Brian and Liz Boyle, Gemcuts
$10,000 AOC Founders 

Brian and Liz Boyle of lapidary and jewellery tool supply business, Gemcuts, became hooked on opal in the 1990s and are big supporters of the industry, and the Australian Opal Centre, today. Here, Brian tells why they have become AOC Founders and are committed to the vision of a brand new Australian Opal Centre.

"Our association with opal started in the late 1990s while we were running a motel at Lennox Head, on the sunny North Coast of NSW. Two of our regular guests were Chris and Debbie Good, who are still cutting and selling boulder opal and Yowah opal today. Chris introduced us to Yowah opal and we were hooked!

We began cutting, and after our first visit to Yowah in around 2000, we purchased a mining claim and started the long learning curve of underground mining. We also started selling opal through online auctions and via our own website.

Gemcuts was founded in 2006 with another couple from Yowah, and it originally came about as a way of purchasing our own cutting equipment for lower prices. We were aiming the products at opal cutters, because that is the industry that we best understood. However, it soon spiralled out of control into a general lapidary supply business and also a jewellery tool supplier.

With the growth of Gemcuts, we finally had to admit that there wasn't time to do both and our last mining interests were sold by 2014. Early in 2017, we designed and began manufacturing our first fully Australian made cabbing machines, with opal cutters in mind. We are currently expanding our range of machines and will be releasing new models very soon.

Although our background is mainly in boulder opal, we love all opal and visiting Lightning Ridge is always a highlight of the year. Lightning Ridge is the first place that most people think of when you mention opal and it is the perfect home for the Australian Opal Centre.

The opal industry has changed and enriched our lives, and opal is now in our blood. Australian opal has supported us by helping us make a living for the last twenty years. As a way of paying some of that back, we decided to become AOC Founders. Although it is a big commitment for us, we believe that the Australian Opal Centre should go ahead and the more people in the industry that get behind this vision, the sooner it will happen."

If you’d like to join Brian and Liz as an AOC Founder, please click here for a Founders Brochure and Application Form. For more information contact Olivia Ward by calling 0400 225 751 or emailing founders@australianopalcentre.com. We look forward to hearing from you!