Location Name: Bubble Opal Claim
Materials: Hyalite Bubble Opal & Wildfire opal
GPS: Typically I list the location’s GPS here but since this location is a private claim / fee dig and the times in which it’s open to dig can vary, I suggest you visit the Facebook page the owner has set up for the latest opening dates, times and contact information.
When using GPS coordinates to navigate to locations in the backcountry sites like Google will often make mistakes. Please watch this video before venturing out. https://youtu.be/hQr1l7dnCE4
Tools: Rock hammer, chisels, 5 gallon bucket, spray bottle with extra water, a small brush to check your finds and pry bars.
Vehicle: Any
Date Visited: October 2024
Additional comments: This material can be cut and polished as it comes out of the ground, but stabilization is preferred for it before working it on wheels. Below you can see a video sharing my first attempt at stabilizing as well as the weights of a full batch of rocks to see how much resin that take in.
Any Location Updates Since Visit:
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October 2024:
Some of the raw material we collected
If you would a more in-depth understanding of this locality, then this paper will be right up your ally.
My first attempt at stabilizing this material.
When cutting and polishing material that has been stabilized it’s recommended to where a mask.
How much resin is really going into these rocks?
I was curious to find out how much resin is being sucked into these rocks when stabilized, so I took before and after weights of a batch of rocks so that I can have a better idea as to what percentage of the rock is now resin after the process.
If we take the average of how much percentage of change we had among this group of rocks, we come up with 1.94% which is less than what I was expecting.
| Starting Weight | Finished Weight | Gain | Percentage Changed | |
| #1 | 172.7g | 178.0g | 5.3g | 3.02% |
| #2 | 334.7g | 357.3g | 22.6g | 6.53% |
| #3 | 299.5g | 310.4g | 10.9g | 3.57% |
| #4 | 168.3g | 171.1g | 2.8g | 1.64% |
| #5 | 70.0g | 70.6g | 0.6g | 0.85% |
| #6 | 81.4g | 82.9g | 1.5g | 1.82% |
| #7 | 120.2g | 124.2g | 4.0g | 3.27% |
| #8 | 18.3g | 18.5g | 0.2g | 1.08% |
| #9 | 14.6g | 14.7g | 0.1g | 0.68% |
| #10 | 18.8g | 19.0g | 0.2g | 1.05% |
| #11 | 33.9g | 34.3g | 0.4g | 1.17% |
| #12 | 208.7g | 209.5g | 0.8g | 0.38% |
| #13 | 91.4g | 93.1g | 1.7g | 1.84% |
| #14 | 140.6g | 141.0g | 0.4g | 0.28% |
| #15 | 181.3g | 185.0g | 3.7g | 2.02% |
You will notice the color change here as well, there is a certain amount of resin on the surface of the rock which gives it that wet appearance.
