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One-piece 1,600 gram emerald found in Russia to be put up for auction

Geologists in the Sverdlovsk Region have found a one-piece 14-centimeter emerald having a mass of 1.6 kilograms

MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. The one-piece 1.6-kg emerald found in the Sverdlovsk Region will be put to an electronic auction and its starting price tentatively amounts to 4 mln rubles ($70,900), a representative of the Rostec Corporation told TASS on Monday.

"The gem remains in the company so far and will be presented at an electronic auction. The tentative price is about 4 mln rubles ($70,900) but we expect a major increase during the trading session. The gem has not yet received the name. We would like that it is selected on a competitive basis and think about details of this contest right now," the representative said.

It was reported earlier today that geologists at the Malyshevsky Mine in the Sverdlovsk Region have found a one-piece 14-centimeter emerald having a mass of 1.6 kilograms. It is the largest-ever emerald mined at the deposit since the 1990s. Until just recently, the 1.2-kilogram emerald "President" mined in the early 1990s was considered to be the largest. I

The Malyshevsky emerald and beryllium deposit is Europe’s largest deposit of emeralds in Europe, one of the third largest in the world and the sole one in Russia. It processes 93,700 tonnes of rock a year to produce daily 1.5 kilograms of emeralds, 30 kilograms of beryls, and 100 grams of alexandrites. It also mines phenakite, euclase, chrysoberyl, phenacite, phlogopite, lithium, rubidium and cesium.