Audio Slideshow, gallery: Afghan Emerald Mines: Emerald Miners of the Panjshir

Mohammad Khodir scans the stone trying to decide where he wants to search for emeralds in a quartz seam . The work in the mines is grueling manual labor with little mechanization of the process. Khodir has had some success, finding an emerald he says was worth several thousand dollars a back in November 2006.