The Opal Miner’s
Hydraulic-Digger

The opal miner's hydraulic-digger is by far the best labour saving invention on the opal fields. The very first opal mining was all done with a hand pick. This was extremely hard work, especially if the ground was hard.

Miners then went to air and electric jackhammers. This method is not much easier than the hand pick but a he can break a lot more dirt.

The first hydraulic diggers used in opal mining at Lightning Ridge, was a bobcat with a backhoe attachment. Because these machines have high exhaust emissions, they were not designed for use in confined spaces.

Knud Nexo built the first machine in 1980 that was specifically for digging opal. This machine had two hydraulic floor jacks and a hydraulic roof jack to firmly clamp it between the floor and the roof. The digging arm was similar to a backhoe, but did not have a bucket for picking dirt up, but two teeth specifically for digging.

Knud still builds diggers using the same principle. There is another manufacturer who builds a twin roof jack and twin floor jack machine that has a 30 hp hydraulic power pack driving it. This is an extreme machine that can almost dig solid concrete. Quality black opal is often found in very hard ground.

hydraulic-digger back to mining industry