“Life is bloody complex. But if you take the best out of it, it’s really good. That’s what I think anyway,” reflects Peter Blythe, owner of Mineshaft Australian Opal and Gemstone store in Civic.

Raised in Canberra “since before the first traffic lights”, Peter still owns the very first crystal he ever mined with his uncle, who was a gold and tin miner.

Walking over to a glass cabinet in his store, he pointed out a gorgeous crystal perched right in the centre of a display, with no price attached.

“This is first crystal I ever found, this smokey quartz. I found it when I was five and that’s probably where the magic of crystals and rocks sort of came into being,” Peter said.

“I was out in the creek with my uncle, and we were just shoveling and shoveling the gravel up, and we’d throw it up onto the bank to see what we’d found. I had a plastic shovel and I’d shoveled that one up, and I’ve still got it.”

When asked if it was for sale, Peter shook his head, “No, no, no. That one is memories.”

“My mentor about business used to say, ‘one rule in business is, you must sell everything you buy; the only thing you’re allowed to keep is something you find’ and it’s so true,” Peter said.

“I only keep specimens that trigger my memory back to the exciting times of finding them.”

Peter started Mineshaft in 1978 in the Cooleman Court shopping mall, before expanding and moving to the Canberra Centre in 1991.

“If you’ve got a passion in business and it’s a family business, it’s amazing where the help comes from because people don’t treat you as a business, they treat you as an interest. That’s one thing I’ve learnt,” he said.

“That’s what I’m trying to teach Jamie, you might lose money with some customers but if you make them happy, they come back. I go against a lot of rules in retail, but it’s worked for me,” Peter laughed.

Jamie, 28, is Peter’s youngest daughter, who he said has “inherited some of the genes” and works with him at Mineshaft.

Around Jamie’s neck lies a stunning oval piece of opal on a silver chain, which she said is the most treasured item she owns.

“This opal I saved for Jamie from when we knew she was going to be a girl. It’s a really rare one because it has two patterns: one on top and one underneath. Whichever way you turn it, it’s just really special,” Peter said.

Jamie has followed in her father’s footsteps and now owns her own online business, Jamie’s Twisted Jewellery, and said she just loves creating.

“My aim with her is to continue but as her own person, not copying anyone. She’s going to be the new era,” Peter said, proudly. 

“I’ve been encouraging her a lot because I think this sort of shop business is going to become more difficult and if she builds up a website presence, she’ll probably do okay.”

Mineshaft is overflowing with stories and history that, according to Peter, “you just wouldn’t get in a normal business.”

Every single piece of opal in store has been cut by Peter, and he gives each customer a copy of the opal’s story and which mine is comes from, which he hopes gives them ownership over their new gem.

“The only things we sell here in my shop are things we like, probably could have made more money having the engagement rings and wedding rings but it would be boring – I just love rocks,” Peter smiled.

“My parents always used to say, ‘follow your passion – yes, you can probably get a job and earn more money and have incredible security, but in the end when you reflect back, you’re not going to be happy’ so that’s what I try to do.”

When Peter explains what it’s like to mine for opal, his whole face lights up with pure joy.

“When you find opal, and it sneaks up on you, and all of a sudden it’s there and you see it, the hair on the back of your neck stands up, you go all goosebumpy, you talk stupid, and that feeling is an amazing feeling,” Peter smiled.

“It’s really like playing chess. Somebody pegs a claim, you might peg beside it, hopefully he finds opal but if he doesn’t you pull your pegs out. There’s a lot of science and gambling to it. That’s what happened out at ‘Hopper’.”

He’s talking about Grasshopper; a sub field on the extremities of Mintabie Opal Field which was every miner’s dream in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Above the door to Mineshaft is a spectacular image taken by Peter of exactly where that opal was found.

“I can look up there when no one’s around and relive it,” Peter said.

“If you’re not lucky, you’re not going to find opal. You have to believe it. If you go out there with the point – ‘I’m optimistic, I’m going to be the one that finds the opal’ – and if you work hard, you can.”

If you’re looking for a specific crystal or rock, you can send Peter a photo of it, and he will endeavour to find you a piece as close as possible to the cut you’re after.

“We get people from all over the world wanting bits and pieces, and opal in particular, because people want specific specimens from the opal fields,” said Peter.

After 43 years of running Mineshaft, Peter has decided he’s stepping back from the store at the end of the year and is going to head to Queensland to mine for opal one last time and to spend more time with his seven children and six grandchildren.

“I have mates everywhere out in the opal fields, and I just want to have one last crack at it for fun so that’s the dream,” he said.

“The customers are the thing I’ll miss the most because what I love about this is that most people, whether they want a $2 rock or a crystal or an opal, they come in here and they feel good. They’re not in a hurry, and you get to meet some incredible people, and people surprise you.”

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