Rocks retrieved from a mine in Muzo, Colombia, show some of what makes the country the biggest producer of high-value emeralds. (Carlos Saavedra for NPR) MUZO, Colombia — Although he has helped ...

Job scarcity and the hope of striking it rich are driving women to pursue mining despite the grueling conditions. Colombian emeralds are highly valued globally, with the potential for significant ...

Geologist Debapriya Rakshit and experienced miner Richard Kapeta uncovered the impressive 5,655-carat emerald inside the largest open-pit mine in Kagem, which is partially owned by Gemfields — a ...

One man's trash can very well become another man's treasure in the Colombian town of Muzo, the emerald capital of the world. In this small community in the foothills of the eastern Andes mountains, ...

San Diego-area families say they lost thousands of dollars after investing in an emerald mining operation out of Brazil. Now investors are being warned about that company's legitimacy. As Pietra Verdi ...

Workers at the Colombian emerald mine run by Canada's Fura Gems' - the first publicly-traded emerald miner operating in the South American nation - have been laboring in unsafe conditions and ...

Nubia Galeano slips the short-handled pick into her left rubber boot and turns on her headlamp as she enters a steaming, cramped tunnel, one of thousands that crisscross the vast Coscuez emerald mine.

The turmoil stemming from the global Covid-19 outbreak represents one of the most serious challenges that many companies face globally, and the world’s largest emerald mine, Kagem, is no exception, ...

MUZO, Colombia — Although he has helped transform Colombia's emerald industry, long a source of violence and environmental damage, former U.S. diplomat Charles Burgess admits that he got into the ...

NPR ventures into a Colombian emerald mine — which used to be more dangerous, with potential explosions inside and gunfights outside. The CEO, a... Inside the emerald mines that make Colombia a global ...