Panjsher emeralds sold for $185,100 at 16th auction

PARAKH (Pajhwok): The Department of Mines and Petroleum in central Panjsher province has sold 6,439 carats of emeralds for $185,100 at 16th auction.

Mohammad Qasim Amir, director of mines and petroleum, said about 150 traders from Panjsher, Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Uruzgan, Baghlan, Kandahar and Ghor provinces took part in the auction.

He said the emeralds sold had been extracted from six sites in Hisa-i-Awal district of Panjsher. Emerald mining in the province resumed in August after two years of suspension.

At the previous 15th auction, the high-valued gemstone fetched $3 million and 391,000, he recalled.

hz/ma