Colombia is known as “Emerald Country,” as it produces more than half of the world’s emeralds. Miners who dig the green gems are complaining their industry is at risk from new government legislation. CCTV America’s Michelle Begue reports from Bogota.

In Colombia’s Boyaca region, emeralds were traditionally mined with little government regulation as thousands people traveled from around the country to mine the stone. Local residents said little revenue is seen as this accumulation of emerald wealth only benefits a few families. Boyaca’s governor, Juan Carlos Granados, recently complained that the region received under $760,000 of revenues in 2013 out of the $127 million that were exported that year.

Fedesmeraldas, the National Federation of Colombian Emeralds, said complaints in the industry are brought on by disgruntled informal miners. According to Fedesmeraldas, Colombia is only mining in 9,000 of the 99,000 hectares that could potentially have emeralds. Only large scale mining companies will have enough capital to make the initial investments for exploration and comply with new environmental regulations, and mining policies come with a high cost.