Opal pineapples are one of the rarest minerals on the planet with fewer than 400 of them discovered intact to date.
These pineapples are double Pseudomorphs which means they have replaced another mineral structure in this case an Ikaite. Then calcite.
The Ikaite mineral would have originally formed over 100 million years ago and can only crystallise in freezing condition!

Today Noah and I explore my family opal mine with my sister Elaura and Moo the dog coming along for the adventure!

It was amazing to see the sheer amount of work that our father Graeme has put in digging underground.
The mine itself is a labyrinth one could get lost in for days. Luckily I have walked the tunnels regularly and know my way around.
The only area I had yet to explore was some of the historical diggings which date back to 1902.
It is crazy to think how hard they had it digging back then by hand with only a candle for light and in such tight confined spaces!

After some serious caving in the old timers tunnels, we decided to check out a section of the mine that has been flooded for some time in the hope that it might have dried out.
Unfortunately the water was still up to a meter deep in places and was ice cold.
To work the area we would need to spend days pumping it out.

We decided to head around and see if Graeme was having any luck and he invited us to help him dig the pineapple patch.
We got stuck in and Elaura had great success and found one!
With the help of Graeme she carefully excavated the piece before handing it over to him to take back and begin the cleaning process.

We unfortunately had no further luck digging the area.

Upon arriving home we found the specimens partially cleaned up by Graeme who informed us of the staggering value of the piece!

To celebrate we called the family together including Noah’s parents, Tracy and Norm and his aunt who happened to all be in town visiting!

All in all a fantastic adventure!

I hope you all enjoy the video please leave us a comment and tell us what you would like to see more or less of.


If you wish to support us by purchasing Opal feel free to check out our Etsy store, simply click on the link below.
Each opal we sell keeps us out here digging and helps us dedicate more time to creating content!


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About Us:

Our names are Jaymin Sullivan, James Caruana and Noah Mcdonough we are the ‘Young Guns’ Opal Mining Crew from Discovery Channel tv show ‘Outback Opal Hunters.’

Our love for treasure hunting led us to quit our jobs and move to the desert in search of precious Australian Opal!

It’s a bad day to be a rock!