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History

Emeralds were first discovered there in 1956, at what is now the Vulcan mine site, and the following year at the Zeus mine site. Production began in 1958,³ and in 1959 the properties were sold to a Rio Tinto subsidiary Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ).⁴ The mines were first worked by filling a wheelbarrow with the gem containing soil and then washing away the earth,⁵ but were replaced by modern placer techniques.

In 1993 Rio Tinto sold the mines to a newly formed company, Sandawana Mines (Pvt.) Ltd., where the Zimbabwean government held a significant share.⁶ The mines were closed seven years later due to the drop in demand for emeralds.⁷ But interest in the properties resumed as the price of lithium soared. In 2019, Kuvimba Mining House (KMH), which is 65% owned by the Zimbabwe government, took over the asset.⁸

Illegal mining takes place at the Sandawana mines due to lax or bribed security.⁹ The global rise in lithium prices in the early 2020s triggered a lithium rush which caused conflicts, leading to the eviction of local people from lithium-rich lands. In Sandawana, the evictions – which were filmed and did the rounds of social media – triggered widespread condemnation of the government.¹⁰

Geology

The Mweza greenstone belt consists of a series of intensely deformed and moderately metamorphosed ultramafic-to-mafic volcanic rocks and metamorphosed sedimentary rocks.¹¹ Intruded into the greenstone are granitic pegmatites containing rare earth minerals such as spodumene. These pegmatite were intruded just prior to and/or during a main deformation event at 2.6 Ga.(2.6 billion years ago).¹² Subsequently, along the cracks between the pegmatites and the greenstone, a hydrothermal solution complex was injected containing large amounts of sodium, as well as lithium, fluorine, beryllium, phosphorus and chromium.¹³ This solution reacted with the minerals of both the granite pegmatite and the greenstone to produce a variety of uncommon minerals, including emeralds (beryl).¹⁴

Notes and references

References

1. Zwaan, Johannes Cornelis (Hanco); Kanis, Jan; Petsch, Eckehard J. (1997). "Update on Emeralds from the Sandawana Mines Zimbabwe". Gems & Gemology. 33 (2). Gemological Institute of America: 80–100. doi:10.5741/GEMS.33.2.80. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

2. "Demystifying Sandawana Mine". Harare, Zimbabwe: Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG). Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. https://cnrgzim.org/news/demystifying-sandawana-mine/ ↩

3. Gübelin, Eduard J. (1958). "Emeralds from Sandawana". The Journal of Gemmology. 6 (8): 340–354. doi:10.15506/JoG.1958.6.8.340. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

4. Zwaan, Johannes Cornelis (Hanco); Kanis, Jan; Petsch, Eckehard J. (1997). "Update on Emeralds from the Sandawana Mines Zimbabwe". Gems & Gemology. 33 (2). Gemological Institute of America: 80–100. doi:10.5741/GEMS.33.2.80. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

5. Böhmke, F. C. (1982). "Emeralds at Sandawana in Gemstones, Report of the Sixth Annual Commodity Meeting, Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (IMM)". Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. 91: A110 – A122. ↩

6. Zwaan, Johannes Cornelis (Hanco); Kanis, Jan; Petsch, Eckehard J. (1997). "Update on Emeralds from the Sandawana Mines Zimbabwe". Gems & Gemology. 33 (2). Gemological Institute of America: 80–100. doi:10.5741/GEMS.33.2.80. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

7. Kairiza, Tinashe; Nyoni, Mthandazo (21 September 2023). "Kuvimba sits on 820 000 tonnes of lithium stockpiles". NewsDay. Harare, Zimbabwe. https://www.newsday.co.zw/theindependent/business/article/200016938/kuvimba-sits-on-820-000-tonnes-of-lithium-stockpiles ↩

8. "Demystifying Sandawana Mine". Harare, Zimbabwe: Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG). Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. https://cnrgzim.org/news/demystifying-sandawana-mine/ ↩

9. "Demystifying Sandawana Mine". Harare, Zimbabwe: Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG). Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. https://cnrgzim.org/news/demystifying-sandawana-mine/ ↩

10. Mkodzongi, Grasian (21 March 2025). "Local inclusion and regulatory control key to sustainable mining : Lessons learnt from China's scramble for Zimbabwe's lithium reserves". NAI Policy Notes 2025:3, the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI). https://nai.uu.se/stories-and-events/news/2025-03-21-local-inclusion-and-regulatory-control-key-to-sustainable-mining.html ↩

11. Zizhou, Peter T. (1994). "A preliminary report on the geology of the Mweza Greenstone Belt, Mberengwa". Annals of the Zimbabwe Geological Survey. 18: 7–11. https://books.google.com/books?id=MnFPAQAAIAAJ ↩

12. Zwaan, Johannes Cornelis (Hanco) (2006). "The Sandawana Model of Emerald Formation" (PDF). Gems & Gemology. 42 (3): 111. https://www.gia.edu/doc/FA06.pdf ↩

13. Zwaan, Johannes Cornelis (Hanco) (2006). "Gemmology, geology and origin of the Sandawana emerald deposits, Zimbabwe" (PDF). Scripta Geologica. 131: 1–212. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 March 2022. https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/209632/SG131_001-212.pdf ↩

14. Zwaan, Johannes Cornelis (Hanco) (2006). "Gemmology, geology and origin of the Sandawana emerald deposits, Zimbabwe" (PDF). Scripta Geologica. 131: 1–212. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 March 2022. https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/209632/SG131_001-212.pdf ↩