South to Honduras

by richardcarew on February 14, 2010

Heading south to Honduras where some fine Black Opal is produced as well as some interesting Boulder Opal.  Actually it’s all Boulder Opal the Black Opal is a crystal clear opal that is overlaid on top of a black basalt, which is considered a Black Opal.  In Australia it is often the case where a band of crystal opal overlays some black potch and that is most certainly considered Black Opal so we will allow the Hondurans to have their Black Opal too.  It is found in vertical seams that are the highlight of a Honduran’s day if he can find one.  These seams run anywhere from as thick as a hair to a half an inch thick (13mm).  Other wise there are several types of Boulder Opal.  One type is in the basalt where tiny vesicles of gas pockets are filled in with precious opal.  This stuff comes in different grades, from common opal which is said to be as common as street gravel all the way to very nice precious opal that is as rare as it is nice.  The other kind of boulder opal is found on an andesite volcanic rock where again the best is found in vertical seams.  This ranges from crystal to milky white to sky blue and can be very bright.  Sometimes they find a horizontal seam that is mixed with the matrix rock. Next up Brazil.  Here are a couple of examples from Honduras:

These are the “Don Pablo” on the lefta Black Opal from Honduras weighing in at 8.22 carats , and the Sosoalito on the right weighing in at 9.2 carats also from Honduras.  You can see what I mean they are both just as bright as they can be.

The guys who mine this stuff do it with the most primitive tools, basically a hammer and chisel so they are in no danger of mining themselves out of business.  Here are some more photos.  There are Black Basalt Opals on the left, Andesite Boulder Opal in the bottom middle, Andesite Matrix Boulder Opal on the Right and “not road gravel” Basalt Matrix Opal on the bottom.   My thanks to Tony Dabdoub of members.cox.net/tropicalgems/Hopals.htm.

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

richardcarew February 15, 2010 at 1:51 pm

Email sent to Kim Miner can’t wait for the reply

1

Richard M Carew February 15, 2010 at 11:47 am

Jerry,
Wait ’til you see the Brazilian I’ve got lined up.

Richard M Carew February 15, 2010 at 11:35 am

More coming in further south to Brazil.

Kim miner February 15, 2010 at 6:25 am

I have a very Rare Lava Black Opal. All the colors of a rainbows and even more……. it is in one large specimen solid wt. 1 ONE POUND 9.90. OUINCES A TENTH OF A OZ OFF OF TWO POUNDS. . 1 3/4 X 4 3/8 X 5 1/2 . IF YOU WANT TO SEE PHOTOS SEND ME A EMAIL . I WILL EMAIL SONE PHOTOS I’M ON FACE BOOKS. AND MYSPACE . kim77miner77@yahoo.com. Hope to here soon

Jerry Fowler February 14, 2010 at 6:49 pm

Thanks again for the information. I had not seen any of this opal before.

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