding, sunstoney, bike riding, muddy week already. The super hot shower was also a slice of heaven. Of course that night it was hard to sleep with sugar plum opal fairies dancing through my head.

Petrified wood, some with common opal.

It was a gray, damp morning but they opened the mine. Maybe it was due to Lisa and my longing faces or perhaps fear of violent mutiny. After our kind hosts showed us what we were looking for and gave us the rundown, we were set loose on mining tail piles to search the ashy seas for the black pearl of the desert. We had no idea if we were finding anything. All day. There was no sun which really helps see the ‘glass’ of the opal and the bentonite clay was like cake batter. Both Lisa and I were inches taller at the end of the day and my xtra-tufs were half full. I literally had earned cement shoes.

Opal Limb Cast

Pin-fire and flash inside the orange Opal Limb Cast.

The sun came out the next day and, sure enough, we had found some Opals. They come in many different flavors in the Virgin Valley. There’s of course the Petrified-Opalized Wood (or Conk Wood), Crystal Opal (can come in many colors), White Opal, clear, and most magnificently the rare Black Opal.

Black and White Opal Limb Cast

A Black Precious Opal bubble in host rock.

Steve always laughs at me when my head is in the bucket of rocks while we’re traveling, letting all the beautiful scenery fly by. Can you blame me for wanting to know what’s in there?! It’s pretty hard to identify exactly what you’ve got until you can get inside the stone and do some polishing back at home. Because these are precious and fragile, I decided to employ the old fashioned method of cutting; jeweler’s hand saw, diamond blade, and muscle. Happily, the sun is shining in December making it perfect old fashioned, out door stone cutting weather. Oh, and safety first with silicate dust!

Lapidary’s beach attire?

I got into that lump with the Black Opal vesicle. There are hundreds to thousands of bubbles in the rock that vary from common to precious opal. I cut and carved the piece featured in the necklace below and you can see the mother stone to the right. This hand carved cabochon turned out to be predominantly common opal but still a rare and beautiful stone. I can’t wait to cut and polish more of this so I’m hoping for more sunny winter days on the coast.

Carved section in the middle of Bubble Opal Rock with Pearl and Thunder Egg Agate

Our trip to the Peacock Opal Mine was an immense pleasure and has given me a serious desire to mine the local opals (to add to my already very healthy addiction to Opals in general). There are some opals in the works right now getting ready for settings so keep an eye on the New Jewelry Page. In addition, feel free to like, share, or contact me if you’d like to know more about these Opals or any other gemstones that interest you. As it said in the sign at the Royal Peacock, “A successful day is the result of positive thoughts. DIG IT”!