the border between europe and asia the word girls men belt an old turkey and a chain of precious and semiprecious stone deposits that follows the mountain range for hundreds of kilometers from north to south has long been known as the gemstone belt of the. heart of the gemstone delta some eighty kilometers north of yucatan the landscape is dotted with defunct pits. anatoly in a forest ranger lives in a log cabin near the abandoned simeone in sky a mine shaft which was famous for its rich deposits in the nineteenth century. can be found here. crystal and morey. 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 that's reefed great rewards for some practitioners. look the part that means the vein runs somewhere from northeast. to southwest. as soon as we move away from the vein they go back to their initial position. here they tell us there are lots of veins there all over the place here's another one and. as soon as we move away they go back to their initial position i think 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 gems the sticks cross over each other like this. what we don't know is the depth of the vein.

to preview we found get closer to the contacts this is where the thing comes close to the surface. where you will find anything but splinters through. three diggers are looking for blue aquamarine crystals in an old pit looking for gems 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 surface. in the old days. great here. just now. they know what to do and their intuition helps dave determine the vanes 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 might be some crystals in the. blue crystals inside milk white cts a thick and sticky substance these awful marines are not used for jury they're mainly for collectors if you diggers patient and lucky enough 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 folds 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 had worked for. this stretch of highway follows an underground strip of rock packed with emeralds barrel and alexandra the year old emerald band is some thirty kilometers wide and about two kilometers in length this is the birthplace of geologist. emeralds are the main line of his research. 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 river produced a geological sensation in the early nineteenth century. it says in 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 emeralds in the summer of eight hundred thirty one emeralds were found right here on the banks of this river and exactly in first bits these unique am rolls were found. jim stone experts regard emeralds found in the ural says 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 emeril of the supposed to be a green color i want to look at this one you see a trace of blue in that this means they come from a pit yes this blue streak tells you that they were dug out from. the village of mali the emerald capital of the year olds 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 crystal 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 occasionally. 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 ana fizzed 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 soaking painting radioisotopes and other methods will change their color. has set up a certification center in the town of said it. 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. each gemstone 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 dear to the masters hearts. gemstone is closer to the soul if you look at solar maybe because it's rushing. there's a fountain in front of the museum in the small courtyard visitors are immediately drawn to its rich tech aeration covered in uncut chunks of greenish barrel it stands as a monument to the locals love for their gem stones. i

i i i i i.

i. i. i. just. the old village of because at 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 catalyst watering hole today college undergraduates 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 alexander part oval office a prospector with years of experience. he takes the students on a guided tour of an old quarry where he tells them about the nuts and bolts of his job. they go to a place where piles of crystals were uncovered a hundred years ago and where no. hole was produced in the soviet era russia. the middle layer don't touch the bottom one. the term quite transparent it will be hailed used to be made but. it's tell me. show me. you can see right through it's right but it's a bit pale. the students look like seasoned digger says 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 digger at this this is a captivating and useful experience they feel more confident this is obvious even from the way they move about the skills they get here in the classroom. only through personal contacts that each small find is a delight for them like a valuable gift in a different era sacks full of much bigger term alliance were hauled from here to village fairs it's impossible to estimate how many of these were incinerated in to produce nickel. what you've got there. it's real big well worth the effort. there's a praiseworthy stone. how are we going to divide them among us. from

time to time the pit steep sides reveal gemstone outcroppings this 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 vein. for you pin you know you stay put for a while. sometimes people do get inside the vein 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. going to deny me what it was really this transgender is for exploration he would accuse the merchants open and workmen mind it's supposed to be they were off the

top barrel but they were only the top layer there are several pits here who would fit you thirty to forty percent of them and certainly more than fifty percent have been worked out there in manger should be down there. a mill that belong to the merchant who own the pits stood here by the riverside a long time ago stories of servants 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 but then the stones had a hard fall you they worked like titans and they got paid for the job their work

was well done say to. nearly every village and a chance to build one or two more shots 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 and you've got to look at a new boost if you can keep it up just like that when the stones are like little kids when you first hold them and your hands that are 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 model s.

. several times a year stone cutters come to you considering board to attend a fair featuring serpents a night road and night 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 malakai wares firms that year at the fair the euro master scoffed at african malakai because of its banal striped pattern. that used to be mined in

the euro is only found in museums. deposits have been completely exhausted. what do people take home from the urals gemstones jasper and mill a kind. of the stone as they so shape the region but this malecon is from africa most people are well aware of the fact they're still willing to buy an. artist carves flowers from stone he matches amatus petals with leaves made of nephrite nephrite leaves look exactly like the real thing pots 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. of the stone

as. if it doesn't feel like being a flower it's going to be one in the beginning on made several attempts to tame stones but nothing came of it. as a result i had a whole bucket. flows and leaves only then did i realize that stones could never be time to. display at the museum of stone. collector owns these pieces. his collection isn't limited to. 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 master more than two thousand items i realize that this fine collection should belong to

my hometown and everybody must have a chance to see it's. not only 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. very unusual. and this is an image that's jim out in the open. you. talk to these colored courts. and they're really wonderful they help me forget any problems or misfortune. with. 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 he 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 but pitts that's all. until issued shy of joining city give a look and 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's something to 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 make no mistake about it joins the courts 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. for you should be done very carefully if you've got

clever fingers you'll make a nice brooch very beautiful. sciences yet on ravel all the mysteries of the gemstone belt. researchers studying all gemstone pits mapped them according the accounts of pioneers who often refused to disclose all of their secrets. 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 the. 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 the same units guy a pit is a case in point is gemstone deposit has 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 piece 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 vein 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 not label 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. deep beneath the earth's surface gemstones are just waiting for someone to rediscover their unique beauty.

in india. the grand central shirts and the. polish president. they were tricycles beatriz of. the cement hotel hotel. in the ridea to lead the. church in new delhi who took the baby who carry conviction ramon the close of the

maiden. paul. robeson pundits. pundits. human rights groups and palestine on law and as israel appoints a man accused of torturing arab prisoners top police advisory position. russian drug enforcement agents clamp down on dealers producing amphetamines in lethal makeshift laboratories in. the morning to early results live in voters to give the ruling party a second chance in a recession hit countries general election as support for a pro russian party surges.

it's two am in moscow good to be with you here on r t our top story in israel many palestinians are frustrated by the appointment of doran's a hobby to oversee their affairs in jerusalem known as captain george he's accused of torturing prisoners during interrogations at a secret prison artie's paulus leader as the story. i was kidnapped by an israeli commando on the twenty first of may nine hundred ninety four they came to my country to my land to my house and arrested me before the eyes of my children. mostafa to ronnie spent the next eighteen years in a secret prison later dubbed israel's upper grade and his interrogator a name that still since chills down the spines of prisoners. i have to remember captain george he personally participated in the top in abuse of prisoners who torture and abuses in abu ghraib are exactly the same as those in the israeli secret prisons.