The world’s largest natural corundum blue sapphire – “Queen of Asia” – with a weight of around 310 kg was unveiled on Sunday. The rare gemstone was found three months ago from a gem put in Ratnapura – also known as gem city. It is situated around 85 km away from Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. 

The National Gem and Jewellery Authority, the state-run institute, certified the highly valuable, almost priceless gemstone and reports suggest that it may be sold in the international market. 

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 Thilak Weerasinghe, Chairman of the National Gem and Jewellery Authority, said that there are some tests remaining to be performed on the gemstone.

“There could be more clean stones inside this and there are already one or two clean stones which are could be seen from outside,” said Weerasinghe.

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International gem organisations are yet to certify the precious stone.

Gem expert Chamila Suranga said that the speciality of this gem is that the gemstone is comprised of aluminium oxide, titanium, iron, and nickel.

“With the present economic situation in the country it has been decided to present this gem to the world and plans are underway to sell it at the highest amount in the international market,” said Suranga. 

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During July this year, the world’s largest sapphire cluster was found from Ratnapura. It weighed around 510 kg carats, and the cluster was named the “Serendipity Sapphire”.

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