Geology and Origins of the Panjsher Valley Emerald Deposits of Afghanistan

The emerald deposits of the Panjsher Valley are the main site for mining gemstone-grade emerald crystals in Afghanistan.The geology of the Panjsher Valley consists of Middle Paleozoic metamorphic rocks represented by a Silurian-Lower Carboniferous marble and Lower Carboniferous and Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian terrigenous schist.Intrusive rocks include small bodies of gabbro diorite and quartz porphyry and a large intrusion of gneissic granite of the Laghman Complex.The area has an imbricate-block structure elongated to the southwest and northeast.Multiple tectonic events are related to structures within and parallel to the regional-scale Hari Rod fault system.Emerald mineralization in the Panjsher Valley AOI is genetically related to the Laghman Granitoid Complex and is controlled by elongated tectonic zones along the contacts between the carbonate and schist.The Panjsher Valley emerald district contains the following emerald occurrences from the west to east: Khinj, Mikeni I, Mikeni II, Rewat, and Darun.The Buzmal' Mine is located to the north, close to Panjsher Valley.There are three types of emerald mineralization: 1-mineralization within or adjacent to tectonized diorite; 2-mineralization within shear fractures in schist; and 3-mineralization in or adjacent to hydrothermally altered and albitized quartz porphyry dikes.