这枚戒指上的祖母绿重18.17克拉，它经历了从矿区到市场的整条价值链，从巴西贝尔蒙特矿区的土地，经过泰国珠宝定制商和零售商之手，最终到达消费者。

The original rough of our mine-to-market emerald was impressive and showed great potential. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

原石重147.5克拉，产自海拔654米、地下深度100米的巴西贝尔蒙特矿区。经过切分后，最大的一颗原石有 40.66 克拉重，它经历了几次割锯达到理想的净度和质量。矿区经理Marcelo（马塞洛）介绍，该矿区每年能开采一到三颗这种尺寸和质量的宝石。

下面，宝石君将以图文形式展示重40.66克拉从原石到成品的过程，耐心看完定有收获！

①开采：

Our mine-to-market emerald came from the underground operation, which required significant investment and heavy equipment like this front-loader. Photo by Duncan Pay/GIA.

Truckloads of ore leave the mine for the processing facility, which has been revamped to handle hard-rock schist. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

首先矿石开采商要通过爆破来移除金云母片岩，然后铲土机将爆破的片岩拉到主斜坡处。一辆由绞车组成的铲土机将一桶桶的矿材从开采面中拉下来，片岩会在那儿被装进卡车，然后运到加工厂。

Belmont invested heavily in converting their processing facility to handle hard rock instead of the loose dirt they had focused on in the past. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

当卡车将片岩运往加工厂并卸入第一个格栅中时，加工流程就开始了。各种破碎机和筛子会将所有片岩的尺寸减小到40毫米。尺寸小于40毫米的片岩则会被水洗，而且是通过高水压得到彻底清洁，以让祖母绿在光学分拣机下看得更加清晰。

②分选：

The Belmont mine relies on the sophistication of its optical sorters to detect valuable emerald rough. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

贝尔蒙特精密的光学分拣机首先“发现”了这颗宝石。光学分选流程后，就有人在存储含祖母绿矿石的“保险室”中发现了它。

The original rough of our mine-to-market emerald was impressive and showed great potential. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

③切割打磨：

Marcelo and his chief cutter spent a great deal of time discussing the sawing, preforming, and cutting of the large emerald rough. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

Marcelo（马塞洛）将宝石展示给切割师看，并一起讨论切磨策略。

The sawn mine-to-market stone was preformed against a grinding wheel to define its shape before faceting. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

At this stage, the emerald is beginning to look more like a finished stone. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

对于贵重原石来说，切割要寻求一种在各方面妥协的办法：展示出最佳颜色和亮度、进一步减少可见内含物、创造出赏心悦目的对称性，并尽可能多地保留宝石珍贵的重量。经过多年的经验，贝尔蒙特切割师们了解他们的客户在外观和克拉成本方面有何需要。图片上的祖母绿已经过切割打磨，出具形状。

Once the stone was removed from the dop, some of the wax was still visible on the pavilion. Next, it will be cleaned, examined, and enhanced. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA.

在打磨刻面过程中，宝石切割要让光线反射最大化，且宝石的比例和对称性要极为美观，同时还要达到最大限度保留重量的目标，要实现这些目标通常很难。为了让宝石获得赏心悦目的绿色，难免要损失一些重量。

Both emeralds are from the original large piece of rough. The larger one is the 18.17-carat mine-to-market stone. Both were photographed in NY while receiving their GIA Laboratory reports. Photo by GIA.

最终，经过刻面打磨和净度优化，宝石重18.17克拉。（左）

Our magnificent emerald traveled from Brazil to NY, then to the Hong Kong Gem and Jewelry Show, and was finally set in a custom-designed ring in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo courtesy M. Suradej Joaillerie.

这颗产自巴西贝尔蒙特矿的祖母绿，在纽约获得宝石学鉴定所证书，之后被带往香港，在贸易展会上被一名来自泰国的珠宝商买下。随后，该宝石被镶嵌在一枚定制戒指上，展示在珠宝商的零售店中，并出售给某位青睐独特高级珠宝的客户，完成了它从矿场到市场的全球之旅。