Product catalogue
The opal industry in Australia
The opal industry in Australia has experienced a marked revival during the past few years, and the value of production during 1946 was the highest recorded for 40 years. To some extent this is due to the purchases made by American troops when they were stationed in this country during the war, and the publicity given to the gems when the troops returned to their homes. Apart from the direct effect of this publicity on the demand for tl1e gem, the discovery of good stone in a hitherto unprospected portion of the principal field led to considerable improvement in production. It is frequently pointed out that Australia is the principal opal-producing country in the world, and that this pre-eminence should enable us to exercise what amounts to international control of the industry. Whilst there are cogent arguments against any attempt to establish world control, a good case may be made for a greater degree of economic stability in the industry within Australia. The possibility of devising a method which would be in the best interest of all sections of the industry was investigated by the Bureau of Mineral Resources, and the results of the inquiry form the subject of this Bulletin. It is appropriate to emphasize several points which must be kept in mind if the opal industry is to be considered in its proper perspective. As far as can be ascertained there is no commercial use for opal other than as a gemstone, and it must, therefore, be regarded as a non-essential luxury item. Although opal may have a considerable value as an export commodity, the industry is subject to vagaries of fashion and other unpredictable factors which make stabilization extremely difficult. Besides this disability is the relative insignificance of opal production compared with that of other minerals on the basis of recorded value it constitutes less than 005 per cent of the total 8 mineral production in Australia. It should be clearly understood, therefore that a small non-essential industry is under review, and any departure from this perspective will lead to misunderstanding of the views expressed in this Bulletin. For these and other reasons it will be understood that values of production quoted in this Bulletin must be regarded as comparative rather than absolute, and it may be safely assumed that they are all under-estimated. The remainder of this Bulletin is divided into two major parts-the first dealing with the raw material, and the second dealing with the marketing aspects and a discussion of the various methods which have been suggested for stabilization of the industry. Emphasis throughout is on the present rather than the past, although some historical data are included as essential to a proper appreciation of the present circumstances in the industry.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Publication)
- 1950-01-01T00:00:00
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/210
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics
Canberra Author Croll, I.C.H.
1
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Bulletin
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017
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Custodian Corp
Owner Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Topic category
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- Geoscientific information
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Unknown
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
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GA Publication
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Bulletin
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- Keywords
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AU
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- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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Earth Sciences
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
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CC-BY
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4.0
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- License
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Resource constraints
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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Distribution Information
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
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Download the Bulletin (pdf)
Download the Bulletin (pdf)
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pdf
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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Unknown
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- Other
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GA Publication
- Description
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Source data not available.
Metadata constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
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Metadata
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urn:uuid/a05f7892-fd7c-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6
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GeoNetwork UUID
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
Type of resource
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- Name
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Legacy AGSO BMR Bulletins
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/210
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-04-20T06:09:31
- Date info (Creation)
- 1996-10-29T00:00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
-
AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
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Version 2.0, September 2018
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