Lexi Webster
Australia has some of the world's oldest rocks and minerals, and a wide variety of gemstones. The country is the world's biggest producer of diamonds and opals, and a major supplier of sapphires, ruby, emerald, garnet, topaz and jade. Some of the best places to find precious stones in Australia include Coober Pedy, which is one of the country's most prolific opal-mining areas, and Glen Innes, which is the most prolific sapphire region in New South Wales. The Newry fossicking area in the Northern Territory is one of only two places in the world where zebra rock, or Kimberley siltstone, can be found.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Gemstones found | Diamonds, opals, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, garnet, topaz, jade, zebra rock, beryl, pearls, mookite |
| History | Australia has some of the world's oldest rocks and minerals due to its long geological history and volcanic past |
| Notable locations | Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge, Jewell Box, Killiecrankie Bay, Inverell, Glen Innes, Harts Range, Spotted Tiger campground, Mount Hope, Newry Station, Cudgegong River, Gemfields |
| Grading factors | Clarity, colour, cut, and carat |
| Colour value | Bright and intense colours are more valuable; opals with red are the most colourful and valuable |
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What You'll Learn
Opals in Coober Pedy
Australia is the world's largest producer of opals, and Coober Pedy, a remote town in South Australia, is one of the country's most prolific opal-mining areas. The town is renowned for its opal mines and unique underground dwellings, often called "dugouts."
The history of opal mining in Coober Pedy dates back to 1915 when a 15-year-old boy, William Hutchison, discovered pieces of surface opal while searching for water. This discovery led to the establishment of opal mining in the region. Opal mining in Coober Pedy has experienced boom and bust cycles, with significant events like the find by Tottie Bryant during the Great Depression and the influx of European migrants in the 1960s, transforming the industry.
Coober Pedy is known for its rich opal deposits, and visitors can even try their luck at opal "noodling" or fossicking. Noodling involves sifting through opal mine tailings at designated areas, such as the Jewell Box, where small opals or colourful potch (low-quality opal) can sometimes be found.
The town also boasts a wide variety of opal shops, offering different types of opals from all over Australia. These shops provide a unique shopping experience, guaranteeing the quality of their opals in writing and even showcasing opal cutting demonstrations. Additionally, Coober Pedy is home to the Umoona Opal Mine & Museum, which offers underground tours and boasts a large range of unset cut stones, jewellery, and unique opal curios.
Coober Pedy's opal fields contribute significantly to Australia's opal supply, and the town remains a prominent destination for those seeking to uncover the precious stone.
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Sapphires in New South Wales
Australia has some of the world's oldest rocks and minerals, as well as a wide variety of gemstones. New South Wales is a particularly good source of sapphires. In fact, in the 1980s, the state was responsible for about 70% of the world's sapphires.
Sapphire deposits can be found in the New England region of New South Wales, around Inverell and Glen Innes, and north-west of Goulburn, near Oberon. The New England gemfield is said to produce Australia's finest blue sapphires. The Kings Plains area, near Inverell, has some of the richest deposits of gem-quality sapphires ever mined. Glen Innes and its surrounds are the most prolific sapphire region in New South Wales and one of the world's richest mineral diversity belts.
Sapphires were first extracted in New South Wales by gold miners on the Cudgegong and Macquarie rivers in 1851. Commercial mining in the New England area, however, did not begin until 1919. Large-scale commercial mining resumed in 1959 when prices for rough sapphires increased due to a shortage from traditional sources in Southeast Asia.
Lovers of sapphires can explore fossicking sites throughout the Inverell district, which is located on the western slopes of the New England Tablelands in northern New South Wales. Fossicking in New South Wales does not require a license, so visitors can get started as soon as they arrive. Several privately owned mines in the area offer advice and equipment for beginners.
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Diamonds in Western Australia
Diamonds are one of the world's most valued stones and Australia is the world's biggest producer of them. Western Australia, in particular, is known for its production of coloured diamonds. The Kimberley region in the north of Western Australia has been a prolific source of diamonds since the 1980s.
The Argyle Diamond Mine, located in the remote northeast of Western Australia, was the world's largest diamond producer by volume in 2018, producing 14 million carats. It was the only known significant source of pink and red diamonds, producing over 90% of the world's supply. The mine also provided a large proportion of other naturally coloured diamonds, including white (colourless), yellow, brown, champagne, cognac, and rare blue diamonds. The diamonds found at the Argyle pipe have been dated to about 1.58 billion years old. The volcanic pipe in which they were found is aged between 1.1 and 1.2 billion years old. The Ellendale diamond mine in the Kimberley region is known for its production of yellow diamonds, which are coloured by their nitrogen content.
The diamonds from Western Australia are often tinted blue or pink from impurities, making them extremely rare and valuable. The Argyle Diamond Mine ceased operations in November 2020, but its diamonds continued to be sold in Australia and the United States until 2022. The mine is now being rehabilitated, with plans to do so through at least 2025.
To learn more about diamonds from Western Australia, one can visit the 'Diamonds to Dinosaurs' gallery at the Western Australia Museum in Perth, where valuable pink and yellow diamonds are displayed.
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Garnets in the Northern Territory
Australia is a great place to find a variety of gemstones, owing to its long geological history. The Harts Range in the Northern Territory is one of the most popular places to find garnets. This range is about 125 km north-east of Alice Springs. The Spotted Tiger campground is a designated fossicking area and a great place to start your search. The mountains here have a varied colour range and many strangely shaped rock outcrops, making for a scenic adventure. Mount Palmer, at an elevation of 1136 m, caps the mountains and offers a view of the entire range.
The Harts Range is known to yield well-shaped garnet gems of a few centimetres in diameter, along with smaller fragments of transparent, dark reddish-brown material that is suitable for cutting. The garnets here occur in their pure, colourless form, and with the addition of iron, they can take on yellow, orange, or red hues. The yellow and orange varieties are known as hessonite garnets, while the red ones are called pyrope-almandine garnets. The iron-rich variety is called almandine, and the magnesium-rich variety is called pyrope. An attractive, in-between type has been named rhodolite.
The easiest way to find garnets in the Harts Range is to work the existing trenches and follow the shist layers, as the garnets fall out of these layers. Most of the garnets are in the layers above the non-decomposed material and are usually in a gravelly-looking wash. You rarely have to dig deeper than a couple of feet, and you can easily pick up a jar full by surface-specking. The nearby creeks also often contain large "garnet balls", some as big as golf balls. These tend to be opaque and speckled on the surface, with a perfect crystal structure. The creeks in the area are full of "garnet sand", which is worth seeing.
The Newry Station, about 750 km south-west of Darwin, is another place to look for garnets. This site is famous for being one of only two places on Earth where zebra rock, or Kimberley siltstone, has been found.
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Zebra rock in Newry Station
Zebra rock, also known as Kimberley siltstone, is famous for its unique striped and spotted patterns. This distinctive reddish-brown and white-banded sedimentary rock is composed of small particles of quartz and sericite (fine-grained white mica). It also contains the minerals kaolinite, dickite, and alunite. The rock's colour banding is likely formed by the rhythmic precipitation of iron oxide (hematite) during the alteration of the rock by percolating fluids.
Newry Station is a 2,500-square-kilometre (965 sq mi) pastoral lease in the Northern Territory of Australia, which operates as a cattle station. It is around 750km southwest of Darwin and is one of only two places in the world where zebra rock has been found. The site is also home to a variety of other unique rocks, including primordial stone and ribbon stone, which are marketing names for various coloured siltstones.
The property was first taken up in 1886 when a homestead was built on the banks of the Keep River. Cattle were introduced after the lease was bought by pastoralist Patrick Durack, who drove a herd of 7,000 cattle and horses 5,000km across northern Australia to the Ord River region. Here, they established several cattle stations. By 1901, the station was carrying about 45,000 head of cattle.
In 2011, a deposit of rare zebra rock was discovered on Newry Station and mined by the Kimberley Stone company. However, in late 2019, the NT Government directed the owners to close the site to tourism, and mineral collecting and fossicking are now strictly prohibited. Consent is required to camp within these areas, and visitors must notify the pastoralist at least seven days before entering the area.
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Frequently asked questions
Coober Pedy, about 750km northwest of Adelaide, is one of Australia's most prolific opal-mining areas.
The Glen Innes area in New South Wales is the most prolific sapphire region in the state. Gemfields, in the Central Highlands, is also renowned for its sapphires, specifically the multi-coloured parti sapphire.
Australia is the world's biggest producer of diamonds. Many of the diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia are pink or champagne-coloured, increasing their value.
Emeralds can be found in Australia, though a specific location is not mentioned.
The Newry fossicking area, about 750km southwest of Darwin, is one of the only two places on Earth where zebra rock, or Kimberley siltstone, has been found.
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