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From ancient times Ratnapura is known as the city of gems. The name comes from Sinhala and ‘ram’ means `gems’ while `pura’ means ‘city’. There is no other reason to call this city ‘the city of gems’ other than that most of Sri Lanka’s world-renowned precious stones such as blue sapphires, rubies, are found in […]

From time immemorial, Sri Lanka has been famous for gems and jewellery and it has a long traditional association with the international trade. Legends of Arabia, folk lore of China, India, Indonesia and tales of early European travelers to the east describe in great detail the fabulous gems of Ceylon. The art of jewellery making […]

The gem extracted from the earth gets its beauty and the value only when they are properly cut and polished. There-fore the lapidary industry is as old as are of gem mining in Sri Lanka. Until early 1970s, cutting and polishing of gems were performed using a traditional machine called Hanap-oruwa. Gem cutting machinery too […]

In my immediately previous article, I discussed rubies and sapphires and their significance to our own Sri Lankan gem and jewellery industry.  This article discusses the next most important species of gemstones in Sri Lanka. About 10% of our gem exports amounting to about Rs 650 million are Cat’s eyes and 2% in value is […]

Ruby and Sapphires are varieties of gems in the corundum species of minerals. A corundum species mineral has the basic chemical composition of Aluminum Oxide (Al203) and it belongs to trigonal crystal system. Pure corundum has no colour and is referred to as white sapphire which is transparent and clear as water. When about 1-3% […]

Pearl of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is a wondrous island blessed with an immense wealth of resources like the rich biodiversity, diverse cultural values, glorious history, priceless gemstones and many more. It is this wealth that has made Sri Lanka really a wonderful paradise in the world. Since ancient times, Sri Lanka is known […]