We traveled to an Emerald mine in Brazil with a group of people we were leading on a gem and mineral tour. The scene was straight out of a western in the 1850’s USA. A temporary “town” was set up along a rugged dirt road complete with bars, restaurants and general stores. Moto-cross motorcycles and 4 wheel-drive pickups had replaced horses and dark visqueen plastic replaced canvas to create tents but the people and their activities remained the same. Claims for miners were right next to each other. Many claims were in the little canyon we visited. With Emeralds being so valuable guns were everywhere and a bad accompaniment to the liquor sold in the bars. The day after our visit there was a shooting. No wonder that in Colombia there is a saying that the color of Emerald is red.
Where in the world is Emerald?
Emerald is a rare stone, especially in a good quality. However the following list is a list of places emerald has been found at one time or another. The extent of this list may qualify emerald as the rarest stone found in the most places. A good conundrum!
*Africa: Egypt, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
*Asia: Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Russia
*Australia
*Europe: Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland
*South America: Brazil, Colombia
*North America: United States and Canada