The Last Claim
I had just finished the exhilarating task of digging out a large pocket of exquisite opal from our Prize Fighter claim. It was towards the end of the year and I was on an absolute high.
Not all those at Mintabie were feeling the same.
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This page features 5 videos that take you through the process of turning a rough opal stone into four high quality opal gemstones. The five videos cover cutting the rough opal stone, dopping the opal (the sensible and easy way), shaping the opal and the polishing of the finished opal gemstones.
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Mineshafts’ participation in The Story of Australia… documentary aired in China to 21 million viewers.
Peter (Owner of Mineshaft) was invited to be part of this documentary. One of the six parts was on mining in Australia and a large section of this was on opal.
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These are of the very best quality Selenite Wands and we are letting them go for a ridiculously low only $15 each. Don’t just “wander” about it come and pick a few up.
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The prize fighter claim
Stafford owned an investigator drilling rig and had been grid drilling a claim he owned beside a successful finished claim. This claim had produced quite a large amount of opal and was in a productive area in the middle of Crystal Valley, one of the prime mining areas at Mintabie.
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The Bits and Pieces claim
We had just found an incredible pocket of black opal in our Jet Black claim and I was still on a high. I had roughly faced a couple of stones at Mintabie and the result was astonishing. I couldn’t wait to finish off a few.
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19/05/2016. We are just beginning to put out in the shop the latest exquisite fossil mammoth ivory carvings our carvers have recently finished. This is just one of several master carved pieces. Running horses sitting on a hand carved wooden base. The price is A$900
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My Life in Turmoil
My life, now in a perceived state of upheaval was in turmoil. I was feeling totally insecure with our permanent return to Canberra. With our mining days at Mintabie finished and all bridges burnt, with the sale of the camp and the giving away of our leases,
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Finding the Balance
Running my shop ‘Mineshaft’ and being a full time opal miner made my life very busy. Somehow amongst all this I had to juggle a marriage and spend time with our young son Michael. There are periods in every body’s life where circumstances mean we probably take on more than we can handle.
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Preparing a New Opal Mine
We had bottomed on opal at our new grasshopper claim and were really keen to go down and dig it out. This might appear a ‘ready set go’ procedure but the fact is there is quite a bit of preparation work to be done before this can happen.
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