VALE VERDE, Emeralds from Minas Gerais, Brazil

In July 2019 we visited emerald mining operations in the Itabira - Nova Era area of the Minas Gerais State of Brazil in order to collect emerald reference samples. We started with the Belmont mine where we could witness a very active underground mining operation. Then continued our expedition visiting the Garimpo at Capoeirana and the Piteiras operation. At Capoeirana all the mines were officially closed for a year as they were not able to operate following the strict Brazilian environmental regulations. Nevertheless we could witness few garimpeiros working old tailing. At Piteiras we also found that mining had stopped 10 years ago because of a conflict between the owners. Nevertheless visiting the undergrounds we could see that garimpeiros has managed to dig tunnels to enter the mine and work without being noticed. During that visit we could witness that the whole region has still a huge potential regarding emerald production and thus is likely to remain for many years one of the most active emerald producing areas in the World.