Mingora emerald deposit, Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan
The emerald-bearing Mingora field is the largest and best studied. It is in the Swat River valley about 130 km NE of the town of Peshawar, several kilometers from the settlement of Sandu. The field was discovered in 1958 and has been systematically mined since 1979.The emerald mineralization in the ophiolite melange is related to a horizon of talc-dolomite schists, about 50 m thick, which are in contact with the graphite schists. The emerald-bearing talc-carbonate rocks are aposerpentinite metasomatites containing talc, dolomite and breunnerite, antigorite, and unevenly distributed chlorite, fuchsite, chromite, and quartz.
The Mingora emerald-bearing field incorporates several mines. In all deposits the emerald mineralization is distinctly controlled by wide zones of intense tectonic schistosity and fracturing of talc-carbonate rocks and is accompanied by calcite-quartz and quartz veins and veinlets with fuchsite, tourmaline, and newly formed light green talc.
Ref: E.Ya. Kievlenko (2003) Geology of gems, p. 97
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