What Does An Emerald Mine Look Like

We found a few specimens like this where you could see small green crystals in the rock with close inspection or magnification.

What does an emerald mine look like.

Even if they can be set without damage they aren t likely to last long in the setting. 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. 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. North carolina designated the emerald as the official state precious stone in 1973.

Cracks look like little hairs or threads on the plane of a facet. Check the emerald with a loupe using reflected light to check for cracks and inclusions. 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. Most emeralds are highly included so their toughness resistance to breakage is classified as generally poor.

Emerald is a cyclosilicate. 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. Emerald crystal from the kagem emerald mine zambia on a matrix of quartz and mica schist.