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Sec. III, Ch. 2: The Ruby Mines of Burma

Sec. III, Ch. 2: The Ruby Mines of Burma Page of 366 Sec. III, Ch. 2: The Ruby Mines of Burma Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
The Ruby Mines of Burma.                     167
As may be supposed work in these caverns is attended with considerable danger, and it is only attempted by men thoroughly accustomed to it. Frequently the loo takes the form of a vertical shaft, perhaps a couple of hundred feet deep ; sometimes it is a deep underground chasm, at the bottom of which subterranean waters may be heard dashing and boiling in the darkness. The air, too, is at times so foul as to make it impossible either to work or to keep lights burn­ing, while on the other hand even in the deepest places it is sometimes fresh and clear, often with a current strong enough to blow a light out The byon is of a far more sandy nature than in either the twins or hmyaws, and though there are generally fewer stones, they are better as to size and quality.
When the Burma Ruby Mines, Ltd., started work in 1889, great results were expected from the application of European skill and capital to an ancient industry, which had been conducted previously in only a primitive fashion. These expectations were not, however, immediately real­ized. Several plans of working were tried, one after another, but were not successful. Eventually a really effi­cient— though extremely simple—plan of working the alluvial deposit in the valley was introduced. Powerful pumps remove the water from the pits, and the top-soil having been discarded, the stratum of Ruby-earth, or byon, is run away in trucks to rotary pans and a pulsator, as in the Diamond mines of Kimberley. This plan was first practised in a small valley near Kyat-pyin, called Tagoungnandaig.
In addition to the Company's own operations, the Ruby " Stone-tract " is very largely mined by the original inhabitants, who pay a royalty to the Company. These miners seem to prosper, and it is satisfactory to note that
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