A recurring rumor about Elon Musk that Has popped up over the years is that his Wealth came from an emerald mine that His father owned in the 1980s rumors That this mine was stolen from South Africans and all the starting funds for Elon's first companies came from this Ill-gotten wealth are all over the Internet these rumors have only Intensified since musk bought Twitter as People who don't like him constantly Tweet about this and use this as an Example of why he is not a self-made Billionaire and not someone people Should admire due to the way this mine Exploited the people of Africa where it Was located as of 2023 Elon Musk now has Repeatedly made the claim on Twitter That the mind doesn't exist however with Just a small amount of research you can Find evidence of Elon saying the Mind Existed just a few short years ago in Various interviews with this conflicting Intel from Elon and other Oddities about The story I thought it was time to do a Deep dive into the topic to see what I Could find and what I did discover was Countless half truce blatant attempts at Rewriting history and an emerald Necklace once belonging to Elon that Holds all the answers to understand the Emerald mine story we have to know a Little about Elon Musk elon's parents May musk and arrow musk raised him in
South Africa where Errol is from after His parents divorced in 1980 Elon chose To live with his father and stay in South Africa while his mother moved to Canada with elon's younger sister tosco In the mid-1980s is when the emerald Mine was purchased according to elon's Dad Errol Errol was an avid pilot in the 1980s and flew his single engine plane From South Africa to Zambia on one trip While in Zambia according to Errol he Was approached by a group of Italians Who offered him eighty thousand pounds In British currency to buy his plane From there the story gets Wilder as Errol stated in an interview standing With the cash in his hand Errol was made Another offer he couldn't refuse would He like to buy half an emerald mine for Half of his new riches I said oh all Right so I became a half owner of the Mine and we got emeralds for the next Six years it was a lucrative decision Errol employed a cutter in Johannesburg And sold the stones wherever his travels As an engineer or family holidays took Him now that quote came from Business Insider South Africa who interviewed Errol in 2018. looking over what Arrow Claims to have taken place sounds truly Outlandish and in my opinion only two Explanations exist for such a wild story Either Errol is lying as that story Sounds like something straight out of a
James Bond movie or those Italians he Claims to have done business with were Connected to some incredibly Shady Business and were desperate to get out Of the country at all cost in my mind There really is no other reason why such A shady business deal would ever go down And if true undoubtedly was not a legal Business deal by any means whatever the Case that's the claim that elon's father Errol has made Elon has parroted his Father's sentiment that he owned a mind For many years as well the earliest Article I could find was printed by the New Yorker in 2009 titled plugged in When they interviewed Elon and the Article reads when Elon was 11 about the Time that he sold his first piece of Software a video game called blastar Musk told his mother that he was going To move back to praetoria to live with His father Errol an electric engineer Who would later own an auto parts store And a share in an emerald mine elon's Present day claims that the mind never Existed and he doesn't know why people Keep bringing it up get even more Obliterated due to elon's interview with Forbes in 2014. the article titled Elon Musk tells me his secret of success Hint It ain't about the money asked Elon many Questions elon's response to the Question how do you handle fear is truly Surprising though Elon stated the funny
Thing is I've not actually been that Nervous in South Africa my father had a Private plane we'd fly in incredibly Dangerous weather and barely make it Back this is going to sound slightly Crazy but my father also had a share in EN Emerald mine in Zambia I was 15 and Really wanted to go with him but I Didn't realize how dangerous it was I Couldn't find my passport Sports so I Ended up grabbing my brothers which Turned out to be six months overdue so We have this plain load of Contraband And an overdue passport from another Person there were AK-47s all over the Place and I'm thinking man this could Really go bad that quote from Elon is Him directly saying his dad was part Owner of a mine something he now claims Over and over on Twitter is a hundred Percent false what's also interesting is Elon admitting to Flying Contraband of AK-47s and illegally using his brother's Expired passport to do all of this now After admitting to all of this it should Come as no shock to anyone that the Article where this was posted no longer Exists it was posted on forbes.com on July 28 2014 but on September 18th of The same year it was removed from the Website you can use the website Wayback Machine to see the article before it was Deleted and any attempt to reach out to Forbes to ask why they removed the
Article will not receive a response Elon's father in another article went Into even more details and claimed that Elon sold some of his emeralds on a trip To New York as written by Business Insider Errol musk had a casual attitude Towards the family's considerable wealth Including the stones that came from the Zambian emerald mine in which Errol Owned a half share Elon by his father's Recollection then probably 16 years old And his brother Kimball decided to sell Emerald City and Co on Fifth Avenue in New York one of the world's most famous Jewelers as his father lay sleeping they Just walked into Tiffany and said do you Want to buy some emeralds Arrow recalled An interview with Business Insider South Africa and they sold two emeralds one Was for 800 and I think the other was For 1200. we were very wealthy says Errol we had so much money at times we Couldn't even close our safe with one Person holding the money in place and Another would slam the door and then There'd still be these notes sticking Out and we'd sort of pull them out and Put them in our pockets it's important To know that Elon has refuted the claim That his family was very wealthy and has Said many times he went 100K in debt to Pay for his college and was flat bro Broke when he started his first company I would also like to mention that elon's
Dad Errol is not the most Savory of Characters and has given conflicting Details about the mind when interviewed About it in 2021 for a news article by Jeremy Arnold in this article Errol Changed who he made the deal with from a Group of Italians to a handshake deal With a Panamanian man that resulted in Something like 110 emeralds up front and Then a semi-regular trickle of rough Stones over a few years following and That there was never a formal ownership He also claims he was getting emeralds From other sources with only 60 to 70 Percent coming from this Venture Errol Also did one of the creepiest things I Have ever heard when he ended up dating His former stepdaughter and eventually Having two children with her as a child Jaina grew up alongside Elon and years Later when Errol had children with her This put massive strain on his Relationship with Elon leading to the Relationship breaking down now after all Of this it would be incredibly easy to Just point the finger at Arrow call him A liar and say this whole Emerald mine Business was made it up however that all Changed in 2022 when a former girlfriend Of Elon brought forth an emerald Necklace that she said was given to her By Elon in the mid-1990s Jennifer Gwen Dated Elon in late 1994 while they were Both in college during the winter break
Between semesters Jennifer and Elon took A trip to visit elon's mother and According to Jennifer the following Events occurred when we went to visit Elon's mother in Toronto during the Christmas break of 1994 Elon gave me Both the small love love love note and The necklace his mom had a number of These necklaces and a case in her Bedroom and Elon told me they were from His father's Emerald mine in South Africa he pulled one from the case and Because I had not gotten him anything as A Christmas gift and I felt very guilty About it he said we would consider the Necklace an early birthday present for Me I wore the necklace for a number of Years on and off but it's mostly been in My jewelry box for the past 10 years Always reminding me of Elon of course Now if that story is true it's pretty Damning evidence that he Elon and his Family had a collection of emeralds and Elon was telling his close friends and Girlfriend in the 90s that they were From his father's Emerald mine that Necklace was sold at auction along with Pictures of Elon with Jennifer from the 1990s as far as I can tell Elon has Never denied Jennifer's story or made Any attempt to stop this auction which Used that story to help increase the Price of the emerald necklace at auction With all that info and Elon clearly
Telling many people in the past that his Dad was part owner of an emerald mine It's pretty wild that today he now goes Around telling everyone he has no idea Where this rumor started clearly Elon it Started with you telling people it was True decades ago now in elon's defense In May of 2023 Elon did a lengthy Twitter post where he does acknowledge That his dad told him about the emerald Line and that for a while Elon believed Him however after all the bad blood Between the two of them including Errol Knocking up elon's stepsister he no Longer believes his dad's story about The Mind actually existing in most Stories I like to end in the video with Definitive proof of one way or the other However in this case it simply isn't Possible if the everal mine existed According to errol's own words it was a Handshake deal and no paperwork would Exist unless someone can produce a photo Of Errol and a mine with a bunch of Emeralds this is one case that most Likely will never had definitive proof One way or the other in the end it comes Down to what you the viewer want to Believe if you're a fan of Elon you'll Probably give him the benefit of the Doubt and say his dad lied which there Is evidence to point to however if you Dislike Elon you'll probably say there Is at least some truth to the story and
Feel like Elon is lying about his Family's connection to this Emerald mine At the end of the day there really is no Smoking gun to say yes or no so it's up To you to decide who you believe Elon or Errol