Louisiana Opals

The Louisiana Opal, also known as the Louisiana Sand opal, was briefly mined in the Catahoula Formation, which is located near Leesville, Louisiana. It was once speculated that about 30 million years ago the area was a prehistoric lake bed, but evidence indicates the area was instead laced with prehistoric creek beds fed by hot springs. It is in those former creek bottoms the extremely rare Louisiana opal is found. A quartzite sandstone laced with flecks of blue, green, yellow, and red fire opal. Louisiana opal is a form of sandstone in which grains of sand are held together by clear opal. When this sandstone is completely scemented,solid, and unweathered, it is stable enough to be slabbed, cut into cabochons, and polished to a bright finish. Louisiana Opal is a genuine precious opal. When its's exposed to sunlight, this mixture of materials gives off a distinctive play of colors that makes Louisiana Opal look quite intriguing. The darker the original opal, the more easy it is to observe the play of light. The most common is a cinnamon brown opal with green fire. What is referred to as Blue Opal is laced blue or purple filre. Black rock laced with red fire is called black opal, and is the most valuable. The material is strong enough that it can easily be polished with visually impressive results. Louisiana Opal has never been mined in anything other than small amounts. Most of the mining went on in the 1980's and 1990's.