Emerald Mines, Elon Musk and His Father's Controversial Statements: Unearthed Truth from New Biography

Insights into Elon Musk's family past unearthed through a new biography have spurred discussions about controversies tied to South Africa's mining sector and the country's post-colonial governmental structures that were previously suppressed. The biography, authored by Walter Isaacson, corroborates the existence of emerald mines in Zambia, intrinsically linked to Musk's father, Errol Musk. This revelation challenges previous dismissals issued by Musk on his family's connection to the mining industry.

These accusations were previously brought to light when Musk took control over the social media platform, Twitter, subsequently rebranded as X.com. To quash the mounting criticism, Musk, also the captain steering the SpaceX and Tesla ships, vehemently denied the existence of these emerald mines, even staking a wager of a million Dogecoin, equivalent to approximately R1.6 million.

Explaining the connection with undeterred precision, Isaacson unveiled that in 1986, Errol Musk traded a Cessna plane with a Panamanian-Italian entrepreneur, receiving in return a portion of the emeralds produced at his three mines located in Zambia. The mines escaped official registration, a deliberate action taken to navigate the unorganised postcolonial government infrastructure.

Errol Musk is quoted in the book stating that registering the mines would lead to an unjust acquisition by native Zambians, a viewpoint he defended as non-racist. The raw emeralds were reportedly imported and cut in Johannesburg. Furthermore, during overseas trips, Errol sold these emeralds to various jewellers.

However, the operation met its eventual downfall when lab-created, artificial emeralds flooded the market. Despite this fiasco, Elon Musk climbed the ladder to become one of the wealthiest individuals globally, even after accumulating about $100,000 in student debt.