Ajith Rohitha has been a prospector for 22 years, a profession he inherited from his forefathers. His work, however, comes with great dangers. Every morning, he prays before a statue of Buddha, asking for a gemstone.
“I help every day with whatever I can. The digging work is a form of slavery. I do not like this work at all, but in this area, he has to do this work because we are used to this. I always fear when he goes to work,” Rohitha’s wife Samanthi Lanka told Rudaw.
It takes Rohitha 15 minutes to reach the mine, where he and 11 other workers have been searching for gemstones for seven months.
“When we come into the tunnel, we start carving. Sometimes, the tunnel collapses on us. When we reach stone pieces like this while carving, we reduce the carving height and step back so it does not collapse. If we suspect it will collapse, we go and start carving from another side,” Rohitha said.
After days of digging, Rohitha and his team found a rare 31-carat blue sapphire. They took it to a renowned mine owner, who initially valued it at $7,000, giving the workers ten percent of the value.
The stone, however, turned out to be worth around $160,000 after polishing.
“It is the biggest business in Sri Lanka, a business where you always make profit. A business where you work freely as you wish. It is dangerous but not very dangerous. People have the ability to go down and do their work with awareness,” said Ananda Amaranayaka, a gemstone trader.
Ratnapura, or the City of Gems, is Sri Lanka’s best-known mining area.
Under Sri Lankan law, exporting uncut gemstones without polishing is prohibited.
“When the stone is finished in the factory and washed, it then receives a special certificate. The certificate is issued by the gem and jewelry authority laboratory, and then it is put on the market,” said Sanjeewa Fonseka, the owner of a gemstone washing and polishing factory.
Around 200,000 minors are officially employed in the industry, but around half a million are believed to be working illegally.
