Knowledge | Posted by Zarni Kyaw
The debate over whether Elon Musk’s family once owned an emerald mine has become one of the internet’s favorite mysteries.
The story seems almost too wild to be true: a handshake deal in Zambia, precious gems funding a future billionaire, and conflicting accounts from the Musks themselves. With Elon Musk flatly denying it and Errol Musk insisting it happened, the question remains—what’s the real story?
Elon Musk Calls It A Myth
If you ask Elon Musk, the idea that his family had an emerald mine is nothing more than a fantasy.
He’s been vocal about shutting down this claim, going so far as to offer 1 million Dogecoin to anyone who can prove the mine existed.
He’s referred to the story as “fake” and expressed frustration at how widely it has spread.
But what makes things even more intriguing is that past interviews suggest Elon might have acknowledged it at some point. A resurfaced quote from Forbes in 2014 mentions that he once said, “We had so much money we couldn’t even close our safe”, implying easy access to wealth.
Whether he was serious or exaggerating remains unclear, but it only fuels the speculation.
Errol Musk Insists The Mine Was Real
On the other side of the story is Errol Musk, Elon’s father, who has been unwavering in his claim that the family did, in fact, deal in emeralds.
According to him, the mine wasn’t a large-scale operation but rather an informal setup in Zambia.
He says he discovered it through a chance meeting with an Italian entrepreneur who was paying locals to extract emeralds.
There were no contracts, no official records—just a handshake deal during what Errol describes as Zambia’s “wild west” era. This lack of formal documentation makes the story difficult to verify.
Errol Musk has claimed that selling these gems helped finance Elon’s move to America, providing support for his studies at the University of Pennsylvania and helping fund his first ventures.
Ref: Elon Musk’s Father Claims His Son’s Empire Was Built by Their Secret Emerald Mine
