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The Olympic Australis opal is the largest and most valuable opal yet found (as of 1961) [1] and was valued at A$2,500,000 in 1997. [2] It was found in 1956 at the 'Eight Mile' opal field near the town of Coober Pedy in South Australia. [3] The opal was found at a depth of 9.1 metres (30 ft).
It is the largest and one of the most valuable opals mined to date, consisting of 99 per cent gem opal (the other 1 per cent being soil). The Olympic Australis measures 11 inches in length, 4 + 3 ⁄ 4 inches height, 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches in width, and weighs 17,000 carats (3,450 g, 121.7 oz, or 7.6 lb).
The opal is just under 5,000 carats; roughly equivalent in size to two cricket balls. [1] Although rough-cut, it is polished on two sides. [3]Due to the evaporation of an inland sea several million years ago, South Australia is one of the few places on Earth where opals of this size can be created.
In fact, as it gets darker around the opal, the opal appears ever more vibrant. The stone's vivid and sparkly nature is in stark contrast to Coober Pedy, Australia where it was discovered.
The primary sources of opal are Australia and Ethiopia, but because of inconsistent and widely varying accountings of their respective levels of extraction, it is difficult to accurately state what proportion of the global supply of opal comes from either country. Australian opal has been cited as accounting for 95–97% of the world's supply ...
Opal is a variety of low-aromatic 91 RON petrol developed in 2005 by BP Australia to combat the rising use of gasoline as an inhalant in remote Indigenous Australian communities. [ 1 ] Though more expensive to produce, requiring a $0.33/litre Federal subsidy, a 2006 report found it would likely save at least $27 million per year when the social ...
The Koroit opal field is known for the very distinctive type of boulder opal that is found in its mines. In Queensland boulder opal is found within a 300 km wide belt of sedimentary rocks in the Winton Formation. Here opal is found as a kernel in small concretions. [1] The Koroit Opal field was discovered in 1897 by Lawrence Rostron.
In 2009, a 7-carat (1.4 g) blue diamond fetched the then highest price per carat ever paid for a diamond when it was sold at auction for 10.5 million Swiss francs (US$9.5 million at the time) which is in excess of US$1.3 million per carat. [17]