Mining is the hardest and unpredictable work in the gem industry!
You never know until you digout the gem pit whether there are gemstones or not. The only thing you can do is conduct mineral research in the area.
Where can you find gems in Ceylon?
Ratnapura
Ratnapura (city of gems) is in Sri Lanka's chief source of precious and semiprecious stones, including rubies, sapphires, alexandrites, and cat's-eyes. Especially, there is a village called "Rambuka" in Ratnapura district, which is famous for bright blue sapphires, called "Rambuka blue sapphires." And, quality alexandrites in Rakwana, Ratnapura district.
Elahera
Elahera has produced economic quantities of good to superior sapphires, spinels, garnets, zircon, and tourmaline, as well as many other gem materials. "Elahera blue sapphires" and "Elahera rose garnets" are very famous because of their vivid colors.
Okkampitiya
The main gemstones hosted by Maligawila in Okkampitiya gem field include geuda, sapphires (blue, yellow, and colourless), spinel, garnet, tourmaline, and zircon in the order of decreasing abundance.
Meetiyagoda
Meetiyagoda is the world's number one moonstone mine. The highest value blue-shining moonstones are found.
Gem mining in Sri Lanka primarily utilizes traditional, eco-friendly methods regulated by the NGJA (National Gem and Jewelry Authority), focusing on shallow to deep pit mining, tunneling, and riverbed dredging. Key techniques include manual excavation of vertical shafts (2x4 meters) with wooden support, high-ground mining, and panning in riverbeds to locate gem-bearing gravel.
Cheers!
