Emeralds are again being mined in the historic district of the Ural Mountains. Physical, chemical, spectroscopic, and microscopic characteristics of stones from the recent production are presented and compared with data on older samples as well as those reported in the literature. Chemical analysis and visible and infrared spectroscopy provide information on crystal chemistry and color-causing trace elements that is useful both to characterize these stones and to separate them from their synthetic counterparts. A variety of mineral inclusions as well as liquid, two-phase, and three-phase inclusions were seen with magnification. All of the data are critically evaluated with respect to the confirmation of unknown samples as Uralian.
