Mintabie or Mintabee Opal Mines - 1Earth Gemstones, Antiques and Appraisals Magazine

Stop Press! Stop Press! Stop Press! The famous Virgin Rainbow Black Opal is for sale here! Mintabie, South Australia - Australian Opals Australian aborigines were the first to sell black opal from Mintabie at Coober Pedy just after World War One. The aborigines kept their secret until the early 1930s when opal miners discovered the Mintabie opal field. The Mintabie opal mines were worked on a small scale until 1976, when heavy earth-moving machinery moved in. The area's remoteness and the lack of water prevented mining operations until then. Opal at Mintabie is sandwiched between hard layers of sandstone, and the rock layers below the ground are drilled or blasted through with explosives to enable the bulldozers to commence open cut mining. Mintabie produces very attractive light and semi-black opal. Mintabie black opal usually occurs on a mid-grey background therefore, although respected in the black opal markets, commands a lower price than the darker Lightning Ridge black opal.
The South Australian opal mines include Coober Pedy, Mintabee and Andamooka mines, famous for light opal, which includes crystal, grey and white opal, sometimes called 'milk' opal. A variety of boulder opal also occurs in Andamooka , South Australia , where the host rock is quartzite.	Opals
The Australian opal is the finest quality in the world. 95% of the world's precious opals come from the Australian mines.