About
To us the opals are not simply an income but a way of life. The people, the places, and most importantly, the gem itself.
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The soul of the industry is in its culture, and the culture is formed from both the uniqueness of the gem and the uniqueness of the characters who have followed their dreams and who, to this day, have so much to offer in knowledge, experience, and of course the stories from days of old.
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May YOUR OPAL carry a little, or a lot, of this culture. May it make you smile and bring you happiness for all it's colour and inherent natural beauty.
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From us to you - Berglund Opal.
Why Berglund Opal?
Whether you are considering buying an opal for yourself to collect or to have made into jewellery, whether you are a collector, or if you are running a business based on a reliable supply of Australian opals, it is good to know when you buy from Berglund Opal you will not only receive a great product, you will also receive the benefit of knowledge and support backed by several decades of hands-on experience with mining, cutting, jewellery making and selling.
We understand the importance of being able to relay appropriate information to your customers like origin, grade, classification and general care for their purchase.
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We have an extensive range of stock available for individual purchase, parcel lots and opal replacement for jewellery.
To our new and continuing customers, we look forward to working with you to supply all of your opal needs and to answer any questions you may have.
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Happy Opal-ing
Berglund Opal
This Is Us
My passion for opal began when I was in primary school in Lightning Ridge. Weekends were spent fossicking the old workings of the Bald Hill and 3 Mile opal fields mostly. My family had an old car that had been converted to a dry puddler. We would shovel discarded mullock into the puddler which would remove the majority of silt and claystone and then sort through what was left [tailings] in the hope of finding an opal which the miner had missed. We would save up what we found until we had enough to go in the evenings and knock on the caravan doors of the tourists to sell our pieces.
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Years later I purchased my first truck which was, at that time already an old truck but it would suit my purpose as a tipper to cart the mullock away from the mine shaft and keep the working area clear. To remove the claystone to the surface I built my own self-tipping hoist which meant I could remain underground whilst the dirt was being shifted to the surface and dumped into the truck.
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In these more modern times, the process is similar, in nature only. The claystone layer [opal bearing level] is removed using a large hydraulic digging machine similar to a backhoe. Then the level is sucked away from the mine face using a 230hp vacuum pipe and dumped into a more modern tipper and either taken away for final processing [washing] or discarded at a designated Waste Management Dump.
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Times have changed. Mining, cutting, cutting machines, and selling methods have all evolved but the beauty of opals remains unchanged.
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Through this evolution, we gain experience and knowledge, but not knowledge alone. It also forms the soul of who we are in the opal world.
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Passion is more than the Stone. History, climate, formation, discovery, and sharing all form part of the fascination for this rare gemstone.
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Wherever its destination, more than just a little bit of the miner goes with every opal.
