It is not news that jewelry enthusiasts adore emeralds. The delightful stone with its ancient provenance continues to rank at the pinnacle of beloved gems for jewelry fans. Where they come from and what treatments they have, if any, factor into their desirability and value.
But it becomes news when obscure deposits with quality goods wind their way onto the international stage. Newly discovered sources pique the interest of dealers and retailers. Will they be superior to products currently available? If so, how should we promote the new variety? And what’s the right price?
The challenge of locating new emerald deposits is complicated by their isolation in the remote corners of earth. Read that as “exceedingly difficult to access.” But the same struggle in finding them also adds to their allure. Many jewelry fans only become familiar with exotic lands after they acquire a gemstone from there.
Spotlight on Afghanistan
One such remote gem-rich region, Afghanistan, presents additional hurdles to overcome – besides being geographically tough for emerald hunters. The largely inaccessible mountains of Afghanistan conceal other gems beside the coveted green crystals. Ruby, lapis lazuli, garnet, and tourmaline all hail from these ancient hills.
But after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on US soil, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan. It would be another 2 decades before they pulled out completely. “During America’s occupation of Afghanistan,” reports Bangkok-based gem dealer Eddie Cleveland, “the USGS did a lot of surveys suggesting the country has over $1 trillion in minerals deposited by the collision of the subcontinent with India.”
Cleveland, a former gemologist at GRS Labs Bangkok, and founder of KashmirBlue, www.kashmirblue.com, understands the region and knows the complexities of extracting gems from these secluded spots. As an expert of emerald oiling, he’s become especially familiar with these goods.
Difficulties notwithstanding, a few brave gem hunters press into the forbidding recesses looking for stones that can become hot sellers at Tucson’s gem fairs and at other global markets. Better yet, they will eventually adorn an emerald lover’s finger, or ears.
Identifying the Origin
Some previously unknown emerald rough began trickling out of the region a while back. According to a scholarly report in Researchgate.net, A New Type of Emerald from Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, “a new type of emerald from Afghanistan has entered the gem trade.”
It explained why this was so newsworthy. “This material is commonly of excellent quality and compares with the finest emeralds from Colombia, not only visually, but also with respect to inclusions, spectral features, and chemical composition. As a result, some of these stones have entered the market as Colombian emeralds.”
No matter how exceptional an emerald appears, it’s crucial for it to be identified by its true origin. Afghani goods are becoming correctly identified, thanks to technology. Research suggests that Afghani emerald (while looking like Colombian rough) has a higher Fe (iron) content. So it’s possible to make a clear separation between goods from different localities by using t-SNE statistical processing, which is an unsupervised machine-learning method.
Laghman Province
Across that wide swath of uncharted land, Laghman, Afghanistan has also come in the crosshairs for good emerald. The Laghman district has been a particular area of interest to geologists, mineralogists, and gemologists for quite some time. Pala International, republished a fascinating report called, Famous Mineral Localities-The Pegmatites of Laghman, Nuristan, Afghanistan.
The study provides a window into the mindset of local governing bodies of this forbidding terrain from decades earlier. “Afghan law prohibits anyone from exploiting deposits of any kind whatever, excepting the employees of the Ministry of Mines, who work periodically on the most interesting zones. That prohibition even applies to the local village inhabitants; but this does not stop the smugglers who come, from Kabul and elsewhere, well prepared to make a fortune by selling the products of their work in the markets, especially in Kabul, Peshawar, Gilgit and even Tucson.”
So now this district is eyed for its quality emeralds, rivaling those from more well-known sources. The province of Laghman is undeveloped compared to its bordering territory like Panjshir. With no major roads or electricity, the roughly 500,000 inhabitants subsist on agricultural produce – fruits and vegetables, nuts, lumber, plus cheese and livestock.
The region certainly holds a wealth of mineral assets too, Cleveland confirms. “For example, the Laghman district shares rare-metal pegmatites that contain lithium (Li), cesium (Cs), neodymium, zinc, mercury, tantalum, etc. All the rare earth metal mines are state (Taliban) owned and government controlled with cooperation from China & India.”
Similar to some gemstone mining elsewhere, small artisanal, private mining in this region is done by locals with no supervision. So It’s basically illegal.
Moving Emeralds
Just how do these lively green stones reach a global exposure – particularly with vendors in major markets like Tucson? Precious stones historically hail from dangerous locales where political unrest complicates matters. So the old saying, “where there’s a will, there’s a way” is well-suited for this gemstone niche.
Cleveland sheds light on the transportation of emeralds from the Laghman district. “Small pockets of rough are found, then cross borders to be manufactured in Thailand, the world’s gemstone manufacturing center. Smaller, high quality goods are fought over by watch and jewelry designers. Then, the mid-range to lower range material is treated for secondary markets, while single gemmy stones go to collectors.”
Local families known to Cleveland head for the hills in their free time to dig amongst pegmatite-dense rock. “Few if any foreign buyers go to Laghman because there’s no market for buying and selling there,” he confides. The stones are bought and exported by an experienced native, or they may cross the border illegally into Pakistan and be sold in Peshawar.
“The largest faceted stones from the summer’s production are 10 carats, but some rough was found as large as 200 -300 carats. The families that dig are poor, and they can earn a year’s wage in a few months of mining,” Cleveland explains.
The Enduring Hunt for Emeralds
Finding exceptional emeralds will always be a risky venture, in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Local artisanal miners who immerse themselves in this strenuous vocation may be rewarded financially to better their lives – as they should. The outside world can revel in some of nature’s most dazzling stones that have been hidden for millennia.
The isolated Laghman province in particular, situated in the Hindu Kush (meaning ‘killer of Hindus’) mountains, just East of Kabul, makes mining problematic. Yet the small production in recent years pinpoints a new and exciting addition to the world’s emerald landscape.
Its similar appearance and chemistry also challenges our trade with regard to this emerald’s identification. Cleveland reflects, “I believe the high altitude coupled with the hard metamorphic rock conditions will keep the Laghman emeralds a rare collector’s item.”
