What Does An Emerald Mine Look Like

In the photo this looks a lot like the aventurine green quartz that you can find at the mine but the crystals and color are more like emerald.

What does an emerald mine look like.

Raw emeralds like cut emeralds are all green but the shade of green varies from blue green to pale yellow green to a rich forest green. Emeralds with many flaws and cracks around the corners aren t good candidates for setting in jewelry. Cracks look like little hairs or threads on the plane of a facet. Even if they can be set without damage they aren t likely to last long in the setting.

This specimen is about 6 5 centimeters in height and has the blue green color and medium dark tone that is common in many emeralds mined in zambia. Check the emerald with a loupe using reflected light to check for cracks and inclusions. Like cut emeralds raw emeralds can be transparent or translucent a quality that is sometimes called clarity but in the gem trade is referred to as diaphaneity. Most emeralds are highly included so their toughness resistance to breakage is classified as generally poor.

Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl be 3 al 2 sio 3 6 colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7 5 8 on the mohs scale. A greater variety of minerals have been found in north carolina than in any other state more than 300 including some of the most valuable and unique gems in the world. Emerald is a cyclosilicate.