Name: How to MINE OPAL gems in the OUTBACK - Smarter Every Day 164
Uploaded: 2017-01-15T05:06:05.000Z
Duration: 12 min 31 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

gemstones people typically have their favourites.

I happen to think that opal is one of the most fascinating stones there is.

If you think about a diamond or a sapphire or even a ruby

Opals are created by specifically stacked hydrated silica spheres

that would defract light as it enters the rock

and it'll exit as blue, green, or even red.

This is fascinating and in order to create something so specific,

it requires a very precise geologic condition in order for that to form.

How do we find an opal if it has to be created under very specific conditions?

The answer - we're going to have to to travel to the other side of the world,

to one of these specific places that opals are created and find an opal prospecting expert.

To find the guy, I flew to Coober Pedy, Australia, which is the opal capital of the world,

It looks like Mars - like straight out of 'Mad Max'

In fact it is where they filmed 'Mad Max'

It's such a harsh environment that people live underground

and this sounds like a joke, but you're not supposed to walk backwards at all in the town.

Seriously, someone died by falling in a mine shaft a week before I got there.

so I walked straight into the visitors' centre and asked for an opal mining expert.

Destin: I am with George...  George: Kardeş, kardeş! (brother)

Destin: Gar dashy? George: kardeş - means brother!

Destin: So he came to Coober Pedy in 1969 and he's been mining his entire life.

Today he has agreed to take us out. We're going to go to a working mine?

George: Yeah, we'll go to drill for opals with a Caldwell drill, American drill.

Destin: Ok, we're going to go use an American drill to drill a shaft down into an opal mine.

Destin: This should be awesome, let's go give it a shot.

What does that sign say? Hold on, back up. Let me look at that sign.

George: That sign says 'Shafts; Danger; Don't walk backwards'.

Destin: So everywhere there's a pile of dirt there is a shaft into the ground. How deep will the shaft be.

George: This area will be 20 metres (66')

Destin: So everywhere I see a pile of dirt there is a 20m shaft?

George: Yeah, definitely. Destin: Oh my goodness.

But there's also horizontal shafts at the bottom of the vertical shafts right?

George: Sorry? Destin: Aren't there also shafts that go side to side?

George: No that's tunnels not shafts. Where do you live, Alabama?

Destin: Alabama. George: Ahh that's why you don't know...

Destin: So if somebody hears you have struck opal, they will come at midnight and try to steal all your opal.

George: No no no no, that's another thing, but they try to peg the claim.

Destin: What's that word you're using? Pack? George: To peg! To peg! To put the pegs down.

Destin: So they're pegging the claims. George: I am from Greece, my accent is a bit funny.

Destin: I'm from Alabama, my accent is a bit funny too. I get it. *brofist* Yes!

George: Two tough guys. Destin: Two tough guys in Coober Pedy.

George: That's it, we're approaching the drill now. Destin: Oh, this is the drill.

George: Caldwell. America. It's a bit old but nice, does the job.

Destin: Georgie is 70 something years old and he's nimble as a cat. It's crazy.

So he only, the butterfly only moves down the length of one bucket every time?

Destin: So this drive wheel is called the what?  Lady: This one is the ring gear.

Destin: So the ring gear drives the butterfly,

and these pistons on the side support the weight of the butterfly which holds the bucket?

Lady: Yeah, and it lifts up and down giving you the length of one bucket.

Destin: Americans came up with that? That's awesome.

The neat thing about how this drill works is that it's very hands-on.

As the bucket comes up to the top, George taught me how to connect one cable so a winch

can pull the shaft to the side and a second rope so you can release a trip mechanism

at the bottom of the bucket to dump the material out.

You've got to love people like George - he's mastered this art for himself,

and even though there's money in it he's still not stingy with the knowledge that he has gained.

For example, in this field he said there's two known depths that contain opal,

and the locals know exactly how far down it can be found.

They remove the material one bucket at a time and constantly measure the hole

Once the dirt pile changes from brown to white the depth is confirmed,

and then they swarm the pile looking for evidence of opal.

Then you actually go down in the hole and you start looking for opal.

That's the interesting part. Lets go do that.

Destin: The middle of nowhere, must admit I'm a little bit scared that we'll fall in a hole.

George: Nah. If you talk so much I get upset. Destin: Haha You get upset?

George: Hahahaha Destin: I don't believe that :)

George: No, you're my friend; I don't get upset with my friends.

Unknown: How 'bout that? George: That'll do. Alright.

Unknown: We're good? George: Turn it off. Yeah, very good.

Destin: Ok I understand the purpose of the safety rope, it's for if your winch doesn't work?

George: I drop it in; I come up. Destin: Yeah you climb up.

George: So why is the rope for? Destin: lol

George: If you're not here I'm by myself.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

How to MINE OPAL gems in the OUTBACK - Smarter Every Day 164

weird

specific

accent

awesome