TO GO WITH AFP STORY SRILANKA-LUXURY-MINING-SAPPHIRE,FEATURE BY AMAL JAYASINGHE
In this photograph taken on February 17, 2016, Sri Lankan gem miners wash stones in Kalu River in Ratnapura district, some 100 kilometres southeast of Colombo. From the Queen of Sheba to Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, Sri Lanka's sapphires have adorned royalty through the ages, but a flood of cheap imitations is threatening the island's reputation for the precious stones. / AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY SRILANKA-LUXURY-MINING-SAPPHIRE,FEATURE BY AMAL JAYASINGHE