The fourth National Opal Symposium will be held in Lightning Ridge this Tuesday and Wednesday.
People will be travelling from throughout Australia to attend the event which will be held at the bowling club.
The symposium should not be missed as it is only held in Lightning Ridge every six years.
There is a fantastic line-up of speakers, discussions, debates, workshops and the launch of a new image for our own national gemstone: Opal - the colours of the soul.
The opal was declared Australia's national gemstone in 1993 and Australia produces 95 per cent of the world's precious opal.
It has been called the 'fire in the desert'. The Aboriginal legend is that a rainbow fell to earth and created all the magical colours of the opal. The legend enhances the wonderful new image that will spark renewed interest in opal.
The symposium concept was developed by the Lightning Ridge Miners' Association Ltd and the then Department of Mineral Resources.
Lightning Ridge was the first place to host the symposium in 1999.
Since that time it has been held in Coober Pedy, South Australia in 2001 and Quilpie, Queensland in 2003.
The primary objective of the symposium is to increase opal miners' knowledge, practically and theoretically, and to promote improvement in technology and techniques to enhance the discovery and safe extraction of opal.
The secondary objective is to promote the industry as a cohesive unit across the states and to provide a forum for industry and governments to exchange information and ideas.
Experienced opal miners from NSW, Queensland and South Australia will be pitting their knowledge against the academics in what is bound to be a contentious geologists question and answer session.
The miners will also share their experiences on the most efficient methods of dirt extraction. Lightning Ridge miners will be debating the merits of blowers and diggers versus superhoists and boggers and Coober Pedy miners will be explaining to the eastern miners the benefits of noodling machines.
Winton miners will share their experiences in open-cut mining.
One of the highlights of the symposium will be an opal fossil workshop facilitated by Henk Godthelp from the NSW University.
He will be assisted by representatives from the SA Museum, Qld Museum and Lightning Ridge palaeontologists Elizabeth Smith and Jenni Brammall.
Elizabeth Smith will be workshopping fossil identification: showing miners how to tell fossil from non-fossil, plants from bones and teaching them basic identification of animal groups.
Jenni Brammall will be talking about the Lightning Ridge Opal and Fossil Centre Project that has recently been endorsed as a public museum and been granted deductible gift recipient status and explaining the cultural gifts program (the centre is currently in the planning and design stage).
"Breccia Pipes - Fluid Pathways of the Opal Gods" and "The Role of Hydraulic Fracturing in the Formation of Opal Deposits" are some of the topics in the geology session.
Promotion of the opal will feature on the second day of the symposium with the launch of a new brand image for opal.
Also on the agenda for the second day is: understanding the networking system, marketing opal on the internet, a new computer system to value opal and an entertaining pricing workshop facilitated by opal wholesalers, Lomax.
Rumours abound as to what John Petty's presentation titled "Promoting Opal from the Ground Up" is all about and it is likely to be controversial.
The social side of the program includes meet-and-greet drinks at the Lightning Ridge Hotel Motel on Monday evening where participants can register and pick up symposium material.
The official dinner will be held on Tuesday night at the bowling club where Kerry Hickey, minister for mineral resources, will open the symposium, followed by dancing.
The final hurrah will be held at the Diggers Rest Hotel on Wednesday evening and will feature a very amusing debate - topic to be disclosed.
For those left with some energy an optional bus tour of the Glengarry, Grawin, and Sheepyards opal fields will be on Thursday July 28.
A full registration ticket for both days including meals and symposium dinner, satchel, CD and papers costs $175.
A one-day registration is $75 and separate dinner tickets are $30 per person.
For further information on the fourth National Opal Symposium, contact Maxine O'Brien on (02) 6829 0427 or email lrma@lightningridge.net.au
Email a friend