OPAL
If you are looking for opals you need a Long Wave (365nm) filtered UV torch. WE SPECIALISE IN UV TORCHES FOR OPAL HUNTERS.
The more powerful your UV torch, the more likely you are to find opals. Opal glows bright blueish-white under Long Wave (365nm) UV light. Short Wave UV light (254nm) and Mid Wave UV light (310nm) are of no use when hunting for opal because opal does not respond to these UV wavelengths. 395nm UV light and any unfiltered UV torches are also useless.
Our mineral prospecting UV torches are being used by many opal hunters at Lightning Ridge, Coober Pedy, White Cliffs, Andamooka etc. Note that most Boulder Opal does not fluoresce and we do not recommend you get a UV torch for Boulder Opal hunting.
All our Long Wave UV torches are suitable for opal hunting, but the more powerful your UV torch, the more likely you are to find opals. Our FL4 TV torch will find opal near your feet, but the FL20 and FL9 UV torches will find opal many metres away. Plus the FL20 UV torch has a narrow beam and will reach much further than all the other UV torch models. In contrast, the FL9 UV torch has a wide beam which lights up a much greater area, but therefore doesn’t reach as far as FL20. The FL9 UV torch is preferred by opal miners who have a mine. Some open cut miners have bought both FL9 and FL20 UV torches.
NOTE: Opal fluorescence has nothing to do with the beautiful daylight colours of the opal. Opal fluoresces a bluish-white colour regardless of how the opal looks in sunlight. You shine the UV torch on the ground at night and if you see a bright blue-white spot you pick up an opal. UV light does NOT affect or enhance the beautiful white-light colours of opal. UV light will not make those colours brighter or more intense. Only white light will do that. UV light is for looking FOR opals, bright white light is for looking at them.
RUBY
Ruby always fluoresces deep red under long wave UV light only. Its mineral name is corundum.
SAPPHIRES & OTHER GEMS
Some sapphires and gems fluoresce under short wave UV, some under mid wave UV, some under long wave UV light, some under more than one UV wavelength, and some not at all.
While most natural blue sapphires don’t glow under UV light, various colours of natural and synthetic sapphires can fluoresce in shades of red, pink, orange, or bluish-white when exposed to long- or short-wave ultraviolet (UV) light.
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