Global Gem Intelligence
You can go to the opal fields and find opal in the tailings that have been missed by miners. From Australian Geographic OPAL – STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL and quintessentially Australian – is our national gem. Unique among its peers, precious opal is a glassy, translucent stone that refracts light in brilliant colours, which flash and change … Read more
Wollo (Welo) opal from Ethiopia can be recognized as a new type of opal because of its ability to absorb water, which affects its transparency and opalescence. After soaking in water most samples of this opal become transparent and lose their color. This phenomenon is completely reversible and after drying opal fully regains its color … Read more
Opal Fossils of Lightning Ridge Excerpt of an article from the Australian Opal Centre PRECIOUS RELICS FROM THE AGE OF DINOSAURS At the heart of the Australian Opal Centre is a magnificent collection of 100-million-year-old fossils, from the Early Cretaceous period. It was a time when dinosaurs and other ancient creatures lived where Lightning Ridge … Read more
published by www.gia.edu/ New Deposit of Black Opal from Ethiopia Lore Kiefert, Pierre Hardy, Tewodros Sintayehu, Begosew Abate, and Girma Woldetinsae Opal was first discovered in Ethiopia in the early 1990s. Specimens from Mezezo in the historical Shewa province consist of nodules of a reddish brown volcanic rock with orange, reddish brown, or “chocolate” … Read more
Author: Hobart M. King, Ph.D., GIA Graduate Gemologist The New Opal Heavyweight Australia has been the dominant force in the opal market for over 100 years. During that time as much as 95% of the worldwide opal production has been mined in Australia. Today, Ethiopia is on its way to becoming the second heavyweight in the opal market. A small discovery … Read more