Li Du pulled Alicia up and wondered, "Gemstone pit? What's that? "
Brendan was about to speak when Alicia punched him and said angrily, "Are you trying to get us killed? Why did you let go of the handlebars when you were driving here? "
Brendan was not angry after being punched. He was like his cousin, Stephen, who was a nice guy.
Facing his angry wife, he smiled and said, "I was too excited just now. Let's hurry to the gemstone pit. If we're late, we won't get anything."
Sophie was puzzled. "Gemstone pit? What's that? Are there a lot of gemstones? "
Li Du shook his head. "Yes and no. The gemstone pit of opal refers to a lot of boulder opals."
All natural minerals and gemstones were essentially silica. The reason for the formation of opal was that hundreds of millions of years ago, due to volcanic eruptions or the impact of epidemics, the extremely high temperatures in a certain area melted the rocks and purified the silica.
The silica melted into a solution and flowed inland like magma into the crevices and empty ore areas for deposition.
Generally, this deposition took place about 40 meters below the surface. About every five million years, the sediment would increase in thickness by one centimeter, and the silica would slowly condense together.
After this stage, over the next one to two million years, the sediment would slowly solidify as the climate changed. Opal was the portion of silica that did not stick to other sediments and took a long time to harden.
When the silica slowly solidified, it might not be able to completely separate from the rocks in the outside world and might fuse with the rocks or dust.
Under such circumstances, boulder opals were formed, which meant that the opal and the rocks were fused into one. After being excavated, some of the rocks were covered with opals, or parts of opals were embedded in the rocks.
Of course, there were other reasons why opals could have such beautiful forms and rich patterns. It was a very complicated physical process that Li Du could barely understand.
He had obtained the gemstone pit while understanding this information, and the knowledge of boulder opals was also obtained at that time.
The conditions for the formation of boulder opals were different from the formation of pure opals. Almost all of the silica solution would come into contact with the rocks in the outside world during the flow and solidification process.
However, only a portion of it would form boulder opals, and most of it would still be pure opals. This also involved a complicated physical process.
It was during this physical reaction that the difference between boulder opals and pure opals appeared. Pure opals usually appeared alone, while boulder opals appeared in large quantities.
Compared to pure opals, the value of raw opals was slightly lower, as they were often combined with some ugly stones.
If a gem becomes ugly, then it is worthless.
However, with the development of modern science and technology, the value of boulder opals had increased.
Some machines could grind away the outer layer of the boulder opal to reveal the opal within, while others could sculpt the layer of boulder to create a valuable image.
Both of these methods could increase the value of a boulder opal tenfold, especially the latter method. Because the opals themselves were very precious, people were reluctant to polish them after buying them. Therefore, the original shape was what it was when it was collected.
However, this was not the case after it was wrapped in a layer of stone. The stone was worthless and could be carved at will.
Li Du had seen in the news that this type of primitive opal had become rather popular in the market in recent years.
He had seen a pony with an opal body and four limbs carved out of stone. He had also seen an eagle with opal wings and a body carved out of stone.
Li Du was also rather excited to hear this news from Brund.
Since this gemstone pit had been discovered, it belonged to them and he could not profit from it.
However, it was good to be able to broaden his horizons. After all, gemstone pits were much rarer than pure opals, and one might not even be found in a year.
Besides, he wasn't completely unprofitable.
Seeing that Li Du was interested in watching, Brund waved his hand and said, "Come, let's go take a look. Maybe we are lucky and can dig one out?"
Gemstone pits were not concentrated in a small area. Instead, they were spread over a considerable area, which could be one hectare, one square kilometer, or even ten square kilometers.
After all, for nature, an area of a few hectares or a few square kilometers was too small.
Therefore, if someone discovered a gemstone pit, there was a high probability of finding boulder opals in the surrounding area. Everyone would run over to try their luck, and that was where the profit was.
Li Du drove his car and followed Brund's motorcycle.
However, the more he drove, the more puzzled he felt. Sophie, who was leaning against the window, asked curiously, "Why does this road look so familiar? Isn't this where we have been for the past two days? "
Li Du thought so too. However, compared to the previous two days, the gravel beach was much livelier. Dozens of people had gathered there, and there were still people rushing over.
Brund stopped his motorcycle, waved at Li Du, and then hurriedly wandered around the area.
In the barren land not far away, a few people were shouting excitedly:
"Oh, f * ck, f * ck, I found one! Great, I found another one! "
"D * mn, Smith is so lucky. This guy actually found a gemstone pit. He's hit the jackpot!"
"This b * stard is going to be a millionaire. Did you see that? They have already found hundreds of boulder opals. He's rich! "
"A million? Man, he could be a multimillionaire! Hundreds of boulder opals! "
Li Du rubbed his chin and looked at these excited people with interest. He felt that something was wrong. From what they were saying, the gemstone pit was on this piece of land.
However, how could there be any boulder opals on this piece of land? There might be some gemstones, but there was definitely no boulder opals. The little bug had already swept this area like it was plowing the ground!
In that case, where did these boulder opals come from? Where was the gemstone pit?
One had to know that the gemstone pit was just a name and not really a small pit. Even if the little bug had overlooked it during the search, it was impossible that not a single boulder opal had been found.
However, there were indeed some boulder opals now. Among them, there was a burly man with a box in front of him. The box was filled with boulder opals, and he was guarding it with a hunting rifle.
Under the sunlight, the stones and opals were inlaid as one, emitting a strange glow. Combined with the enthusiastic gem hunters, the atmosphere became even more strange.
Li Du was just thinking about what was going on when he was dragged into the matter.
Seeing his figure, someone immediately pointed at him and shouted, "It's this Chinese guy. He rented this place before us!"
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