Hello fossicking friends!! Help us!

[Bowieopal]

Hello there fossicking friends,
I write this message nestled in my Mitsubishi challenger, parked in a camping site in Walgett, NSW with a belly full of camp cooker beans and rice, next to my sleeping partner who is talking about digging deeper holes for opals in his sleep.

Its our first day at lightening ridge. Man, this place certainly has the energy of its name. We embarked on our trip with the hope of getting completely feral, exploring this gorgeous country and hopefully fossicking for gems and opals.

It was a bit of a heart breaker to learn that the only fossicking sites around are the small piles next to the visitors centre. Surely there must be some places for some keen explorers to scratch around in and find some small slices of that beautiful black opal. Can anyone help? Do you have any tips for us? Any recommendations? We plan on traveling north through Queensland and into the Northern Territory and really want to have a good go at fossicking along the way. Any places you could suggest?

My name is Georgina and my boyfriends name is Jack. Were both in our twenties and from Sydney. Peace and love??

 

[7.62marksman]

Welcome to the forum
I am sure you will get lots of help on here
Remember ask lots of questions the boys and girls will answer as they log on

 

[pete165]

Welcome to the forum. Enjoy your stay. Just keep the hope alive.

 

[Anolphart]

Beans, beans, did someone say 'beans'?

 

[Emanuel Mcdonnell]

I would say the ridge has changed a lot since the old days. Your best chance of fossicking well noodling for opals is white cliffs which is more towards W.A but if you're interested in gems I would say Rubyvale in Queensland is a good start. Although you can always drive about 4 hours east to the New England district where you can find pretty much every gemstone and mineral you can think of. Some particularly good places for sapphires are billabong blue and the numerous creeks around. There is also emeralds in Torrington state forest as well as Cassorite although very rare nowadays also topaz pretty much everywhere. A good place to camp is seven oaks is 16 bucks a night.

If you're going north I have heard rumours of a "Crystal Mountain" so to speak apparently because it's a mountain of quartz crystals it's meant to be around 20ks east of mount Isa i think. It would be a good opportunity to explore the countryside if that's what your planning on. I honestly don't know much about it only that I think I spent a whole day trying to find it on the internet google maps, google earth. But there are also places like mica creek around mt isa. Stop at the tourist information centre there should tell you're about other sites but probably not crystal mountain as it is a secret. There is also topaz and amethyst to be found around Coolgarra

Umm for the NT not really sure I think there are garnets and a lot of other gems around harts range not much around darwin assuming that's your destination few other sites and old mines in the ranges west of Alice Springs rough road though.

Anyway, you have a lot of options and welcome to the forum :Y:

My tip it is just to ask around maybe read some surveys from the mines department if you can find them

 

[grubstake]

Welcome to PA

May I suggest you get started here by having a look through this lengthy Lightning Ridge thread:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=885

 

[rodking]

Around Lightning Ridge town fields opal dirt transported to dams and washed, any opal dirt left around the claims is not worth fossicking. About 50 km To the west of Lightning Ridge are the Grawin, Glengary and Sheepyard fields, the opal dirt is not processed and dumped at communal dumps. There are a couple beside the main road that have been well picked over, and others that you can find using aerial view in Google/Apple maps on a phone. You are not ment to fossick, but no one realy cares, just don't fossick on registered claims. There is a very good chance of finding chips of colour and even a stone. Hot at the moment, so you need some shade and drink plenty of water. Another good thing about the Grawin fields are the three local pubs, and the more genuine opal mining experience.

Rod