Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is the blue sapphire capital. This island of exotic gems, has a colorful gem mining and trading history of at least thousands of years. The country produces many different types of gemstones, but the sapphire is the most valued and beautiful.  Ceylon Sapphires and are widely used in sapphire fine jewelry.

The Ratnapura region was the first location of mine sapphire on the island. The name translates to “city of gems”. Local mines are small independent ventures. Most of them are pit-mining operations using traditional methods.