Treasure of Panjshir, the Afghan emeralds

Dear all,
I'm happy to invite you to discover a new field video on "Field Gemology by Vincent Pardieu". During a field expedition in September 2018 we visited the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan to collect samples for the "Bahrain Institute for Pearls & Gemstones (DANAT)".

Emeralds were discovered in Panjsher during the 20th century and became famous after 1979, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as its emeralds helped to finance Mujahideen under Massoud, " The Lion of Panjshir" in their fight against the Soviets and later against the Talibans. Since that period the deposit located at more than 3,000 meters altitude is worked all year long by the local people from either Khenj, Mukeni or Darch te Rivaat villages.

Many thanks to all the people we met in Afghanistan during that field expedition for DANAT and a very special thanks to the Ramin Habibi for his welcome and friendship.

Enjoy!

Видео Treasure of Panjshir, the Afghan emeralds канала Field Gemology by Vincent Pardieu