Yellowknife (Mar 24/03) - Emeralds may well be the next sought after precious gem in NWT.If so, it wouldn't surprise GNWT geologist Hendrik Falck at all.

C.S. Lord geologist Hendrik Falck with emerald-bearing quartz found just north of Cantung last summer. - Norm Poole/NNSL photo

One reason is the large chunk of emerald-laced white quartz sitting beside his desk at the C.S. Lord Northern Geoscience Centre in Yellowknife.

It was found about 50 kilometres north of Cantung last summer.

A team of C.S. Lord geologists went into the rugged mountains to follow up a "fortuitous" emerald find by a Whitehorse-based prospector five years ago.

"He stumbled across a series of quartz veins with green rock that he couldn't identify," said Falck.

Analyzed at the University of British Columbia, the green rock turned out to be emeralds.

Curiously, the site hasn't been revisited by prospectors since, said Falck.

"We thought that very odd and decided to go in and take a look at the geology."

The team included geologists from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.

The site is almost due east of a large emerald find in Yukon.

True North Gems has spent about $3 million actively exploring its Regal Ridge emerald property southeast of Whitehorse.

The company plans to spend $2.1 million on the property this year and $470,000 on other emerald exploration in the region, said spokesman Ken Shortt.

"We have a very aggressive program planned for the summer," said Shortt.

"At the end of it we hope to know if or when we will have a mine there."

True North went public last fall and is now listed on the TSX.

That prompted a "mini-staking rush" for emeralds in the area, said DIAND geologist Laurie Walton in Whitehorse.

Up to 10 companies are expected to mount exploration programs this summer.

Interest in emeralds is high throughout the territory, she said.

"Since they were discovered, prospectors especially are much more aware of gemstones and have a better understanding of where they are found and what to look for."

More than 150 people attended a colored gemstone prospecting workshop in Whitehorse last summer, three times the number expected, said Walton.

That kind of interest hasn't happened in NWT but might only be a matter of time, said Falck.

C.S. Lord will publish a technical paper this spring on last summer's field research north of Cantung.

Falck said the area was examined to determine whether the earlier discovery was an anomaly or potentially the real deal.

"We wanted to know whether this was an unusual geological setting for a find like this," said Falck.

"The conclusion at this point is that it wasn't unusual at all."

At every site in the region where the team found emeralds, two common rocks -- granites and black shales -- were found together in close proximity.

"Where you find these two rocks together, you have the potential in that contact area to also find emeralds."

The indicator rocks are scattered throughout the cordillera, said Falck.

The team also found quantities of small, free-standing emeralds from surface till-sampling.

They ranged in color from pale to dark green. Emeralds are evaluated according to size and color.

Falck said the technical paper and gemstone workshops in the communities this summer will likely spur prospectors.

"This is a very large area, very difficult to access and relatively not well understood geologically.

"But the promise is there. No one has ever systematically looked for emeralds in the region."

Emeralds are the third most valuable gemstone, behind rubies and diamonds.

A fine quality emerald in Canada draws between $3,000 to $7,000 per carat.

About 30 per cent of the world's emeralds come from the mountains in Columbia.

The only producing emerald mine in North America is in North Carolina.