T he gem riches of Sri Lanka have been legendary for centuries. One of the earliest descriptions is that of Nearchus, who in 334 B.C. mentioned an island not far from Persia where beautiful translucent gems had been found. Without a doubt, this island was the present Sri Lanlza. Much later, at the beginning of the 16th century, Portuguese sailors discovered the island and returned to Europe with some of its gemstones; seamen from Holland did the same some hundred years later. Over the centuries, tens-probably hundreds-of thousands of carats of fine sapphire, ruby, chrysoberyl, spinel, and other familiar as well as unusual gemstones have been mined in Sri Lanka. Yet many questions continue to surround the geology of the deposits, and mining methods remain, for the most part, very primitive. During the course of the author’s eight trips to Sri Lanlza, he has traveled all over the country and inspected the major mining areas-beginning in 1958 with the historically important Ratnapura area and completing most recently, in February and November of 1981, a study of the newer Tissamaharama area. The author has drawn from his experiences and investigations to provide this overview of the geology of Sri Lanlza and its mining and cutting practices, as well as special features of the various gem materials found there. Also examined are inclusions characteristic of Sri Lankan gemstones and production figures for the area.
