Emerald - Emerald Localities

Emerald Localities

Emeralds in antiquity were mined by the Egyptians and in India and Austria.

A rare type of emerald known as a trapiche emerald is occasionally found in the mines of Colombia. A trapiche emerald exhibits a "star" pattern; it has raylike spokes of dark carbon impurities that give the emerald a six-pointed radial pattern. Emeralds come from three main emerald mining areas in Colombia: Muzo, Coscuez, and Chivor.

Colombia is by far the worlds largest producer of emeralds, constituting 50-95% of the world production, with the number depending on the year, source and emeralds grade. Emerald production in Colombia has increased drastically in the last decade, increasing by 78% in 2010 compared to production in 2000.

The emerald deposits of Zambia in the Kafubu River (Kagem Mines),about 45 km southwest of Kitwe, produced around 20% of world production of gem quality emeralds in 2004, making the Kafubu area mines the second in world wide production after Colombia. In the first 6 months of 2011 Kagem mines produced 3.74 tons of emeralds. Zambian emeralds have very high quality, they are less porous and less brittle than Colombian emeralds, with more even color.

Emeralds are also found in other countries, such as Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In the US, emeralds have been found in Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina. In 1998 emeralds were discovered in the Yukon.