Emerald Fields on Mapping

The glamour of the red carpet at Cannes or Hollywood is a far cry from the hot and dusty pit of the world’s single largest producing emerald mine, Kagem in Lufwanyama. But for the team at the mine, the excitement of seeing Zambia’s emeralds on the world stage makes their job worthwhile.

For one of the mine’s longest serving employees, Senior Manager for Planning and Surveying, Aaron Nyangu, it is the culmination of years of training, experience and hard work that he is now passing on to the next generation of mining engineers. “I feel proud to see those celebrities wearing our emeralds from Kagem. It’s a great feeling,” said Mr Nyangu enthusiastically.

“I call Kagem the place where I grew up. I’ve grown up with the pit. I came here when I was in my early 30s, brought here by the then general manager. Prior to 2008 when Gemfields took over from the predecessors, the pit was not as big as it is now.

We used to move between 80,000 and 100,000 tonnes a month; now we are moving over a million tonnes every month. I’ve come a long way in my career and I’ve seen the pit grow so it’s been an exciting experience,” said Mr Nyangu.