Named for its sapphire-like colour, sapphirine is primarily of interest to researchers and collectors: well-formed crystals are treasured and occasionally cut into gemstones.

While there is evidence of magmatic origin in some deposits, sapphirine is primarily a product of high grade metamorphism in environments poor in silica and rich in magnesium and aluminium.

Associated minerals include: calcite, chrysoberyl, cordierite, corundum, garnet, kornerupine, kyanite, phlogopite, scapolite, sillimanite, spinel, and surinamite.

Large crystals of fine clarity and colour are known from very few locales: The Central Province (Hakurutale and Munwatte) of Sri Lanka has long been known as a source of facetable greenish blue to dark blue material, and crystals up to 30 mm or more in size have been found in Fianarantsoa (Betroka District) and Toliara Province (Androy and Anosy regions), southern Madagascar.

Other notable localities include: Western Hoggar, Algeria; the Napier complex of Enderby Land and the Vestfold Hills of Antarctica; Delegate, New South Wales and the Strangways Range of the Northern Territory, Australia; Wilson Lake, Labrador; Donghai, Jiangsu province, China; Kittilä, Lapland, Finland; Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées, France; Waldheim, Saxony, Germany; Dora-Maira-Massiv [de], Province of Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy; Ulstein, Møre og Romsdal, and Meløy, Nordland, Norway; the Messina District of Limpopo Province and the Okiep Copper District of Northern Cape Province, South Africa; Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden; Mautia Hill in the Kongwa region of Central Province, Tanzania; Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland; the Bani Hamid area of Semail Ophiolite, United Arab Emirates; the Dome Rock Mountains of La Paz County, Arizona, Stockdale, Riley County, Kansas; Cortlandt, New York; and Clay County, North Carolina; India The Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt.