Whither Sri Lankan gem industry
The 16th International Coloured Gemstone Association(ICA) Congress was held at Cinnamon Grand Hotel earlier this year with over 500 gemmologists, gem traders, government officials and journalists from over 30 countries attending. The theme of the congress was “Sapphire and more…”. It was heartening to observe, that there were speakers who have carried out a lot of research and investigations about the Ceylon sapphire. In fact the first speaker of the congress, Jack Ogden from the US, spoke of the history of sapphires which included some jewellery from Afghanistan, made of Ceylon sapphires dating back to over 2000 years. Speaker after speaker spoke of the virtues of Sri Lankan sapphires. But as I listened to the many speakers I silently wondered how long our sapphire industry could survive.
Foreign visitors at the FACETS jewellery show
Sri Lanka has been known for many centuries for its wealth of gems. Many historical references to gems of Ceylon from the time of Marco Polo, are also well-known. We talk of over 70 varieties of gems produced in Sri Lanka.But how many are aware that over 80 per cent of our export earnings come from the corundum species of gems to which the ruby and the sapphire belong.And in fact over 60 per cent of export earnings are from the blue sapphire only while 10 per cent comes from cat’s eyes. This shows the high dependency of Sri Lankan gem and jewellery industry on sapphires and cat’s eyes.Our gem and jewellery industry has faced many challenges over the years.First it was synthetic sapphire and synthetic ruby during the 20th century.
Synthetics thus produced were so real, free of inclusions, yet costing only a few hundredths of a natural sapphire and ruby of the same colour and quality. People thought ‘Oh, why do we need a natural ruby and sapphire when all the physical properties and optical properties are the same in these new synthetic rubies and sapphires’. It was only a case of mixing up ingredients needed to produce corundum and running through a flame produced by a H2/O2 gas mixture… the powders melt and form gems in a matter of minutes! The natural gem trade collapsed within a short period. But some talked about the importance of the naturalness of a gem. They said ‘we don’t want man-made things to replace our natural beauties’. Gemmologists had to intervene to identify these synthetic products. This resulted in the natural gem trade slowly recovering. But it took years!
Many decades later new products came to the market. This time they called it cultured rubies or cultured emerald. Crystals of gems were grown on a solution very similar to that of nature. But in effect it was another form of synthetics which was little more expensive than the first one.
Gemmologists had another task of detection which also they successfully managed.However gemmologists could not rest for long. Soon unusually beautiful lots and lots of blue sapphire were invading the market. They found that the colour was confined to the surface, in fact only a few hundredths of a millimeter. They said it is a ‘surface diffusion’ of colour giving elements to light colour natural gemstones. Before long, diffused rubies too came to the market. Once again gemmologists had to intervene to combat this new challenge and save the gem industry.
A few years latter unusually beautiful expensive honey coloured cat’s eyes flooded the market. Soon we in Sri Lanka got information that they are highly radioactive. Quality had been improved by irradiation. Sri Lanka announced to the world that all the cat’s eyes leaving our shores are tested for irradiation. We saved the day for cat’s eyes but only perhaps until another disaster strikes. So far, the identification of synthetics, diffused and irradiated cat’s eyes has not been overly difficult. Sri Lanka’s gem industry, which is mainly based on sapphire and cat’s eyes, suffered for a while with each of these challenges but yet survived.
Our sapphire industry suffered another blow only a decade ago when large quantities of yellow, orange and padmarga (Padparadscha) sapphires appeared in the Bangkok market. The unbelievable quantity of materials aroused the suspicion of gem traders all over the world. This time it was revealed that it was another form of diffusion treated sapphires using the ‘Beryllium element’. Unlike previous diffusion processes, this time deep penetration and numerous colours of sapphires were being produced and the process was termed “lattice diffusion”. The identification of these synthetics was not only difficult but it was very expensive, costing over US$ 500 per test. The world gem industry and particularly the Sri Lankan industry suffered for a few years. Sri Lanka’s position as the leading supplier of padmarage.
(Padparadscha) was greatly affected as the buyers, mainly Japan, stopped buying such coloured gemstones until the dispute was resolved.
Many analytical techniques hitherto used for elemental analysis in chemistry such as LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometry), SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) and LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablated Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometry) are necessary for detection of beryllium (Be) diffused sapphires. Unlike basic gemmological equipment, this equipment is extremely expensive going up to many millions of rupees. Initially only yellow, orange and padmarga (Padparadscha) were the colours that was thought to be developed by this treatment. But it has become evident that diffusion produced blue and red stones are very similar to the natural blue sapphire and ruby.
The Gemologists Association of Sri Lanka (GASL) started its campaign about 20 years ago to convince the authorities of the need for a well-equipped gemmological laboratory in Sri Lanka to deal with the problems encountered by the industry as discussed above. Furthermore the availability of such a laboratory would have encouraged the international gem trading community to purchase gems in Sri Lanka with confidence. At present a buyer who chooses a gemstone in the local market has to wait till a report is obtained from a reputed laboratory abroad. The seller has to spend lot of money and wait for weeks for the same. Consequently the gem dealers instead of visiting Sri Lanka and waiting for weeks may go to Thailand and purchase their requirement and get a certificate and complete the transaction immediately because there are many well equipped labs in Bangkok.
Over the years the gem trading community, NGJA and Gemologists Association made many attempts to convince the government of the need for a well-equipped gemmology laboratory in Sri Lanka. Many attempts were made to convince the private sector companies ad banks to have collaborative projects. Failing all that NJGA suggested to our gem and jewellery trading community that we should get an additional ¼ per cent from exports of gems and jewellery for a lab fund (¼ per cent was already being levied as a service charge by the NGJA) and thus we established a gem laboratory fund in 2001. In the past 15 years over Rs.100 million has been collected to the fund, but a lab has not yet materialised.
Once I published an article in a local gemmological magazine where I presented the possibility of other treatments happening, which has not yet impacted the industry. There are other chemical elements like beryllium, of same size and weight, that could be diffused and produce or alter colour in gems. In fact at the GIT 2012, International Gem and Jewellery conference in Thailand, a researcher/trader presented his work on diffusing Lithium (Li) into sapphire, spinel, tourmaline and garnet to improve colour. Who knows how many other treatments may be attempted and accordingly we have to be prepared. Imagine what will happen to our gem industry, if buyers refuse to purchase without a certificate of authenticity regarding diffusion.
The very presence of an internationally recognised fully equipped lab will have a highly deterrent effect. Its mere presence will reassure the buyer that he can safely offer a higher price for a gem and get it tested within Sri Lanka. Otherwise when we try to get a certificate from abroad the buyer will not wait that long and go to another country. We don’t know how many millions we may have lost over many decades due to our tardiness in setting up a certification laboratory here in Sri Lanka. It’s never too late and we need to have a complete laboratory and do business combining technology with marketing and business skills. Our gem industry cannot survive without a fully equipped gemmology laboratory!
(The writer is a senior professor of the University of Moratuwa, Fellow Member of the Gemmological Association of Sri Lanka and former Director General and former Chairman of National Gem and Jewellery Authority) .