A lovely opal split to start our 2021 opal cutting season! ⚒😊 Sue | Broken River Mining | Facebook

8.4K views · 372 reactions | This is what a boulder opal with colour in the opal mining face looks like. I am looking forward to exploring what is inside this boulder more when opal cutting season starts later in the year. Sound on for the video. ⚒ Sue | Broken River Mining | Facebook

We often get asked why we wet our Australian boulder opal when we are cutting and shaping it, prior to sanding and polishing. So we did a video for you showing the opal dry versus wet. You can keep Australian boulder opal either dry or wet, it doesn’t matter! But when you want to see what the opal will look like when it is finished (i.e. polished), you wet it. This helps with grading too, of course. There is no other reason! | Broken River Mining | Facebook