Mining Adventures  |
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 Opal  |
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 Sunstone |
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 Garnet |
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 Sapphire |
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 More Gems |
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 Stones |
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| On a lark, we went on a mining adventure to Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine in Nevada. One of the beautiful small opals we found was made into a pendant and ..... Opal Originals was born! Each year a trip is planned to Rainbow Ridge in search of that elusive, spectacular, big opal. And, while we are still searching, we enjoy both the thrill of the hunt and the company of good people there. Over the years we have mined several locations for opal and other gems. It's hard work, but we always have fun and never fail to meet nice people. Sometimes, we bring back a worthwhile gemstone or two. Occasionally, these will find their way into our work. On this page is information on some of the places we've been, or hope to go. Have fun looking around. Hopefully, we'll meet you on a future adventure! |
| Royal Peacock |
It's off to remote high desert in search of opal! The Royal Peacock Mine is located in the Virgin Valley about 30 miles west of Denio in northwestern Nevada. For a fee, you can dig in an embankment or work the tailings piles. Harry & Joy Wilson are the mine owners. They can help you with tools & tips on getting started, show their wonderful opal (for sale of course), or give you a history of the mine and area. They are good folks who make available a rare mining experience. |
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Royal Peacock |
Royal Peacock is maintained by the Wilsons as a public fee digging opportunity. The opal at Royal Peacock is found in a layer of volcanic ash/clay. The opal bearing layer is covered by overburden which can be 100 feet thick. The overburden is removed and "benches" ( 5-6 feet high) are formed in the opal bearing layer. This means a lot of time, effort and cost goes into the operation before you have the opportunity to dig into the hillside in search of your opal prize. |
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| Royal Peacock |
As with each mining adventure we've had, the work to locate your prize "find" will be hard. Tools of the trade may include gloves, shovel, rake, a small sledge hammer, pick, rock hammer and chisels. Look for indications of opal and petrified wood. Working around the bottoms and sides of "puff balls" may also be a helpful approach. Be prepared with sun block, plenty of water, and a hat to protect yourself from the sun and heat. |
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| Royal Peacock |
Virgin Valley opal is replacement of wood (petrified) by silica. It is roughly 14.5 million years old. Opalized wood with "play of color" can be spectacular. The variety and colors of opal found here rival any opal in the world. Virgin Valley opal does tend to crack and craze as it dries, so put it in water right away. Due to cracking, this is mostly specimen opal with little stable enough to cut. |
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| Rainbow Ridge |
This is where we got hooked on opal! Rainbow Ridge is in remote northwest Nevada and is open to the public during summer months. Fees are charged to either dig in the tailings or, provide you a bucketfull of virgin ground from a loader. There is a lot to see, do and (hopefully) find.The Hodson family are wonderful people who provide a rare opportunity for a fun and exciting mining experience. They have beautiful opal specimens and a lot of local history. |
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| Rainbow Ridge |
Opal at Rainbow Ridge is in a layer of volcanic ash/clay (the darker material in the photo) typically 10-12 feet thick. The opal bearing layer is covered by overburden which can be 35, or more, feet thick. The overburden is removed by bulldozer before an excavator can go to work. This means a lot of time, effort and cost goes into the operation before you have the opportunity to buy a loader full of material. The mine area itself is strictly off limits, but you'll have a day of work with a bucketfull of dirt or working through the tailing piles. |
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| Rainbow Ridge |
The Hodsons have done their hard work. Time to begin yours. Dig and wander through the tailings. If you purchase a loaderful of dirt, it will be placed on a large flat area with room to spread out...you'll need it! It's a good idea to set the large pieces aside. Let them dry for several hours. Drying makes breaking clods easier. Work by hand (literally) and with tools to carefully sift through the dirt. Save all opal as it may dry out and "show color" later. Be prepared with sun block, plenty of water, gloves and a hat to protect yourself from the sun and heat. |
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| Rainbow Ridge |
We found this opal at Rainbow Ridge. Virgin Valley opal is replacement of wood (petrified) by silica. It is roughly 14.5 million years old. The variety and colors of opal found here rival any opal in the world. Virgin Valley opal does tend to crack and craze as it dries, so put it in water right away. A rare mining experience and good company are guaranteed...finding precious opal is not! Fortune (and hard work) may favor you but in any event... good luck and enjoy! Perhaps we'll see you there! |
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| Dust Devil |
It's off to remote high desert for this mining experience. Dust Devil Mine is located about 25 miles north of Plush in southern Oregon. For a fee, this commercial sunstone mining operation also provides the public a chance to dig or look through the tailings pile. The Dust Devil Mine may yeild the best opportunity in the area for good quality sunstones. There is, however, also a free sunstone gathering area on nearby BLM property. |
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| Dust Devil |
You can see why it's named Dust Devil. Barren, remote, probably hot & dry. But, if you're willing to try, you'll have a great time. The operators regularly break loose new material for their own mining operation and, they will let you look over the new ground once they have moved the equipment safely away! It's a bit like throwing bird seed out to the pigeons. People wander around picking up the many loose sunstones. But, you might try working the hardrock for better stones if "gleaning" doesn't work. |
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| Dust Devil |
Wander over the mine area & find loose sunstones. Or, break apart solid and partially decomposed basalt to screen through.
Be prepared with sun block, plenty of water, gloves and a hat to protect yourself from the sun and heat. Tools of the trade may include shovel, a large & small sledge hammer, pick, pry bar(s), rock hammer, chisels and 1/4 mesh screen box. Load material into a screen box, shake out smaller material and look for sunstones. |
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| Dust Devil |
Here's we found (you may do better) in a day of hard work. You will find a lot of sunstones. A few may contain red and/or green color.
The interesting thing is that you only have to pay for what you keep. At the end of the day your stones will be sorted and graded. It is likely that you will be given many of the clear and yellow sunstones at no charge. The fee for other stones will be reasonable, but if you don't like the price, don't pay ....simply return the stones you don't want. |
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| Emerald Creek |
This fun mining experience is also in a beautifully forested setting. Located in northern Idaho, Emerald Creek is about 30 miles south of St. Maries. The site is within National Forest land and is operated by the United States Forest Service. For a reasonable fee, a permit can be obtained (at an on-site office) to dig. There is a maximum amount of garnet you can remove. Local services are limited. There is, however, a beautiful campground nearby. |
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| Emerald Creek |
Well....it's not actually so much of a "mine" as it is an area. Prospect for star garnets within a limited portion of a small stream bed. Emerald Creek has been open to the public for many years but is getting "worked out". Possible alternate locations are under study. If you have the chance to dig for garnets at Emerald Creek and enjoy the experience, please lend your voice to help keep this opportunity available for future adventurers. |
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| Emerald Creek |
The setting is beautiful, the creek is cool... but the work is still hard. Be prepared to get muddy & wet while digging a hole down to the gravel containing star garnets you hope to find. A typical depth may be 3-5 feet. There are plenty of "starter holes" which may help get you going. Shovel wet gravel from the garnet bearing layer into a 1/4 inch (or larger) mesh screening box. Wash away the finer material with water. In a few hours of dirty work you can end up with a number of large and small garnets. |
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| Emerald Creek |
You will find garnets. A few may be of gem quality. At the end of six hours (or so) we kept a bucketful of garnet that weighed about 5 pounds. We used a 1/4 mesh screen, most of the garnets were small. A few were about as big as a walnut in size. It is possible to find large, good quality star garnets, but most stones we found contained fractures and inclusions. None of the stones seemed to be of "star" quality. This is a fun mining adventure, we hope you can make sometime too! |
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| Spokanne Bar |
Spokanne Bar is just north of Helena, MT. Sapphires are found in the gravel deposits of an old streambed. The mine “office” is a small building. Outside there are tubs for washing and screening, and tables to work on. The Thompson’s are the friendly owners helping you in your sapphire adventure. Buy cut sapphires, or purchase bags of concentrated material. You can also pay to have the opportunity to dig at a “mine” site and concentrate your own material. Whatever your choice, you’ll have a good time and plenty of help. |
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| Spokanne Bar |
Pay to dig and screen your own buckets of material from a “mine” site, a short drive from the office. Dig down (about 3 feet) to bedrock. Sapphires are in a gravel deposit of an old streambed. They’re trapped (like gold) in crevices in bedrock. Shovel the gravel into buckets (a hand broom to sweep bedrock helps). Screen the material to remove fine sand. Pick out large rocks. The material you have is now slightly more “concentrated”. Buckets of concentrate can then be washed in tubs and screened on tables outside of the mine office. |
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| Spokanne Bar |
Wash (in tubs) and screen (on tables) concentrate outside of the office. “Jigging” the screen as you wash helps to move sapphires to the center. Carefully flip washed gravel on a tabletop. You may spot a sapphire in the middle, but work the gravel by starting on the outer edge. Garnets, gold and topaz may also be found. Sunshine and tweezers are helpful, as are the mine owners. They will tell you what to look for and also demonstrate the process. They will help sort out stones of more value from quartz, agates & stones of less interest. |
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| Spencer |
Mine tailings are laid out in rows with room to work from either side. A sunny day is the best assistance when looking for precious opal. Examine likely rock carefully as the opal is deposited in thin layers of the host material. Opal may be in thicker layers/nodules, but color layers are usually thin (doublet & triplet material). Bring along sun block, water, and a rock hammer. A spray bottle of water will help to bring out any play-of-color. There is a shady area with tables to provide a convenient snack/lunch area. |
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| Spencer |
The mine is about a twenty-five minute drive on dirt road from the office. The last few miles climb up about 1,000 feet to the picturesque 7,000-foot elevation of the mine. Hot water deposited opal in hollow areas and seams of volcanic rock. Overburden is removed and the mine owners work opal-bearing rock. Tailing rows are laid out for public fee digging. The mine area itself is strictly off limits. |
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| Spencer |
The town of Spencer is located in northeastern Idaho, just north of Dubois. The mine office is in a building that also serves as a restaurant and store. You can pay your mining fee, have a meal, buy snacks and examine and buy spectacular cut opal. Most opal here is made into doublets and triplets. Occasionally thick enough opal is found to cut solid gemstones. Open to the public for fee digging only a few weekends each year, it is a good idea to call and plan ahead for the available dates. |
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| Spencer |
We spent about 5-6 hours looking over the tailings piles for suitable cutting material. There little doubt that you will be able to find at least some precious opal. While we obtained some nice specimens, the opal we found does not appear to be substantial enough to spend the effort on creating doublets or triplets. It appeared that we were as successful as any of the diggers on the day of our adventure at Spencer. We have yet to cut any of the more likely material to better assess our success. |
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| Spokanne Bar |
We dug at the “mine” site all morning and took buckets to the mine office to wash and screen. We found only a few small light blue, or greenish sapphires. The mine owners said a few could be faceted. Eventually, we’ll send them to cutter. We bought a bag of material and had better luck (as you might guess) with the material they concentrated. We found several small light colored sapphires and one a little larger and dark blue. I brought a bag back for my sister who found 12 nice sapphires! We had a great time and are planning to return. |
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| The Gems of Pala |
The Gems of Pala is about a 45-minute drive north of San Diego, California. The actual mine is located a few miles from the office. It is a tunnel mine that is not open to the public. Fortunately the mine owner, Blue Sheppard, provides the public an opportunity to screen for Tourmaline from gem bearing material he hauls from the mine. You pay a fee for each bucket of material you wash and screen in an area set up next to the office. There little doubt you will find Tourmaline. Some may be of gem quality. |
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| The Gems of Pala |
Well, there aren’t tunnels to work in, picks to swing or holes to dig. In short, this “mining” experience is easier than most. The “mine” (pictured here) is a large pile of material that (we understood) is a mix of about 50% tailings and 50% virgin material from the actual tunnel mine. There are definitely tourmalines and (we suspect) you could find some gem quality stones. You pay for each bucketful you shovel from the pile. There may be a limited availability of material. It is a good idea to call ahead and make a reservation. |
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| The Gems of Pala |
There are tables, screens and water available for you to use. The work area is under a good shade screen. This is a desert area so there is normally a lot of sun. It is a good idea to use sunscreen and bring plenty of water to drink. Start your search by placing a handful or two of material into a fine mesh screen and then wash the material to screen out the fine sand. Pick out the larger rocks and look for your “prize” tourmaline(s). Work material carefully. Most tourmalines will be small, but (the hope is) not all. |
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| The Gems of Pala |
Tourmaline comes in a wide range of colors. We found pink, black, green, blue and a “watermelon” (a skin of green outside with pink in the middle) tourmaline. Don’t be fooled by this picture. Most tourmaline we found was small. The largest is about a 3/4ths of an inch. We don’t believe we found any of gem quality (but we’ll examine our material more closely). Most will enjoy this mining experience. You may get lucky and find a real quality stone in your search at The Gems of Pala. |
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