What came next was a serious and bitter life as a miner.
The collection of fire opals depended on picking them up, while the collection of black opals depended entirely on doing it.
Today, the coastal area had become cold, and the autumn wind had swept across the Australian coastline. However, in the southwest and northwest areas, the temperature was still very high.
The surrounding areas were either deserts or deserts. As long as there was a little sunshine, the inland temperature would keep rising. How could it not be hot?
Brother Wolf operated the small excavator, and the alloy bucket slammed down with a click. When it dug up, the ground was full of gravel and a big pit appeared.
One of the reasons that Lightning Ridge could become a gold mine for black opals was that the ground was hard and suitable for digging holes.
Black opal veins had also been found in other places in Australia, but the ground was too soft to open a tunnel, so it was impossible to dig deep underground to mine.
Since the ore could not be mined, it was naturally impossible to find the hidden black opal.
The formation process of black opal was similar to that of fire opal. Under specific geological conditions, water flowed through the soil and carried away the siliceous oxygen in the sandstone. The siliceous oxygen rich water flowed into the cracks and pits between the stones underground. After the water evaporated, the siliceous oxygen compound left behind was a beautiful gemstone.
Compared with fire opal, black opal was more difficult to form. It took about four to five million years to form a one-centimeter-thick gemstone layer.
Because of the different geological conditions, the shape of the black opal in Lightning Ridge was different from that of the fire opal in the national park.
In the national park, fire opal often appeared alone, in blocks, circles, and ovals. In Lightning Ridge, black opal existed in the form of a thin mineral vein.
Therefore, one had to be very careful when digging the mineral vein here. The mineral vein was too thin, and a careless mistake could damage the gemstone.
Knowing that there was no mineral vein layer here, Li Du instructed Brother Wolf to operate the small excavator and work hard.
The excavator bombarded the mineral belt on the ground and soon dug a big pit that was one and a half meters deep.
At this point, the excavator's work was over. Its arm was only one and a half meters long, and it had to be manually dug down.
The Australian government paid great attention to environmental protection. Just as there were many restrictions on black gold abalone harvesting, there were also many restrictions on black opal mining.
For example, the mine was not allowed to damage the green vegetation on the ground, which meant that wherever there was a grassland or forest, it was not allowed to dig from the ground.
Fortunately, the area where Lightning Ridge was located was a desert area. There was not much green vegetation on the surface, so there were more places to dig pits.
After digging a big hole, it was time to change the machine. Godzilla walked over with the stone crusher.
This machine was like a good tamping machine. When it was placed in a stone pit, it would be supported and plugged in. It would turn its head and go deeper into the pit.
Li Du turned on the machine, and Godzilla's steel-like hands grabbed onto the machine. With a roar, the machine's drill began to drill down.
The rocks on the ground were shattered by the sharp alloy head, and a large amount of gravel sputtered out. They hit Godzilla's body and made a 'bang bang' sound, but Godzilla did not seem to notice and continued to work.
"Is this the time to play the hero?" Li Du said angrily. He took a piece of metal and covered the pit. Suddenly, there was a pitter-patter, like hail.
There were different tools for different stages. After a day, the mine was three and a half meters deep. Li Du signaled for them to stop. This depth was enough.
The number 114 mine's gemstone belt was about three meters above the ground. From this depth to the northwest, as long as there was no problem with the direction, they would encounter the gemstone belt sooner or later.
As the sun set, Li Du led them down the mountain. From that night on, they could not all live in the town. They had to leave someone to keep watch at the mine to prevent someone from stealing equipment at night.
The number 115 mine was not without its merits. It had a good place, which was a very strong cabin. After it was cleaned, it could be lived in.
Li Du and the others chose to live there. He and Sophie shared a room. Brother Wolf, Godzilla, and Lu Guan randomly chose two people to live in one room, and the remaining person went outside to keep watch.
At night, the weather was gloomy. Sophie checked the weather forecast and said, "Starting tomorrow, there may be rain. I will buy some umbrellas and raincoats in the morning."
It was still early. Several people lit a bonfire in the mine and sat around it, grilling food and drinking beer.
Ali jumped around Sophie. When no one was looking, Ah Meow quickly gave it a paw and slapped it toward the fire.
Li Du reacted quickly and pulled Ali back. He glared at Ah Meow and said, "What are you doing? Why are you so bad? "
Ah Meow pretended not to hear and went into Sophie's arms, wagging his long tail.
Ali now knew that Li Du would protect it and ran to Li Du's side.
It sat next to Li Du and used its mouth to tidy its short hair. Occasionally, it looked back and saw two green eyes in the darkness behind it.
Ali was startled and jumped up to hide between Li Du's legs.
Li Du glared angrily at the pair of green eyes. Ah Ow howled lazily and followed Ah Meow to Sophie for shelter.
Crispy Noodles lay belly up in front of Sophie, enjoying the comfort of Sophie scratching his belly. He rolled his eyes and looked askance at Ah Meow and Ah Ow, full of superiority in terms of intelligence. Two idiots!
After a while, Ah Ow stood up vigilantly, her green eyes staring at the path leading to the mine.
Soon, several miners appeared on the path and waved to Li Du at the door. "Hey, buddy, can we have a fire together?"
The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was huge. When the sun went down at night, the temperature dropped quickly, and they had to light a bonfire to keep warm.
Li Du nodded and several people came in.
They sat next to the bonfire, took out iron wine jugs from their pockets, grilled them over the fire, and drank.
Li Du had a lot of meat and hamburgers. He signaled to the crowd that they could grill as much as they wanted. The miners were overjoyed, thanked him, and ate the barbecue with the wine.
Later, more people came over. As Li Du was providing free barbecue, they called their friends who were on night duty in the mine to come over.
In this way, more and more people came over. Eventually, there were dozens of people gathered.
Li Du did not refuse. He asked Brother Wolf to drive to the town to buy some barbecue and entertained everyone here to drink and chat.
He asked the miners about Blanchett. Sure enough, as Bob had said, the man had a bad reputation and liked to play tricks. The miners shook their heads at the mention of him.
The miners revealed a lot of information as they drank and chatted. Li Du listened quietly and realized that it was almost impossible for him to find a rich gem mine here.
It was getting late, and Sophie was ready to go back. She said, "Li, I'll take Ah Meow back. Look after Ali and Ah Ow. I'm afraid there are snakes in the house."
A miner laughed and said, "If there are snakes in your mine, congratulations. The snakes are guarding the black opal, which means your mine will have a harvest."
Li Du's interest was piqued.
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