Panjshir Miners Left Unequipped Despite $6.12 Million in Emerald Sales

Despite nearly 400 million Afghanis worth of emeralds having been sold in Afghanistan since the start of the current solar year, miners in Panjshir province are still extracting the stones with basic tools and face serious safety risks.

Al Jazeera reported on Friday, October 9, that about 3,000 carats of emeralds were sold to domestic and foreign buyers at the 23rd emerald auction held this year.

According to the report, the total value of emeralds sold since the beginning of the year has reached nearly 400 million Afghanis, equivalent to $6.12 million.

Al Jazeera also wrote that more than 15,000 people work in Panjshir’s mining sector, but a large number of these workers use basic tools such as shovels, pickaxes, iron rods and drills to extract emeralds.

The report said the lack of standard equipment has made the extraction process more difficult and increased the risk of incidents such as landslides, avalanches, flooding and falling rocks for miners.

According to the media outlet, the absence of standard facilities for processing emeralds before export is another challenge facing the sector.