In search of gem emeralds

byEMusumali

214 followers

5 years ago

The allure.

When the prospect of my getting quick money occurred to me, I chickened out. I did not have the courage to join fellow energetic young men from my town of residence to go hunting in search of precious gem emeralds as illegal miners.

The best precious gemstones.

I was still at school then. If I had to accompany the others, it was to go on excursions into the snake infested jungles of a land where my mother hails from by then called Ndola rural. It is in this area that you find someof the best precious emeralds in the world at most times beating the ones from Columbia in terms of size, colour and beauty.

Danger!

The restricted emeralds mining area always posed some danger. To be found in the area without a permit or mining license was prohibited and to be at the mercy of the encamped and frequently patrolling paramilitary in the event of being caught gave me shivers. I had often heard about their brutality.

There was also the fear of being buried alive in a trench or tunnel. Caving which seldom buried illegal emeralds miners was quite common. Belief had it though that, when a dug out trench or tunnel collapsed on the emeralds miners, it bore good quality emeralds, which made many others flock to the spot in search of emerald precious gemstones.

Extent to which some go.

Some of the security men in the area were not spared from the insatiable appetite for money from the so called illegal sales of emeralds. Connivance with such elements to excavate by picks, shovels and buckets tied to long sisal ropes, from the illegal tunnels for the rare gems often took place. Things only turned sour for the illegals when the security men were tricked into believing that there had been no find of emeralds only to discover later that actually a pocket of emeralds had been struck. Guess what, the illegal miners would be sent scampering in all directions by a staccato of fire and bullets tearing through the air.

Financial Independence

Not withstanding the negative aspects of going in search of emeralds illegally, there was conspicuous evidence of getting rich by the standards that prevailed in the people I knew. These are the ones who had the courage and dared to go into the unknown depths of the emeralds rich laden ores of the area. I saw and witnessed some young men who barely had something to live on change their lifestyles after taking the plunge and working their muscles off for the financial independence it brought in their lives.

Some benefits.

They were able to buy mansions, furnished them with very dear items from the most expensive furnishers in town. A brand car was a must. I used to see them in designer clothes and got the most beautiful in town. It was always a show to see how much of spendthrifts they were.

A few years later, I found myself working in emeralds pits. Little did I know that I would find myself working there and come across a highly prized, clear, green, shimmering and blazing variety of the mineral beryllium aluminum silicate and interact with international buyers and sellers of gems.

Building online is cool.

Just as here on WA the money picture is good and the beauty is that there is no illegality in working smart for a smart income. It shows $ $ $ dollars. It requires constancy to purpose, persistence and the belief in achievement as I observed in gem hunters. They never give up hope and when their goals are achieved, their is a sense of satisfaction in all the effort and toil even when no one believed in their resolve.

It is with pleasure that I have shared just part of my story and hope it spurs a friend on towards achieving their goals. Thanks.