Emerald Mines in the World: Top 8 Regions and Prices

Emerald mines in the world: where emeralds are mined

Most of the world’s emeralds come from three countries: Colombia, Zambia and Brazil. Colombia leads on value, with the Muzo, Chivor and Coscuez districts. Zambia leads on volume, because its Kagem mine accounts for about a quarter of global emerald output, according to Guinness World Records. Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Russia and Zimbabwe add smaller or less documented supply, and a few other countries report occasional finds.

An emerald is the green to bluish-green variety of the mineral beryl. Its colour comes from chromium, vanadium and iron, according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). The rock that hosts those elements and the beryllium-bearing fluids rarely meet, which is why only a short list of districts produce at scale.

This page ranks the producing regions, shows what each mine’s owner or regulator has actually published, and gives the latest auction prices from Kagem. It also includes a small calculator for pricing a parcel of rough and a short method for checking any figure yourself. Where no reliable number exists, we say what the source does show and leave it there.

How we chose and ranked these regions

There is no single reporting body for emeralds, unlike diamonds, which have the Kimberley Process. The US Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 chapter on gemstones gives world mine production only for gem-quality natural diamond. Emeralds have no country-by-country production table there, so any claim of a precise global market share needs a named source behind it.

There is no single ranking metric, so the table is ordered by documented importance: first Colombia (value of exports) and Zambia (volume, led by Kagem), then Brazil (long-running output). We used three kinds of evidence, in this order:

• Value reported by a regulator or industry body. Colombia’s mining agency and its emerald federation publish export values.
• Mine-level output and sales from the owner. Gemfields, which owns 75% of Kagem, announces every auction result.
• Independent reporting or laboratory research. GIA field reports, trade press and news agencies fill the gaps for artisanal areas.

The first three places (Colombia, Zambia, Brazil) are supported by that evidence. The order of places four to eight is our judgement, because no source we opened ranks those regions by output. Treat it as a reading guide, not a measured league table.

Top emerald-producing regions compared

Order note: places 1 and 2 reflect value (Colombia) and volume (Zambia) from the sources shown; places 3 to 8 are our judgement from the evidence in each row. Tanzania, Mozambique, Nigeria and other countries are not ranked because we found no published output figure for them.

Which country has the most emeralds?

It depends on whether you count value or carats. By value, the answer is Colombia. The tourism-and-trade agency ProColombia puts Colombia’s share of the world emerald market near 55%, a figure repeated in Portafolio. That is an industry estimate, not an audited production total.

Chart

Colombia’s emerald exports, mining agency series

US$ million per year, 2020 to 2023

By volume, the answer is Zambia. Guinness World Records records the Kagem complex as the largest emerald mine, covering about 41 square kilometres, and says it produced 159,351 carats of premium emeralds in 2024. Most of what Kagem digs is lower-grade beryl, so the carat count and the dollar value tell different stories. Colombia’s value comes from a smaller number of very fine stones.

Colombia’s export value also swings from year to year. The national mining agency’s figures, reported by La República, show a collapse in 2020, a rebound, and the best year since 2014 in 2023. The chart below uses only that agency’s series, because the industry federation’s numbers are on a different basis.

1. Colombia: Muzo, Chivor and Coscuez

Muzo is a municipality in Boyacá department, and its nickname is the emerald capital of the world, as noted on Wikipedia. Muzo, Chivor and Coscuez are the three main emerald mining areas in Colombia. GIA’s own emerald page uses a rough stone from the Coscuez mine as its lead photo. Colombian stones are said to show a warmer, more intense pure green than Zambian ones, though GIA adds that the appearance of emeralds from different sources overlaps.

Chart

Where Colombia’s emerald exports went

US$ million, January to July 2025 (total US$66.9 million)

Recent figures show a trade under pressure. The industry federation Fedesmeraldas told Blu Radio in December 2025 that exports reached a record of US$182 million about three years earlier, fell to US$162 million in 2024, and fell to US$116 million for 2025 (a September 2026 Fedesmeraldas update gives US$116 million as the 2025 close, and US$85.6 million for January to July 2026, up 14% on the same months of 2025), with United States tariffs cited as a drag. These are the federation’s numbers, so do not mix them with the agency’s series.

The mining agency’s data show where the stones go. For January to July 2025, Hong Kong took US$31.2 million of Colombia’s US$66.9 million of emerald exports, the United States US$14.9 million and Thailand US$11.7 million. The same report says the emerald sector employed 15,913 workers between January and April 2025, against 18,135 a year earlier.

Security is part of the operating picture. La República reported that the Coscuez operator, Fura Gems, asked the mining agency in 2025 to suspend operations temporarily at the mine, citing blockades, armed incursions and illegal mining. If you follow Colombian output, check the operator’s and regulator’s notices rather than assuming a mine is running.

2. Zambia: Kagem and the Kafubu area

Kagem is in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province, near the city of Kitwe. Gemfields owns 75% and the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia owns 25%, as stated in each Gemfields auction announcement. Zambian emeralds tend to be richer in iron and lower in chromium and vanadium than Colombian ones, according to the International Gem Society, which groups Zambia with Brazil and Ethiopia on that point.

Kagem’s recent history shows how a single mine can move the market. Gemfields announced in December 2024 that it would stop mining from 1 January 2025 because there was too much supply and too little demand, and it restarted focused open-pit mining in May 2025 after a better April auction, according to National Jeweler. The company held four emerald auctions in 2025, which together with ruby sales totalled US$128.2 million, per National Jeweler’s report on the 2025 annual results.

The company sells in two kinds of auction. Commercial-quality auctions sell large volumes of lower-grade rough at a few dollars a carat. Higher-quality auctions sell fewer lots at prices in the hundreds. The charts in the next section show both, using the owner’s own announcements.

If you want to work in Zambia rather than buy from it, the rules for foreign applicants are covered in our Zambia mining cadastre and licence guide. For other countries, see the mining cadastre portals by country.

▶ 5:16 – Can a foreigner get a small-scale mining licence in Africa? A short clay-animation explainer. · 5:16

What Kagem’s auctions show about prices

Auction results are the most transparent price signal in the emerald trade, because the seller publishes revenue, lots sold and average price per carat. The averages below are for rough stones sold in lots, so they are not the retail price of a cut stone.

Chart

Kagem commercial-quality rough: average price per carat

US$ per carat, four auctions

• Commercial quality, September 2026: US$29.6 million revenue, all 44 lots sold, average US$9.72 per carat (Gemfields, 11 September 2026).
• Commercial quality, late 2025: US$25.4 million at US$7.46 per carat, 98% of lots sold (National Jeweler).
• Higher quality, May 2026: US$26.8 million, 36 of 37 lots sold, average US$146.08 per carat (National Jeweler).
• Higher quality, September 2025: US$32 million, all 38 lots sold, average US$160.78 per carat, including the 11,685-carat Imboo emerald, the largest stone found at Kagem (National Jeweler).

Gemfields warns that each auction has a different mix of size, colour and clarity, so per-carat comparisons between sales are not exact. The managing director of product and sales said in May 2026 that demand for higher-quality emeralds was stable but cautious, with geopolitical tension and macroeconomic uncertainty weighing on buyers, while competition for top-tier stones stayed strong.

3. Brazil: Minas Gerais, Bahia and Goiás

A 2012 GIA study of Brazil’s emerald industry is the most detailed public description we found. It names the Itabira and Nova Era belt in Minas Gerais as the steady producer of high-quality stones, with the Belmont mine, a large-scale operation near Itabira that has mined emerald since 1978 and runs both open-pit and underground workings. In Bahia, the Carnaíba and Socotó areas are worked mostly by independent miners known as garimpeiros. Goiás, around Santa Terezinha, was important from the 1970s to the 1990s.

The study is more than a decade old, so treat its operating details as history. A newer SSEF field report (November 2024) describes the Mina Canaã near Itabira as a mechanised underground mine in full-time production since 2013, processing about 3,000 tonnes of host rock a month, on a comparatively small scale. We found no published national production total for Brazil, and a precise current figure would have to come from the national mining agency, Agência Nacional de Mineração. The Gem Society adds that Brazilian emeralds, like Zambian and Ethiopian ones, tend to have less chromium and more iron than Colombian stones.

4. Afghanistan: the Panjshir valley

The Panjshir valley is Afghanistan’s emerald area. Output comes from many small, hand-worked mines, and the numbers are official claims that nobody has audited independently. Al Jazeera reported in October 2026 that a provincial auction had sold nearly 3,000 carats, the 23rd such sale of the year, and that emerald sales to date were estimated at nearly 400 million afghanis (about US$6.1 million). A mining official said more than 15,000 people work in the valley’s mining sector.

The same report describes miners using basic tools such as shovels, pickaxes and drills, and a steep valley prone to landslides, avalanches, flooding and falling rock. The provincial governor said there is no standardised centre or proper processing facility. For a buyer, that means origin and grading claims need a laboratory report. Afghanistan’s mining sector also operates under international sanctions, so check what trade rules apply to you before any purchase.

5. Ethiopia: Shakiso

Shakiso is in the Oromia region of southern Ethiopia. The first high-quality emeralds from Shakiso reached the market in the autumn of 2016, and GIA sent a four-person team in March 2018 to visit the mines with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines, as described in Gems & Gemology (Spring 2019).

The International Gem Society says much of the Ethiopian material is commercial grade and often heavily included with black mica, while top stones are saturated green and can need no oil treatment. The deposit is in the villages of Kenticha and Dermi, with the town of Shakiso as the trading point. Most gems cut at under ten carats.

6. Madagascar: Mananjary

Madagascar’s emerald source with the longest research record is the Mananjary region on the east coast. A 1994 Gems & Gemology study found that Mananjary stones resemble other schist-hosted African emeralds but can usually be told apart by inclusions such as talc, carbonates, amphiboles and quartz.

We found no recent production figures for Madagascar. If you see a claim about annual output there, ask for the source and the year.

7. Russia: the Ural emerald field

GIA’s Gems & Gemology reported in 1995 that the Ural emeralds had been known for more than 160 years, had been famous in the early twentieth century, and were still being mined and processed. Malysheva is the best-known mine. The Natural Emerald Company notes that the mines were developed for beryllium during the Soviet era, and that Russian emeralds are often more included than Colombian ones, so many are cut as cabochons.

We found no current production data for the Urals, so we place Russia low in the order and make no claim about present output.

8. Zimbabwe: Sandawana

Sandawana is in Mberengwa District, Midlands Province. Emeralds were found there in 1956, production began in 1958, and Rio Tinto’s subsidiary ran the mines until 1993, as summarised on Wikipedia. A successor company closed them around 2000 when emerald demand fell, and state-linked Kuvimba Mining House took the asset in 2019. Interest in the site today is about lithium in the surrounding pegmatites.

That is why we no longer describe Sandawana as an active emerald producer. For the stones themselves, see our page on Sandawana emerald prices.

Other emerald producers

Emeralds have been reported in many more countries. Wikipedia lists, among others, Australia, Austria, Canada, Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria, Norway, Tanzania and several US states, including North Carolina. Egypt’s ancient emerald mines were exploited by the Romans and Byzantines and ceased to matter once Colombian deposits were found. We do not rank these places, because we found no published output for them, and we leave out countries where current reporting is too thin to describe responsibly.

Why emeralds from different mines look different

Emerald colour comes from three trace elements: chromium, vanadium and iron. GIA explains that the amounts of each, and their balance, set the exact shade. The International Gem Society notes that Colombian emeralds tend to be high in chromium and vanadium and low in iron, while emeralds from Ethiopia, Brazil and Zambia usually carry less chromium, very little vanadium and more iron.

That chemistry is why laboratories can often suggest an origin. Laboratories compare trace elements and inclusions against reference collections for this reason, and GIA’s Madagascar study above shows inclusions can point to a locality. It is also why a mine name alone does not set a price. GIA says the truth is that appearance overlaps between sources, so a Zambian stone with fine colour can outrank a pale Colombian one.

Kagem timeline: how one mine moved the emerald market

• August to September 2024: only 61% of lots sold at the commercial-quality auction, at US$4.47 per carat on US$10.8 million of sales.
• 1 January 2025: mining stops as a cost-cutting step, because supply exceeds demand.
• April 2025: 89% of lots sold, US$16.4 million at US$6.87 per carat. Two mining points reopen in May.
• September 2025: the higher-quality auction realises US$32 million, including the 11,685-carat Imboo emerald.
• Late 2025: commercial-quality sales reach US$25.4 million at US$7.46 per carat.
• May 2026: the higher-quality auction makes US$26.8 million at US$146.08 per carat.
• September 2026: the commercial-quality auction makes US$29.6 million at US$9.72 per carat, with every lot sold.

Chart

Kagem auction revenue, earlier against later sale

US$ million per auction

The sources for these dates are the Gemfields announcements and National Jeweler reports linked above. The pattern is plain: when the owner cut supply, the next sales were stronger, and the price per carat of commercial-quality rough rose by about 41% between April 2025 and September 2026 (US$6.87 to US$9.72).

What affects an emerald’s price

Colour matters most. GIA says the most desirable emeralds are bluish green to pure green with vivid saturation and a tone that is not too dark, and that colour, clarity and cut all influence value. Almost every emerald has fractures, so clarity enhancement with oil or resin is routine, and laboratories classify the level as minor, moderate or significant. Cutting is hard because emerald is brittle, and a mistake can cost weight and a large part of the value.

For anyone buying rough, the practical lesson is that rough price per carat and finished price per carat are very different numbers. The calculator below turns a rough price into a break-even cost per finished carat. It uses your own inputs, not a market benchmark.

Buying emeralds: five checks before you pay

1. Ask for a laboratory report. It should state the variety, the origin if the lab gives one, and the level of clarity enhancement.
2. Ask about treatment. Oil or resin filling of fractures is routine, and GIA grades it as minor, moderate or significant. A significant level lowers value within a quality tier.
3. Know the basis of any price you are shown. A rough auction average, a wholesale price and a retail price are three different numbers.
4. Check the seller’s source. Buying from an auction house, the mine owner or a dealer with a documented chain is safer than an unverifiable origin story.
5. Check legal limits. Some regions are under sanctions or have export rules. Confirm the rules with your own regulator.

Emerald rough cost calculator

Enter the weight of the parcel, the price you were quoted, the share of the rough you expect to end up as finished stones, and your cutting cost.

Environmental and safety risks at emerald mines

Emerald mining ranges from large open pits to hand-dug tunnels. Both can change the land and put workers at risk. Open pits such as Kagem remove soil and rock across about 41 square kilometres and need water control, waste-rock storage and rehabilitation plans. Controlled blasting limits damage to the pit walls and the stone, and we cover the technique in our guide to controlled blasting. Our page on earth-mined emerald and sustainable mining goes into the practices in more detail.

Artisanal areas have different problems. The Panjshir report above lists landslides, flooding and rockfall as daily risks, and the Colombian reports above show how illegal mining and armed groups can stop a licensed operation. For any buyer or investor, the safest checks are a laboratory origin report, the operator’s own disclosure and the regulator’s notices.

▶ 2:31 – The 7 environmental impacts of mining, explained in clay with satellite maps. · 2:31

How to check emerald mine data yourself

Because no body publishes one global ledger, the reliable method is to go to the source that produced each number:

Infographic

Check an emerald figure in 4 steps

1. 1Find the sourceName the owner or regulator that produced the number.
2. 2Read the originalUse the auction release or agency table, not a summary.
3. 3Match the basisCompare commercial with commercial, agency with agency.
4. 4Check the groundUse satellite images of the pit to test the story.

1. Find the owner or regulator. For Kagem, that is Gemfields; for Colombia, the national mining agency and the emerald federation.
2. Read the original announcement, not the summary. Auction releases give revenue, lots sold and average price in the same place.
3. Compare like with like. Commercial and higher-quality auctions, or agency and federation export series, are different bases.
4. Check the ground. Sentinel-2 satellite images, which the European Copernicus programme publishes openly at 10 metre resolution, show how a pit or waste dump has grown from year to year. Farmonaut turns that kind of imagery into mapped exploration targets for licence areas, ahead of drilling and a resource estimate.

▶ 2:01 – Remote sensing for mining in plain words: what measuring ground from a distance means. · 2:01

Frequently asked questions

Where are emeralds mined?

The main sources are Colombia (Muzo, Chivor, Coscuez), Zambia (Kagem), and Brazil (Minas Gerais and Bahia). Afghanistan’s Panjshir valley, Ethiopia’s Shakiso area, Madagascar’s Mananjary region and Russia’s Ural field are smaller sources.

Which country is the largest emerald producer?

Zambia is the largest by volume, because Kagem is about 25% of global output according to Guinness World Records. Colombia is the largest by value, with ProColombia putting its market share near 55%.

What is the largest emerald mine in the world?

Kagem in Zambia, which covers about 41 square kilometres and is owned 75% by Gemfields and 25% by Zambia’s Industrial Development Corporation (Guinness World Records, 2024 figures).

What are the top emerald-producing countries?

Colombia, Zambia and Brazil are the top three on the evidence we found. Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Russia and Zimbabwe follow, but no source measures the order of those five.

How much does emerald cost per carat?

Rough emerald from Kagem averaged US$9.72 per carat at the commercial-quality auction in September 2026 and US$146.08 per carat at the higher-quality auction in May 2026. Finished, cut stones cost much more, and prices depend on colour, clarity, treatment and origin.

Where are the best emeralds from?

Colombia and Zambia are the usual benchmarks, but GIA says appearance overlaps between sources, so no origin guarantees quality. A laboratory report is the only reliable check.

Are Colombian emeralds worth more than Zambian ones?

At the top end, buyers often pay a premium for Colombian origin, but the price of any stone depends on its own colour, clarity and treatment. Fine Zambian stones compete in the same quality bands.

Is Sandawana still an emerald mine?

Sandawana produced emeralds from 1958, closed around 2000 and is now being developed for lithium. Stones from the old workings still circulate on the market.

Who owns the Kagem emerald mine?

Gemfields owns 75% and the Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia owns 25% (Gemfields announcement, 11 September 2026).

What is the difference between emerald and green beryl?

Both are beryl. GIA says experts differ on how green a stone must be to count as emerald, and that most gemologists and laboratories call a stone green beryl when its colour is too light. GIA grades the stone against comparison stones.

How does Gemfields sell Kagem emeralds?

Through online sealed-bid auctions. Customers view the lots in person first, then bid on a platform built for the company. The proceeds go back to Kagem in Zambia, and royalties are paid to the Zambian government on the full sale price, according to each Gemfields announcement.

Why did Kagem stop mining?

Gemfields said in December 2024 that there was too much supply and not enough demand, so it paused mining from 1 January 2025 as a cost-cutting step. It reopened two mining points in May 2025 after the April auction recovered, per National Jeweler.

Are emeralds mined in the United States?

Small amounts, yes. Wikipedia lists finds in Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina. The USGS gemstone summary reports a total value of about US$9.4 million for all US natural gemstone production in 2025 (estimate), across many gem types, so emerald is a minor part of it.

What does a Kagem premium emerald count mean?

Kagem reports its output as emerald and beryl together, with a smaller premium-emerald category. Guinness World Records gives 159,351 carats of premium emeralds for 2024, so most of what is dug is not premium.

Can I visit or mine emeralds myself?

Mining needs a licence from the national regulator and the landowner’s permission, and some sites are in unsafe or sanctioned areas. Do not use mercury or enter another holder’s licence area. Check your national cadastre before you go.