There is nothing like holding a rock formed 500 million years ago to make you believe in destiny: that you were meant to travel across continents, be there at the precise moment it was being prised out of the ground, and have it placed in your hand.
Sandwiched between layers of crumbly white pegmatite and talc-magnetite schist (TMS), a dark vein runs across the ground in front of us. It is in this soft, thin, black reaction zone that the magic has happened: emeralds were born.
Geology might not sound terribly interesting when you’re talking about precious stones; we’d rather talk cut, colour and carat. But it takes on a whole new meaning when you’re standing deep in the heart of the world’s largest open pit emerald mine, wearing steel-toed boots, with a hard hat and a safety vest — and feeling like Bob the Builder. Managed by UK-based Gemfields in a 75-25 partnership with the Zambian Government, the Kagem Mine (pronounced ka-jem) is also the largest in the Central African country’s emerald district: the 41 square kilometre mine produces 25% of the world’s emeralds.
Number game
Unlike diamonds or gold, it’s impossible to predict exactly how much value can be derived from an emerald deposit, explains general manager of the mine, Dibya J Baral. “Studies have shown that we have enough to mine over 1.10 billion carats over the next 25 years. We can never tell what kind of emerald we can find; that’s what makes it so precious — and expensive,” he says, regaling us with stories of the largest stones they’ve found so far. On average, it costs $1.58 per carat to mine an emerald; adding up to a total operating cost of $47.3 million, producing 30.1 million carats a year. They end up finding 241 carats for every tonne of rock they move. As they employ both mechanical and manual mining methods, the cost of equipment is quite high, starting at half a million dollars for a truck. Interestingly, the emerald industry is also the largest consumer of Johnson’s Baby Oil, as it shares the same refractive index as emeralds.
So how do they know where the most likely deposits are, since everything is underground? It all starts with taking a walk. Once the general area of interest is identified by a low-flying plane fitted with devices to measure the presence of certain trace elements, it is divided into a grid. This is programmed into a GPS, and teams of two walk the lines of that invisible grid, as being closer to the ground makes for more accurate readings. If the desired reactions are found, then the drilling begins. It is from such prospecting that the two main pits at Kagem, Chama and Fibolele, were started.
In the deep
The day starts early at Kagem, 5 am to be precise. It’s a cold, dry winter season in mid-June, and work is on in full swing by the time we reach the smaller pit, Fibolele. While we don’t see any being unearthed there, at Chama, the biggest pit mine, we’re a lot luckier. The excitement in the air is palpable as the rocks are passed from person to person. A splash of water is all it takes to reveal the shimmering green stone that’s the object of this whole operation. “Every team has two or three miners, a geologist and two security guards. Each of them plays an important role, both in terms of mining and in keeping a check on each other,” says Baral. The miners work gently so that the brittle emeralds are not damaged. A red steel lock box with an opening on top stands next to each group, and every find is collected in it.
To err is human, so to catch any emeralds that might have slipped through the cracks, the rubble is taken to the washing plant. In what has to be the most boring job ever, people work eight-hour shifts sifting through it. Over 20 kg of emeralds are recovered this way each day, we’re told.
At the end of the work day, all the red boxes are transferred to the sort house. Here the stones go through a rigorous cleaning process, and are sorted by size and graded according to a standard created by Gemfields — both for themselves and the industry at large. We are shown an emerald that weighs over one kilogram; it was found over a year ago, but hasn’t been put up for sale yet. “It’s named ‘little elephant’ in the local language,” says Baral fondly. This isn’t the largest they’ve found: an eight kilo raw emerald was sold for a million dollars earlier this year. Once sorted into the four categories — premium emerald, emerald, beryl I and beryl II — they are bundled up and kept ready for auctions.
Money matters
Rupak Sen, regional marketing director - Asia, at Gemfields, says they only sell the raw, or rough, emeralds through the auctions held thrice a year in three different locations. “One is in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. This is to bring in tourism and revenue to the country. Jaipur is the main hub to cut and polish precious stones in the world, so we have an auction there. The last is in Singapore, as it’s a free trade zone,” he says. Over the years, the price of raw emeralds has risen sharply, from $4.4 per carat in 2009 to $70.68 in 2016, thanks to the increase in demand.
The fact that these high-quality gemstones can be traced to their origin and are responsibly sourced is a big factor that draws brands and jewellers to these auctions, adds Sen. Zambian emeralds are fast catching up to the popularity of Colombian ones, especially because of their controversy-free provenance. This includes Chopard, Leibish, Amrapali and Vanleles, among others.
From Cleopatra to Beyonce — and how different are these two queens from each other, really — the green stone has graced royalty through the ages. Earlier, Mila Kunis, and closer home, Aditi Rao Hydari, have been part of Gemfields’ promotions; now, the company’s social media feed is filled with celebrities who sport emeralds sourced from Kagem. From rock to red carpet, these ancient stones charm wherever you may see them.
