Infinity Sapphire: Buy Gemstones from Sri Lanka. Infinity sapphire is a leading gemstone supplier in Sri Lanka for jewellery businesses and personal use.

Sapphire mining in Sri Lanka

Sapphires, a highly sought precious gemstone naturally found in earth is a crystal composed of Aluminum and Oxygen as Aluminum Oxide. The vivid colors of sapphires comes from different impurities fused inside the crystal when the crystal is formed. As an example the color of blue sapphires comes from titanium atoms spread across the crystal structure. Sapphires are categorized under corundum family and these valuable crystals are primarily formed in Australia, Cambodia, Tanzania and few other countries including Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan sapphires are mainly known as ceylon sapphires and are highly valued due Sri Lanka’s heritage with Gemstone mining and producing high quality gemstones. Sapphires rank just below diamonds on Moh’s scale for hardness and this means sapphires are extremely durable. Therefore sapphires are used not only in fashion industry, but also in industrial work for its durability.

Rathnapura district residing in highlands of Sri Lanka is the epicenter of gemstone mining industry and is a primary source of the world’s largest sapphires ever found. History of Sri Lankan gemstone mining industry spans over hundreds of decades and the skillset required for gemstone mining is carried over for generations. Traditional gemstone mining process involves utilizing hand tools such as pick axes and shovels and is done by the skilled miners residing in these highland areas. Recently Sri Lanka started utilizing modern technology for the mining process and this resulted in an increase of the efficiency of high quality gemstones mined in Sri Lanka.

Identification of Gem Deposits

Identification of possible rich gemstone desposits is done in both traditional and technical approaches in Sri Lanka. In Sinhala term, 'Illam kura' is a common device (a 4 - 5 meter long steel rod) which is used to identify how deep a gem desposit is in an area which is identified as a gem deposit. Modern methodologies includes Geochemical analysis, field surveys, geological mappings and core drilling. Once a gem deposit is identified, a team of miners set up a camp around it and brings their equipment to start the mining process.

Mining and Sorting

Modern mining process is a complicated process and becomes increasingly risky when the deposits are much deeper into the earth. Bulldozers and excavators are utilized to remove overburden and access gem-bearing gravels which then gets extracted and transported to washing stations where this gravel gets washed to seperate rather heavy gemstones from the sorrounding rocks and dirt. In most of the mines flowing water flows are used to separate these gemstones using gravity separation and in some cases manual sorting and grading is done.

Market

Sri Lanka has few popular Gem markets where anyone can visit and buy rough and cut & polished gemstones for very affordable prices. The prices of the gemstones can vary depending on the family, color, lustre & many other factors and there are few extremely rare crystals like Taaffeite & Red Beryl which is like striking a lottery if you could identify and find one. There are also few risks involved in visiting these markets, and one of the major issues are synthetic or fake gemstones. These gemstones are crafted in labs to imitate the real gemstones and might be a bit difficult to identify even for gem experts.

Role of Infinity Sapphire in Sri Lanka Sapphire Mining Process

As a leading Gem exporter in Sri Lanka, Infinity Sapphire encourages the ethical sourcing of gemstones and supports the government initiatives taking place to improve the lifestyle of the traditional gemstone miners. With competitive pricings compared to other top market players, Infinity Sapphire is always focused on customer satisfaction by providing the top notch quality sapphires and other gemstones that are ethically sourced from Sri Lanka. You can directly buy our exquisite gemstones including Sri Lankan Blue Sapphires through our online quotation system.