What Does An Emerald Mine Look Like

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.

What does an emerald mine look like.

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. North carolina designated the emerald as the official state precious stone in 1973. We found a few specimens like this where you could see small green crystals in the rock with close inspection or magnification. 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. Beryl has a hardness of 7 5 8 on the mohs scale. Cracks look like little hairs or threads on the plane of a facet. 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.

Emeralds with many flaws and cracks around the corners aren t good candidates for setting in jewelry. Emerald is a cyclosilicate. Emerald crystal from the kagem emerald mine zambia on a matrix of quartz and mica schist. 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.