Sri Lanka’s National gem and Jewellery Authority has said that the world’s largest corundum, blue sapphire has been found in Ratnapura in Sri Lanka. It weighs around 310 kg. This rare gemstone had been found three months ago from a gem in Ratnapura. It was unveiled on Sunday. According to newsfirst.lk, the blue sapphire which has been discovered as a single crystal has been named Queen of Asia. Thilak Weerasinghe has told that the value of a gemstone is 15 million carats. He added that the gemstone has been inspected and issued a certificate by the National Gem and Jewellery Authority. According to Weerasinghe, there can be much more clean stones inside this and some can also be seen from the outside.
Sri Lanka shows off giant natural blue sapphire https://t.co/GQ7YENMKEx pic.twitter.com/T0n2hyNWbu
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Gem expert Chamila Suranga described its speciality. He said that the gemstone consists of aluminium oxide, titanium, iron and nickel. Suranga told that plans are being made to sell the gemstone to the international market seeing the economic situation of the country. However, it is yet to be certified by international gem organisations.
This year in July, a large star sapphire cluster was found in the backyards of Sri Lanka accidentally. The stone was found in the Ratnapura area by workmen who were digging a well for the home of a gem trader. If experts are to be believed, the weight of this pale blue stone is 510 kilograms. Its value is 100 million dollars in the international market. The pale blue stone has been named Serendipity Sapphire.
Mr Gamage, the owner of the stone, had alerted the authorities about this discovery. Although, it took almost a year to clean the stone from all the impurities, analyzing and certifying it.
Archaeologists also discovered a rare stone from the time of Emperor Claudius in 49 A.D. The stone was found on June 17 during the excavation process under the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus. Ratnapura is famous for precious gems like Sapphires, Rubies and many others.
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