Introduction:

I. How it all started

A. We thought it would be fun to dig around for opal and heard of this opal mine, unpatented and nearly undeveloped in Idaho, that was for sale. So we bought it! We began a Nevada Sub-S Corporation and call our business "Idaho Opal Mines, Inc."  We also bought some used equipment so we could make mining easier for us.

B. We knew soon after we moved a little dirt around that this was probably the best opal in the country.

C. We knew, also, that we have to get this claim patented right away. That was in 1993, and in 2003, , our patent was granted and signed.

II. How we made it

A. Once we had enough opal cut and set into jewelry, we had to find our market. We began by doing a few gem shows in the winter when we were in California. Then in 1994, we began our sole proprietorship," Opal Mountain Mine", in Idaho and we set up a sales trailer in Dubois, just 13 miles from Spencer, and sold to the tourists who would get off the Interstate for gas or a rest.

B. We began doing the gem show in Tucson in 1995 and started building up a list of wholesale customers.

C. In 1997, we bought the old Texaco station in Spencer to sell opal retail to the many tourists that come thru in the summer. We have an opal mine, but that store is a "gold mine". We kept the Dubois trailer open for a couple years, but with the ever growing wholesale market and the Spencer store, we couldn’t keep up with the demand and closed down the trailer.

 

 

III. What are we selling?

A. Idaho Opal Mines, Inc. (IOMI) owns the inventory, mining equipment. cutting equipment and supplies, the approx. 20 acres of land, and the wholesale business, with a list of nearly 500 customers who have purchased from us.

B. Opal Mountain Mines (OMM) is our retail business and store in Spencer, including 2 lots of real property, furnishings, gas pump and appliances. In 2010, we bought the corner property, about 2 acres, for future development.

IV. What’s it all worth

     When the BLM did our mineral survey, they estimated there to be 45 years of opal in reserves if we do not go deeper (only went out), and this was based on only getting 1% opal out of our ore (we get much more). The deeper we go, the more years of mining. We drilled to 120’ and didn’t lose our supply.

     To inquire on price or more information on specifcs of the business, just give us a call.

 

Conclusion:

For the last 15 years, we have worked hard and reinvested our profit back into the business. We have been on QVC (the cable shopping channel). We have been on local Idaho Falls (all 3) channels. We had our mine on the cover of The Mining Journal with a nice article about us and the mine. We had an Associated Press reporter write a story about our mine, and it was picked up by just about every major paper in the US and even by the Bangkok Post. We were approached by the curator of the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian to donate Idaho Opal for their exhibit, and we accepted. We have built quite a business out of a hobby. We are at the stage in our business where we must expand to meet with the demand for our opal. At our age, it is the time to slow down, not speed up. Our body is telling us it’s time to stop doing so much manual labor. We want to retire and begin enjoying the type of life we intended 15 years ago.

It is our intent to sell the entire operation, including our Sub-S corporation and sole proprietorship along with all inventory, land and business contacts. This would be a turn-key operation. We would be willing to stay on for a while to make an easy transition.

This would be an excellent opportunity for someone who doesn’t mind getting dirty and working hard for 6 months of the year.