BURMA.
A
very primitive system for obtaining rubies is employed by the native
miners of Burma/' Shafts about 2 feet square are sunk 50 or 60 feet
deep, the sides being held up by posts at the corners and branches of
small trees, secured by short sticks. The miner squats down in one
corner of the shaft and digs in the opposite corner. The ruby-bearing
earth, as fast as excavated, is hauled to the surface in buckets and
baskets. The latter are attached by bamboo rods and cane to a long
bamboo pole pivoted on an upright pole on the surface, about 20 feet
high and at such a distance from the hole that one-eighth of its length
projects from the pivot awajr from the mine. Stones on the short arm help to counterbalance the weight.
When
sufficient gravel is accumulated it is washed in a stone-paved circular
inclosure, where it is shoveled about until the mud and clay are washed
away. The clean gravel is then sifted and sorted, the rubies and
sapphires being placed in cups of water until the wash is finished. The
stones are then placed in calico bags and given to dealers to be sold
on bazaar days. The production* of rubies in Upper Burma, including
small quantities of sapphire and spinel, for the year ending February
28, 1906, amounted to 266,584 carats, valued at £88,340, as against
265,901 carats, valued at £90,612, in 1904. The royalty received by the
Kuby Mines Company from native miners amounted to £12,129, as against
£17,441 in 1904. The production now comes only from the Mogol area.
According to Consul-General William H. Michaelc
of Calcutta, the quantity of ruby earth washed during the year 1905-6
was 1,773,129 trucks, or 130,000 trucks less than 1904. The reported
decrease was due to the exhaustion of the Choungzone mine, where the
material was at the last obtained from corners of crevices in the
rocks. Work was to be started on the Myntada mine adjoining, and the
same washing machinery was to be used without the necessity of moving
it.
The
ruby deposits of Burma are controlled by a few persons, who limit the
output and thereby hold the price of the ruby 50 per cent higher than
it ought to be.
SIAM.d
The
Navong mine, southeast of'Chantobun, about halfway from Krat, produces
both rubies and sapphires, the former in the larger quantity. There was
much development in mining at this place during 1906, and the year
closed with about 3,000 miners at work. The best known gem mine in the
south of Siam is the Pailinh sapphire mine, which employs about 4,000
workmen.
TRANSVAAL.
According
to Mr. S. M. Tweddill, curator of the museum, in a note in the Annual
Report of the Transvaal Geological Survey, a ruin-bearing rock has been
discovered at Leydsdorp. The essential con-
a Xew York Commercial, July 25, 1906. l>Ree. Geol.
Survey India, vol. 84, pt. 2, 1906. p. 60. <' U. S. Daily Cons.
Repts. No. 2675, October 26, 1906. dittoing Jour. (London), December
22, 1906.
