The latest issue of Minerals is now out.
Minerals is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal of natural mineral systems, mineral resources, mining, and mineral processing, and is published monthly online by MDPI.
In this latest issue is an article: Update on Emeralds from Kagem Mine, Kafubu Area, Zambia, by Ran Gao, Quanli Chen, Yan Li and Huizhen Huang.
This article reports on the results of testing a parcel of emeralds to meet the market demand for tracing the origin of emeralds. A number of inclusions were identified: actinolite, dolomite, graphite, and magnetite. All fairly common and not able to be attributed to just one locality, although they can point to the geologic environment.
Analysis of the amount rubidium versus cesium, sodium versus potassium, and iron versus zinc, can distinguish the Kagem Mine from other significant emerald deposits.
There are more than a dozen emerald mines in the Kafubu Emerald District, with the Kagem Mine being the largest. My emerald specimen below could come from any one of them. I doubt I will ever know. I certainly won’t be getting it analysed! 😁
Below: Emerald Beryl, Kafubu Emerald District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia. Crystal is 7mm wide. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.
Below: Emerald Beryl, Kafubu Emerald District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia, showing internal interference colours. Width of view 3.5mm. Click on the image below for a higher resolution version.