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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Up the value chain and eventually sell finished emerald jewelry to retail customers. Christian Mendez spoke of the industry’s future with regard to foreign mining companies. He noted that the country could benefit from mining investment, increased production, job creation, and more tax revenue. At the same time, he sees local Colombian traders and cutters struggling to survive as access to emerald rough has become restricted. Colombian Emerald Miners Father and son bring a wealth of information and vision through this dynamic interview.El Tesoro was the third tunnel we visited at La Emilia. It began as a vertical shaft, like El Diamante, but used only a winch-lowered harness system. The harness lowered us to the first level, where a tunnel led to another vertical shaft with wooden ladders to tunnels where the productive zones were.Our last morning in Gachalá was spent visiting three more tunnel mines—El Toro 1, 2, and 3—for a total of six mines we saw in the district that were either in production or being worked to reach productive zones. Reaching these mines required some hiking through the mountains. El Toro 1 was about a year old and had yet to produce emerald. There were no strong indicators in the tunnel for the miners to follow. El Toro 2 had been worked on and off for about seven months. The area we visited had been worked for four months. The tunnel was 102 meters long, with some indications that emeralds might be found. It had no wooden beam supports and could continue being worked without supports for a time. El Toro 3 had the most activity of the three El Toro mines in Gachalá.Eastern Belt Mine Markets. The eastern emerald belt did not have the large organized mine markets we would later see in the western emerald belt at Coscuez and Muzo. Miners sold emeralds outside the gate, at the mine camp, and even in the dining areas. Miners and dealers in the town of Chivor sold emerald rough in homes and offices and in the street. More material was available in Chivor, but there was definite interest from buyers in Gachalá. Author JM was able to buy numerous rough samples for the GIA reference collection directly from the miners, including their latest production.WESTERN EMERALD BELT MINESColombia’s most productive mines lie in the western emerald belt (table 2). These include the Muzo (figure 14), Coscuez, and Maripí areas, especially along the Río Minero and Río Itoco. We visited numerous tunnels in these areas, from small operations to large commercial enterprises. We also witnessed firsthand the relationship between small independent miners and large-scale operations. The mine markets in this region were also an important source for sample collection. While the landscape still shows the effects from years of large-scale open-pit mining, all the activity today is tunnel mining. TABLE 2.Colombian emerald mine locations, western belt."> TABLE 2. Colombian emerald mine locations, western belt. Figure 14. The mining area around the town of Muzo is world renowned for its
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