Virgin Valley

To make things a little confusing, there are two Virgin Valleys in Nevada, named after the Virgin River, a tributary of the Colorado.

Within the valley, a large number of Opal mines operate, including some private claims and some famous larger mines that allow paid digging.

Probably the best known of the mines is the Royal Peacock Opal Mine, which has been running since around 1912. Other well known pay to dig mines in the area including the Bonanza Opal mine and the Rainbow Ridge opal mine.

Virgin Valley produces a range of opal – common opal is frequent there, and is sometimes fluorescent under 365nm, likely due to uranium inclusions. Precious Opal is also found in the valley, as well as black Opal – Virgin Valley black Opal is the state gemstone of Nevada.

Further reading

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Valley
• https://www.mindat.org/loc-5881.html
• https://royalpeacock.com/history/

We may have specimens from specific locales around Nevada including:

• Anacondas Yerington open pit, Yerington, Yerington Mining District, Singatse Range, Lyon County, Nevada, USA
• Driscoll Mine, Battle Mountain Mining District, Lander County, Nevada, USA
• Hat lease, Goldfield Mining District, Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA
• Liberty Mine, Reveille Mining District, Reveille Range, Nye County, Nevada, USA
• Majuba Hill Mine, Antelope Mining District, Pershing County, Nevada, USA
• Virgin Valley, Humboldt County, Nevada, USA

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