Searching for the Rare Opal. Members of a mining family sift through earth and stones with the help of a wire meshed trap at the Lightning Ridge quarry,365 miles Northwest of Sydney. Buried at Lightning Ridge is one of the world’s richest deposits of one of the world’s rarest gems, the black opal. The world export market for the rare gem has skyrocketed over the last five years to about $9 million a year. Australian opal miners fear the outcome of current Japanese efforts to produce a synthetic stone comparable to the opal.

United Press International · [ca. June 1968]

[Information from item housing] Jewelry