Beryl

specimen number:
2072257

location:
Dayakou mine, Malipo Co., Wenshan, Yunnan, China

description:
Lustrous prismatic crystals of beryl, the variety known as emerald, frozen in matrix.

The Dayakou emerald mine, located in Malipo County within the Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, China, is the country's most significant source of gem-quality emerald. Geologically, the deposit is unique as it is hosted within a pegmatite-hydrothermal vein system that intruded into Proterozoic metamorphic rocks, specifically schists and gneisses of the Mengdong Group. Unlike many global emerald deposits associated with shale, the Dayakou emeralds are found in quartz-scheelite-sulfide veins and are colored by vanadium rather than chromium, which results in a characteristic yellowish-green to vivid green hue. Historically, the deposit was discovered in the early 1980s during regional geological surveys for tungsten and tin. Small-scale mining and exploration intensified through the 1990s, with formal industrial-scale quarrying and underground operations expanding in the early 2000s as the emeralds gained international recognition. While the mine also produces tungsten and beryllium as industrial ores, it remains most famous for its emerald crystals, which often exhibit a distinct hexagonal prismatic habit and have established Yunnan as a key player in the global colored gemstone market.

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