The Lanka Gem Dealers and Miners Association
About Us
The Association was founded in 1983, initiated by Mr. Jinadasa Guruge (founder Chairman), Mr. M.A. Justin (Founder Secretary) and Mr. Ranjith Peiris (Founder Treasurer). The objective at the time was prevention of foreign companies starting gem mining operations in Sri Lanka in order to protect the local gem industry.
In 1988 a foreign company tried to obtain gem mining license to carry out gem mining in the “Kalu Ganga” area. As there was no organization in place to represent the gem mining and trading industry based in Rathnapura, objecting to this foreign company was challenging. Hence Mr. Guruge and Mr. Justin formed the Lanka Gem Dealers and Miners Association to raise one voice to protect the local gem industry. Ever since the association has been very successful in countering undue foreign companies obtaining gem mining rights in Sri Lanka.
Again in 2015, a foreign company obtained gem mining license in Sri Lanka posing a threat to the local mining industry. The Association officials led by Mr. Sarath Ananda (Chairman) was successful in challenging and revoking the said licence.
From the inception in 1988 to 2015 Mr. Jinadasa Guruge has held the position of Chairman and has contributed enormously to the development and sustainability of the Association.
The Association acts as an important representor of the gem miners and traders in Rathnapura. The Association officials frequently meet with policy makers and the Head of State in obtaining better policies governing licensing, taxation and other regulatory issues. In 2016 October, the Association was able to establish a task force to find gem industry related issues and solutions with the consensus of His Excellency the President Maithripala Sirisena.
Since its inception the Association has been involved with many community development projects, mainly in the areas of education, health and disaster management. Some significant projects are as follows;
- As Rathnapura experiences floods quite frequently the Association supports to rebuild flood victims livelihoods through financial assistance.
- In case of mining related deaths, the Association contributes significant amounts to the dependents of the deceased workers.
- Scholarships are awarded to student who enter university from the mining community.
- During the war the Association made significant contributions to the National Defense Fund.
- Made significant donations to 2004 tsunami victims’ families
Currently the Association is headed by Mr.Punsiri Tennakoon from 2017 and has a membership of xxxx gem miners and traders from all over the country and continues to create awareness among all stakeholders to carry out gem mining in a responsible and environmentally sustainable manner.
දැක්ම :
වසර 2025 වනවිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ගෝලීය මැණික් ව්‍යාපාරයේ කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානය බවට පත්කරමින් රටේ අපනයන ආදායම් දර්ශකයේ අංක 01 බවට පත්කිරීම .
මෙහෙවර :
පරිසර හිතකාමී ලෙස මැණික් සම්පත නෙලාගැනීමට සමාන හිමිකම් ඇතිකරමින් ,තාක්ෂනය මත පදනම්ව රැකියා අවස්ථා ඇතිකරගැනීමට ශිල්පීය අධ්‍යාපනය ලබාදෙමින් ,සාම්ප්‍රදායික සිරිත් විරිත් මත පදනම් වූ විශ්ෂවාසනීයත්වය තහවුරු කල ගෝලීය ව්‍යාපාර පරිසරයක් මතු පරපුරට දායාද කිරීම.