belt. and the chain of precious and semiprecious stone deposits the. south has long been known as the gemstone belt of the. north to be. dotted with defunct. anatoly a forest ranger lives in a log cabin near the abandoned mine shaft which was famous for its rich deposits in the nineteenth century. crystal. to copper wires bent at the right angle and placed inside metal tubes point to a gemstone vein. this may be geological prospecting on the cheap but it's

a method to great rewards for some practitioners. look the part that means the. north east. west. soon as we move away from the vein then go back to their initial position. here they tell us there are lots of veins all over the place here's another one to. remove away they go back to their initial position the energy coming from the people in the earth's magnetic field play a part in this when you go along a vein come across a hollow where the sticks cross over each other like this. what we don't know is the.

way. to get closer to the contacts this is where the vein comes close to the surface. where you won't find anything but splinters through. three diggers are looking for blue aquamarine crystals in an old pit looking for jams as these diggers way of life many of them do it as a sideline but some are full time professionals. here it gets out of the service. in the old days. right here. now. they know what to do and their intuition helps dave determine the direction and now they're trying to break through to it as they remove a pile of stones. there are some pretty big chunks here. we examine them. and break them up. there must be some crystals in the.

blue crystals inside milk white cts thick sticky substance these are not used for jury they're mainly for collectors if you diggers you know you might find something like this. all these miners are certain they'll hit their streak of luck some day and many even seek support from the mistress of the copper mountain. local people regard her as the patron saint of diggers. she appears as a magical lizard wearing a golden crown. my dear kind lady i've come to you in all humility with an open heart not with evil thoughts please give me a nice stone don't leave me out to dry help me find the church's stone first i was skeptical about it but when i try there's a soul that works. this

stretch of highway follows an underground strip of rock packed with emeralds beryl and alexandra the year old emerald band is some thirty kilometers wide and about two kilometers and links this is the birthplace of geologist. emerald so the main line of his research is from time immemorial people here have literally been sitting on them or some of the veins are forty to fifty meters below ground a long time ago the french dug for emeralds and beets they used to be nearby you might say people are walking on emeralds but you can see for yourself. i these swampy banks of the taco via river produced a geological sensation in the early nineteenth century but it isn't one thousand one stumbled on pale aquamarine colored stone. it took them to you could see it in a book where scientists said they were emerald in the summer of eight hundred

thirty one emeralds were found right here on the banks a list river and exactly in first bits these unique ammar olds were found. jim stone experts regard emeralds found in the urals is the best in the world they use a special scale to assess the color and transparency of a stone but there's another special quality of these your old chum stones that won't appear on any scale but what did they see amaryllis the supposed to be a green color i hope they don't look at this one you see a trace of blue in that this means they come from ok it yes there is a blue streak tells you that they were dug out from. the village of mali the emerald capital of the year old it's seen better days barrel was produced here in the soviet era a strategic material used in nuclear reactors before the early one nine hundred eighty s. it was mined in an open pit later an underground mine was built on the site. post

parents live in militia. his father is a mining engineer he spent a lifetime working in the chefs. with the. produce a more strategically important enterprise. in those days. were just a byproduct so to speak the break up of the soviet union in the economic downturn that followed in its wake eventually brought production to a halt demolish if pitt has been closed since one thousand nine hundred three its equipment is gradually falling into disrepair only heavy duty pumps are still in operation pumping out subterranean water from the pit. scientists say some seven hundred kilograms of emeralds valued at twenty four million dollars could be produced here each year but the pit remains closed meanwhile law enforcement officials say that up to fifteen thousand carats of your all emeralds are illegally

traded annually supplied by informal miners who take emeralds from wherever they can find them most often it's from garden piles of refuse that abandoned mine shafts. files you see in the background have been flushed only once flushing will reveal that the roskilde gemstones their so called crude crystals that. these waste piles have been flushed three times but they no longer belong to anybody some call them the miracle field others the field of fools if. you want to know why the place has this name anyone without special qualifications can find gems there would be the envy of any collector now here's a valuable stone. it seems to be a bare ileum crystal it doesn't look too good as it's covered with dust and claims that. it isn't fact an emerald in accordance with international clothes if

occasions. but here in the urals is just called the emerald green or. some jewelry firms indian ones in particular are only too ready to buy such cheap stones they're specially treated and then resold at the price of emeralds. aleksandr cell of on a fist generally recognized as an expert on the certification of emeralds and other precious stones the certificate guarantees that the customer is not mining so-called refined beryllium or to put it plainly fake emeralds. emeralds are a variety of. they only different color. painting radioisotopes and other methods will change their color. has set up a certification center in the town of study and. in addition he's founded a private museum of minerals and jewelry complete with gem cutting workshops the art of stone cutting alone produces unique gems from emeralds and more modest

semi-precious stones like topaz amethyst and other colored crystals. stone splinter or even a plain looking one is given a new lease on life important as well as local stones are cut here but local stones no matter how plain they might be are dearer to the master's hearts. closer to the soul. because. there's a fountain in front of the museum in the small courtyard visitors are immediately drawn to its rich. uncut chunks of greenish. it stands as a monument to the locals love for their.

clothes. just. to get live. entertainment

of. high production simply. because. this is the way. people. take. million. lives. the old village of the very center of the year old gemstone belt legend has it that a long time ago women and children used to wash ruby and sapphire stones at the cattle watering hole today college graduates would be geologists come here from moscow each summer to get hands on training they stay at the house which once belonged to a local priest. prospector with years of experience. he

takes the students. place where piles of. covered a hundred years ago. show me. you can see right through. the students look like. they flush the rock hunting for beautiful stones fires anyone with enthusiasm once they get their hands

a bit dirty. the students and their professors in the praise of the professional. this is a captivating and useful experience. confident. even from the way to. the skills they get here in the classroom. only through personal contacts that each small find is a delight for them like. valuable gift in a different era sacks full of much bigger trauma lines were hauled from here to village fairs it's impossible to estimate how many of these were incinerated him to produce nickel. what you've got there. oh yeah it's real big family well worth the effort. now there's a praiseworthy stone. well more or less how are we going to divide them among us.

from time to time the pit steep sides reveal gemstone outcroppings dangerous rift was discovered only a few years ago diggers got away with the crystals in no time but they were at risk of being buried alive in a massive landslide. ok let's get in there to see if anything is left of the vain. for you pin you know you stay put for a while. sometimes people do get inside. this is dangerous. numerous gemstone pits are scattered in the forests around the village but few people know where gemstones were mined in the old days. you did not mean it was religion that this trend share is for exploration he would appear to merchants open and workman minded supposed to be they were off the top barrel but they were only the top layer there are several pits here it would fit

you thirty to forty percent of them and certainly not more than fifty percent have been worked out there in manger should be down there. a mill that belonged is open in the merchant who own the pits stood here by the riverside a long time ago stories of treasures are well known but all that remains of the mill are wall fragments and old grindstones lying in the grass the mill produced more than simple flour. for those of us here is his silver mill who is made flour but they also can the hope of finding gold in it is there and they mind stones in these pits or ancestors did work hard with then the stones had a heart of value they worked like titans and they got paid for the job of their work it was well compensated. nearly every religion

a chance to build has one or two workshops handling semiprecious stones most of the people working in cramped conditions using more now obsolete equipment are self-taught craftsmen. these workshops are anything but cost effective they can survive because marginal people don't stay long. it's not an easy job if you're doing it you've got to look at a new booth as you can't give it up just like that when these stones are like little kids when you first hold them in your hands they're rough but you know what you need to work and polish them and only then did they look so much. these my kids polished and sparkling. looking modeless. several times a year stone cutters come to you considering board to attend

a fair featuring serpent tonight rhoda knight jasper cornelian and many more their wares reflect the whole spectrum of semiprecious stones found in the urals these are pieces of art made from landscape jasper from the southern year olds and these are all lumps of rock crystal from the northern end of the same mountain range other tables display deskilling jewelry from the traditional ural school most of the masters and diggers have known one another for years there aren't that many new faces. only a handful of. work with local stones everybody is trying to make goods for popular consumption. there's a brisk trade in melaka where from zero at the fair the euro master scoffed at african malakai because of its banal striped pattern. that used to be mined in the euro's is only found in museums. deposits have been completely exhausted.

what do people take home from the urals gemstones jasper and mill a kind those are the stones they so shape with are original but this malakai is from africa most people are well aware of the fact they're still willing to buy an . artist a lego pile of cards flowers from stone he matches and with this petals with leaves made of nephrite nephrite leaves look exactly like the real thing and all. tiny silver pins are used to hold parts of the flower together because the glue doesn't last long alone the flower itself is more durable and it can never weather . the light radiates through its petals and the flower seems alive but looks are deceptive as the lifeless flower is hard and cool to the touch. the stone has a mind of its own it doesn't feel like being

a flower it's going to be one at the beginning on made several attempts to tame stones but nothing came of it. as a result i had a whole bucket of stone flows and leaves only then did i realize that stones could never be time. his works are on display at the museum of stones and. a celebrated collector owns these pieces. his collection isn't limited to ural stones he's devoted a lifetime to it. around the world recognize that his unique municipal authorities have helped him set up a museum of his own. on how to mosque to more than two thousand diatoms what if i realize that this fine collection should belong to my hometown and everybody must have a chance to see its. and it is the stone afficionado in his own right widely

known in the his home collection is nothing spectacular but each item reveals a bit about him. just look at these sugar like crystals work. very. well with. this. gem. out in the open. when you. talk to these colored quartz. they're really wonderful. forget any problems or misfortune. many of these stones were mind at the same place where the legendary mining engineer didn't have found gemstones one hundred years ago academics went to for advice and he made great contributions to geology though we never revealed all his secrets or he was the

first and only one to find. he found for twelve carats. just couldn't find a single one in many years until a ship shy of devoted himself to studying old maps and the legacy of past mining engineers by retracing their forgotten paths. there are no records of the legacy of our ancestors none what nothing about pits that's all. until issued shy of joining city gave director of the rez have mineralogical reserve on frequent visits to the pits to assess their deposits. exploring the pits is going to require a lot of digging. there's nothing but barren rock here no crystallization. there is something left.

if we have to find some big samples. ok let's get on with the job. diggers rely on telltale signs rather than intuition they know that if they don't see such signs there's no point in messing about in that vein here is a very thin vein its center than your little finger there will be a bulge but make no mistake about it where it joins the torch vein over there crystals all over the place i'm telling you. this pit was once thought to be empty but there are still some treasures to be found if the crystal is flushed and polished it will begin to sparkle. should be done very carefully if you've got clever fingers you'll make

a nice brooch very beautiful if. science is yet on ravel all the mysteries of the gemstone belt. researchers studying old gemstone pits mapped them according the accounts of pioneers who often refused to disclose all of their secrets. here i myself don't believe in mysteries a mystery is simply so. thing you don't know a good miner has no secrets except a place where he's working. there are many pits to be found in the gemstone belt. but their contents remain unknown with nobody knows. day in and day out they go from one pit to another driving an all terrain vehicle through the forests where their forefathers also mind. the secrets of old miners are being put back on the maps this immune and sky pit is a case in point it's gemstone deposit as not been exhausted. the winch is

still in good order the pain has not even peeled off and the rope remained from the soviet times if you still find. all we need to do is to put the engine on place as soon as the engine is here the winch will start working. but. records say this point was forty meters deep with that one a large nast of crystals was found at a depth of only fourteen metres. this means that the main has a good prospect but the because apparently they were planning to mine stones at a lower level if the p.t. is to be restored and made up aeration all this will require an outlay of at least one hundred million roubles but it's not yet clear who will furnish that kind of capital. if water is pumped out miners could regain access to shafts that produced riches for over a hundred years lying deep beneath the earth's surface gemstones are just waiting

for someone to rediscover their unique beauty. this place makes out and managed to escape. but another is it sparkles and unexplainable interest. in a place where supernatural things are coming. from if it. does. not.

i. have total impunity they can do everything that they want and nothing will happen to them outrage mounts as an alleged torture is put in charge of policing arab affairs in jerusalem. and then fetterman creates sweeps through russia the party drug surges in price homegrown chemists risking life and limb to cook it up and avoid being knocked up. and latvians vote in a parliamentary election amid the baltic states worst economic crisis to date as a pro russian minority party could come out a winner. well

news twenty four hours a day you're watching r.t. on kerry johnston the appointment of an infamous israeli interrogator to a high ranking police post has sent shock waves on human rights groups and among inmates as captain george he's accused of numerous cases of torture and abuse of arabs now that he's in charge of arab affairs many palestinians fear for their lives reports. i was kidnapped by an israeli commando twenty first of may ninety ninety four they came to my country to my life and to my house and receive me before the eyes of my children. most afraid of ronnie spent the next eighteen years in a secret prison later dubbed israel's up to grade and his interrogator a name that still since chills down the spines of prisoners. they have to remember captain george he personally participated in.