An emerald mine in Colombia used to have rampant worker exploitation and corruption, now under new management, things have gotten a lot better

TL;DR

Rocks retrieved from a mine in Muzo, Colombia, show some of what makes the country the biggest producer of high-value emeralds. During a recent tour, geologist Camilo Pinzón uses a pickaxe to open a vein of white calcite rock that's streaked with green — the telltale sign of emeralds. This area was first mined by Indigenous groups long before the Spanish Conquest, yet it keeps yielding emeralds

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