Karawwa

Last updated
Karawwa
කරව්ව
Sri Lanka adm-2 location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Karawwa
Coordinates: 7°15′00″N80°04′00″E / 7.249999°N 80.0666664°E / 7.249999; 80.0666664
CountrySri Lanka
Province Sabaragamuwa Province
District Kahawatta
Time zone UTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time)
Sri Lanka Post
61022
Area code(s) 032

Karawwa is a village in the town of Kahawatta in Ratnapura District in Sri Lanka.

Contents

Name

It was named after the herb "karaw" or Caraway.

Geography

The area is surrounded by "Kahawathu kanda" (the mountain of Kahawatta) a small part of the Sabaragamu mountain range which is one of the main mountainous areas in Sri Lanka except the central hills in the middle of the island.

Wae ganga(wae rever) is flowing hiding thousands of precious stones in its territory and becoming a border to the area. It is a branch of Kalu ganga which is considered to be one of the four main rivers in Sri Lanka.

Mining

Karawwa is one of the main areas where gem mining takes place. Most of the areas in Kahawatta town are damaged by gem mining. [1] Because of the underground holes dug for gem mining the area is dangerous. One of the buildings of Kahawatta base hospital has already been submerged and is out of use. The area often suffers from landslides which may also be as a result of this underground cavities. Gem miners dig a basic pit of 10 to 15 feet in diameter until they find the strips of "illam" (the special stratum of soil, in which precious stones are liable to be found). As that is a stratum it exists horizontally, hence miners have to dig borrows called "dona" horizontally. After all the illams have been taken off the mine is refilled with soil, but donas remain and make the area dangerous.

Related Research Articles

Gemstone Piece of mineral crystal used to make jewelry

A gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks and occasionally organic materials that are not minerals are also used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity and notoriety are other characteristics that lend value to gemstones.

Geography of Sri Lanka Geography of a country

Sri Lanka, formerly called "Ceylon", is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, southeast of the Indian subcontinent, in a strategic location near major Indian Ocean sea lanes. The nation has a total area of 65,610 square kilometres (25,330 sq mi), with 64,630 square kilometres (24,950 sq mi) of land and 980 square kilometres (380 sq mi) of water. Its coastline is 1,340 kilometres (830 mi) long. The main island of Sri Lanka has an area of 65,268 km2; it is the twenty-fifth largest island in the world by area. Dozens of offshore islands account for the remaining 342 km2 area. The largest offshore island, Mannar Island, leads to Adam's Bridge.

Sapphire Gem variety of corundum

Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived from the Latin "saphirus" and the Greek "sapheiros", both of which mean blue. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies not sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows, wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates of special-purpose solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and GaN-based blue LEDs. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary. A sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years.

Underground hard-rock mining Mining techniques used to excavate hard minerals and gems

Underground hard-rock mining refers to various underground mining techniques used to excavate "hard" minerals, usually those containing metals, such as ore containing gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin, and lead. It also involves the same techniques used to excavate ores of gems, such as diamonds and rubies. Soft-rock mining refers to the excavation of softer minerals, such as salt, coal, and oil sands.

Placer mining Technique of mining stream bed deposits for minerals

Placer mining is the mining of stream bed (alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment.

Yala National Park National park in Sri Lanka

Yala (යාල) National Park is the most visited and second largest national park in Sri Lanka, bordering the Indian Ocean. The park consists of five blocks, two of which are now open to the public, and also adjoining parks. The blocks have individual names such as, Ruhuna National Park, and Kumana National Park or 'Yala East' for the adjoining area. It is situated in the southeast region of the country, and lies in Southern Province and Uva Province. The park covers 979 square kilometres (378 sq mi) and is located about 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Colombo. Yala was designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1900, and, along with Wilpattu was one of the first two national parks in Sri Lanka, having been designated in 1938. The park is best known for its variety of wild animals. It is important for the conservation of Sri Lankan elephants, Sri Lankan leopards and aquatic birds.

Bengal monitor Species of lizard

The Bengal monitor or common Indian monitor is a monitor lizard distributed widely in the Indian Subcontinent, as well as parts of Southeast Asia and West Asia. This large lizard is mainly a terrestrial animal, and its length ranges from about 61 to 175 cm from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail. Young monitors may be more arboreal, but adults mainly hunt on the ground, preying mainly on arthropods, but also taking small terrestrial vertebrates, ground birds, eggs and fish. Although large Bengal monitors have few predators apart from humans who hunt them for meat, younger individuals are hunted by many predators.

Ratnapura City in Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka

Ratnapura is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Sabaragamuwa Province, as well as the Ratnapura District, and is a traditional centre for the Sri Lankan gem trade. It is located on the Kalu Ganga in south-central Sri Lanka, some 101 km (63 mi) southeast of the country's capital, Colombo. Ratnapura is also spelled as Rathnapura.

Ratnapura District Administrative District in Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka

Ratnapura is a district of Sri Lanka in the Sabaragamuwa Province.

Gajabahu I, also known as Gajabahuka Gamani, was a Sinhalese king of Rajarata in Sri Lanka. He is renowned for his military prowess, religious benefactions, extensive involvement in South Indian politics, and for possibly introducing the cult of the goddess Pattini to Sri Lanka. The primary source for his reign is the Mahavamsa, though he is also the only early Sri Lankan king to be extensively mentioned in the Chera Cilappatikaram.

Mir mine Former open pit diamond mine

The Mir mine, also called the Mirny mine, is an open pit diamond mine located in Mirny, Sakha Republic, in the Siberian region of eastern Russia. The mine is more than 525 meters deep, has a diameter of 1,200 m, and is one of the largest excavated holes in the world.

<i>Diggers</i> (video game) 1993 video game

Diggers is a puzzle video game for the Amiga CD32 in which the player takes control of a mining team excavating a planet for precious minerals.

Kala Wewa

Kala Wewa built by the King Datusena in 460 A.D, is a twin reservoir complex which has a capacity of 123 million cubic meters. This reservoir complex has facilitated with a stone made spillway and three main sluices. From the central major sluice, a 40 feet wide central conveys water to feed thousands of acres of paddy lands and ends at the historical capital Anuradhapura city tank Tissa Wewa meandering over 87 km (54 mi) at a slope of 6 inches per mile and is another wonder of primeval hydraulic engineering facility in ancient Ceylon.

Kelani River River in Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Kelani River is a 145-kilometre-long (90 mi) river in Sri Lanka. Ranking as the fourth-longest river in the country, it stretches from the Sri Pada Mountain Range to Colombo. It flows through or borders the Sri Lankan districts of Nuwara Eliya, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Gampaha and Colombo. The Kelani River also flows through the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, and provides 80% of its drinking water.

Outline of mining Overview of and topical guide to mining

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to mining:

Kalu Ganga River in Sri Lanka

Kalu Ganga is a river in Sri Lanka. Measuring 129 km (80 mi) in length, the river originates from Sri Padhaya and reach the sea at Kalutara. The Black River flows through the Ratnapura and the Kalutara District and pass the city Ratnapura. The mountainous forests in the Central Province and the Sinharaja Forest Reserve are the main sources of water for the river. The Edwardian manor, Richmond Castle is on the banks of the river near Kalutara.

Artisanal mining Independent, small-scale, subsistence mining

An artisanal miner or small-scale miner (ASM) is a subsistence miner who is not officially employed by a mining company, but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually by hand.

Mining is an important industry in Pakistan. Pakistan has deposits of several minerals including coal, copper, gold, chromite, mineral salt, bauxite and several other minerals. There are also a variety of precious and semi-precious minerals that are also mined. These include peridot, aquamarine, topaz, ruby, emerald, rare-earth minerals bastnaesite and xenotime, sphene, tourmaline, and many varieties and types of quartz.

Prospectors is a weekly American reality television series that aired from March 26, 2013, to February 14, 2016, on The Weather Channel. The show follows miners in the Colorado Rocky Mountains as they search for precious metals and gemstones.

Mining in Asia

Asia is rich in mineral resources due to unique geographical conditions. The main minerals are petroleum, coal, iron, manganese, tin, tungsten, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, aluminum, gold, silver, mica and precious stone.

References

Coordinates: 7°15′N80°04′E / 7.250°N 80.067°E / 7.250; 80.067