The mine owners and miners in Lightning Ridge were not stupid. They were all people who had survived through rumors and deception. It was not easy to convince them of a piece of news.
However, people believed that the relationship between Li Du and Blanchett was not as rumored at first, that Blanchett had cheated Li Du.
Because Li Du had never caused trouble for Blanchett, people saw Li Du visit Blanchett with gifts, and Blanchett received him and treated him to a big meal.
Everyone in Lightning Ridge knew what kind of person Blanchett was. If this guy cheated someone, he would never receive him, let alone treat him to a big meal.
So people began to wonder if the news was true. Did Li Du really take the initiative to buy the sh * t mine from Blanchett and dig out the gems?
The next day after visiting Blanchett, Li Du went to an ore cutting workshop in the morning, which had water knives, angle grinders, hand grinders, and other tools for grinding ore.
When they entered the workshop, an employee immediately came to greet them. "Hello, everyone, what can I do for you?"
Godzilla opened the box and revealed a dozen pieces of ore inside. Li Du said, "Help me grind them and get the gems out of them."
He had done the initial grinding, and the outline of black opal could be vaguely seen.
Seeing the ore, the employee exclaimed, "So many gems? Oh my god, you are so lucky. You must have found a vein of black opal? "
Li Du urged him, "Yes, I am lucky. A friend sold me a good mine. Hurry up, I can't wait to see these gems. "
It cost 100 Australian dollars to grind a piece of ore, which added up to 1,200 dollars.
After Li Du paid, someone immediately brought out the tools and started grinding while guarding him.
The work of stripping black opal was quite complicated and required a variety of tools.
The first was a water saw, which was a bit like a water knife, but the process was simpler. An iron saw was used to cut, and the main processes were cutting and rubbing.
The advantage of a water saw was its high efficiency, but the disadvantage was that it was extremely dangerous and prone to accidents.
However, the employee who operated the water saw was a veteran and had a good command of it.
He picked up a piece of ore and placed it on the operating table of the water saw. The operating table was about one meter tall, 60 centimeters wide and 80 centimeters long, and could be used to process thicker stone.
When the switch was turned on, the water saw began to spin rapidly with a splash. The worker took a piece of ore and rubbed it against the saw. With a sizzling sound, pieces of ore flew out.
The worker stared intently at the ore. As soon as the slightest trace of a gem appeared in the ore, he would immediately switch to another angle.
After watching for a while, Li Du felt that the money spent was worth it. It was rare to see someone grinding ore without damaging the gemstones.
There were still some miners buying things in the workshop. When they saw someone coming to polish the gemstone, they came over excitedly. As the saw cut, the gemstone became clearer and clearer, and they exclaimed:
"A big one. Holy Mother of God, I bet it's four times the size."
"It's definitely a great treasure. The color is really good. Look at how it changes colors. Even if it doesn't meet the four standards, this fellow is still priceless!"
"Oh my god, why do I never have such good luck!"
"It's not just good luck, buddy. It's practically explosive luck! How long has it been since I've seen such a brilliant gemstone? "
As the saw cut off the edges of the ore, the rough shape of the gemstone was revealed, attracting even more onlookers.
The twelve pieces of ore all contained very good gemstones. As the pieces were cut off one by one, exclamations rang out one after another.
After the saw was cut, it still needed to be polished with an angle grinder.
The angle grinder was the most common handheld processing tool. It could be used to cut, polish, and polish stones. It could also be used to peel raw black opal stones.
When using this tool, people could not get too close. The stone that was broken by the angle grinder was very small, and the splashes were very large, which could easily damage Li Du's eyes.
After these two tools, the black opal was almost completely revealed. However, there were still other tools to be used, such as the use of a tooth grinder for the final grinding.
The tooth grinder was a tool commonly used by dentists. It had a very sensitive and small drill bit that could be used to maintain human teeth.
The gem tooth grinder was the result of a modification of the human tooth grinder. It was more sensitive and had a small spring at the back of the drill bit. As long as the drill bit felt a change in pressure, it would be retracted.
Black opal was more brittle, but it was harder than the rock that it was wrapped in.
Therefore, the gem tooth grinder could grind away the small pieces of rock that were attached to it without damaging the gemstone itself.
After the series of processes was completed, pieces of black opal in their original form appeared in front of everyone.
The number of gemstones that were polished in one go was so large that even the owner of the workshop was attracted.
After the grinding was completed, the owner carefully handed the black opal wrapped in deerskin to Li Du and said, "Sir, please have a look. Are you satisfied?"
Li Du picked up the largest piece of opal. As sunlight shone through the glass, he placed the gemstone under the sunlight. Suddenly, a dazzling light appeared.
The gemstone had a grayish-black base with blue, purple, and scarlet colors. When the sunlight shone through the gemstone, the different colors shone with different light.
Li Du slowly turned his wrist. As the angle of the light changed, the color combination also changed.
Someone exclaimed, "This is a real black opal. It's at least an N2 grade!"
Black opals were divided into nine grades, from N1 to N9. The highest grade was N1, and the most valuable was also N1. This grade of black opal had a pure black base.
N2 grade was already very high. N1 grade black opals were especially rare. Lightning Ridge might not produce even one piece in a month. Once it appeared, it would definitely be fought over by the gem merchants.
The gemstone in Li Du's hand would also cause the gem merchants to fight over it. It was an N2 grade, which was already a high grade. At the same time, it was also very big, which was very rare.
Turning the opal, the group of people looked intoxicated.
This was not the true appearance of black opal. Just like diamonds, black opals also needed to be cut. Only after they were cut could they show their unparalleled elegance!
After looking at the twelve gemstones one by one under the sunlight, Li Du collected them.
Before he left, a gem merchant came to the door and asked, "Sir, are you interested in selling these gemstones? I'm willing to offer a good price. "
Li Du asked, "What price?"
"I'm willing to buy the N2 grade gemstone for 500,000 dollars," a middle-aged man at the back rushed to say.
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