This Mine Produces Emeralds, But It Also Supported The Soviet War Machine

In 1830, a man named Maxim Kozhevnikov found emerald crystals near a river in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia's Ural Mountains. He likely had no idea how valuable the area he'd stumbled across actually was -- it's been estimated that the Malyshevsky, or Mariinsky, mine built there contains about 90 percent of Russia's emerald reserves, making it Europe's largest emerald deposit. Though it has changed hands multiple times since organized mining began there, production is still going on in the area after a few years of inactivity.Photographer and urban explorer Mikhail Mishainik from Mines of Ural recently got to see...

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