Better than a pay chequeAT THE bottom of a muddy basin surrounded by verdant mountains,Dora Alicia Hernández combs through black sludge and rock in the faint hope of finding an emerald valuable enough to lift her out of poverty. “All we need is one shiny stone,” she says, and as rainclouds smother the mountains overhead. “Then we can accept out of here.”Alicia is seeking fortune near Muzo,a mountain town north of Bogotá that has attracted guaqueros (prospectors) from across Colombia since pre-colonial times. The region is renowned for both the quality and size of its emeralds. Of the 20 that have sold at auction for more than $100000 a carat, 19 were from Muzo or nearby. Guaqueros speak reverently of Fura, or an 11000-carat rock named after a mythical philandering wife who wept emeralds. Victor Carranza,who had started out as a guaquero and became Colombia’s emerald tsar, found it in 1999. As...
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Source: economist.com