Emeralds, a saturated green and the most precious form of beryl, are found in the Panjshir province at elevations of 3000-4000m, in an area 16 km long by 3 km wide. Emeralds are green color and occur in crystals up to 100 carats in weight whose clarity often rivals the more famous Columbian emeralds. Gem

Ruby, known as the ‘King of Precious Stones’, is a precious gemstone form of corundum. Rubies are mined at Jegdalek Gandamak in Kabul Province, where they occur in a Proterozoic calcite-dolomite marble bed 500 to 2,000m thick within a regionally metamorphosed marble cut by Oligocene granitic intrusions. The Jegdalek rubies range from nearly colorless to