Gem Mining

Miners soon learned the richest deposits were composed of blue and yellow clays called ‘illam’ which lay just below the surface of lush valley farmlands. During their tortuous journey downstream, most gem crystals were worn to rounded pebbles, but harder than host minerals, they managed to retain much of their size. 

Every available square meter of stream bed was mined until all known gem areas were exhausted. The miners discovered that the rivers they were working were in reality “surface streams” and that by digging downward from 7 to 30 meters, “ancient streams” could be encountered. Unfortunately most of the ancient streams lay beneath cultivated fields. Prospecting and mining operations caused great destruction to crops and created considerable animosity between farmer and miner. 

Eventually new mining methods were devised whereby the gem hunter could operate at a profit and still leave the farmland virtually intact. A vertical shaft was dug downward until the ‘illam’  was reached. Feeder tunnels extended in a number of directions like the spokes on a wheel. The shaft and tunnels were carefully supported by wood and bamboo timbers. The miners dug along the tunnels, loaded the gravel into knapsacks, and then climbed to the surface with their loads. 

Washing, screening, and sorting occurred on the surface. Usually pumps operated full time to keep the tunnels free of water. When a mine played out, the tunnels were closed off, the shaft filled, the buildings removed, and new topsoil spread over the area. As another growing season approached, all vestiges of the mine vanished. 

In 2010 the Elahera (in Matale District) and Rakwana (in Ratnapura District) mines were in operation. It proved to be a good producer of white and cornflower-blue sapphires and padparadscha. 

Like all gem gravel mines on the island, when the mines are worked out, its shafts were filled, its sumps removed, and vegetables and fruits were planted over the old workings. Today it might be impossible to locate the old mine site.

Ratnapura (Singhalese for ‘gem town’) lies about 100 kilometers southeast of Colombo. Its mining region has produced an incredible variety of gemstones, many of them outstanding in comparison with stones from other regions. 

Sapphire occurs in all hues of blue, as well as yellow, violet, green, pink, and the remarkable pinkishorange “padparadsha.” Other gemstones include topaz in bright yellow with a reddish tinge; brownish yellow to cinnamon-coloredgrossular; orange-yellow spessartine; blood-red pyrope; red to brownish red almandine; the world’s finest zircon in a broad spectrum including brown, yellow, orange, green, and colorless (known locally as ‘Matara diamond’—a misnomer); green, yellow, and brown tourmaline; yellow, green, and brown chrysoberyl; yellow chrysoberyl cat’s-eye; the unique white translucent variety of microcline with a blue sheen known as moonstone; and great quantities of spinel in brown, green, blue, purple, violet, yellow, pink, and red. 

 

Unusual and rare stones from the same area include sillimanite, andalusite, scapolite, enstatite, kornerupine, diopside, and sinhalite. Recently a 5000-carat cat’s-eye chrysoberyl, the size of a man’s fist, was taken from a mine near Ratnapura “Gemming” a river. Disturbing the gravels with poles causes waste to float away, leaving gems to be gathered from river bed. 

The crown jewels of many monarchs gleam with extraordinary spinels, sapphires, and zircons mined from Sri Lanka streams. The Imperial Treasury of the Soviet Union houses a 400-carat red spinel of great beauty which was once given to Catherine the Great. The British Imperial Crown features a giant oval-cut spinel (previously supposed to be a ruby), known as the “Black Prince.” Crowns in the Green Vaults of Dresden are covered with sapphires from Sri Lanka.

Our Elehera Gem Mining

Our Rakwana Gem Mining

Our Halpe, Belihuloya Gem Mining