Explore / Asia / Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, Pailin
Pailin, Cambodia
Sapphire hills of Phnom Yat and O Tavao
Gem locality Documented siteGray area
What you could find
Reported finds from this ground.
Crystals and mineralsAlso reported: blue and fancy sapphire, some ruby, in town shops and guided artisanal pit visits.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Stephanie Clifford from Arlington, VA, USA (CC BY 2.0).
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Why this spot
Rockhounding locality: Burmese Kula miners opened Pailin's basalt gem gravels in the 1870s-1890s and it once supplied much of the world's fine blue sapphire, later funding the Khmer Rouge
Wikipedia documents the mining history, the Khmer Rouge exploitation, near-depletion of the deposits, and the surviving gem markets
Before you go
Hazards noted for this site.
Land-mine legacy in Pailin province: stay on used tracks and cleared groundNever freelance into scrub
Keep exploring nearby
More spots in this area.