RUBY.
BURMA.
The
production of ruby, sapphire, and spinel in the Burma ruby mines
district during 1907° amounted to 334,535 carats, valued at £95,114, as
compared with 326,855 carats, valued at £95,540, in 1906. Of the total
value of the output, ruby amounted to £93,428, and sapphire and spinel
to £1,686. The production for 1908 was 211,194 carats, valued at
£47,921.b
The occurrence of rubies in the Kachin Hills of upper Burma is described by A. W. G. Bleeck.c
The rubies are found in the soil and alluvial deposits as well as in
river gravels on the eastern slopes of the mountain range between
Naniazeik and Manwe. The rock of this mountain range is chiefly granite
and crystalline limestone. The crystalline limestone contains various
contact metamorphic minerals -as garnet, spinel, chondrodite, graphite,
forsterite, besides valuable rubies and spinels. Doctor Bleeck calls
attention to the theory of origin of the ruby advanced by Messrs. Brown
and Judd that the rubies of the Burma ruby mines district were of
purely chemical inorganic origin, and then presents evidence of the
sedimentary chemico-organic origin of the limestones of Naniazeik and
Manwe. It is probable that the ruby-bearing limestones of both
districts were formed by similar agencies.
SAPPHIRE.
MONTANA.
Of
the four companies producing sapphire in Montana during 1907 only one
was in operation during 1908. This was the New Mine Sapphire Syndicate,
working on the original deposit of blue sapphire in Fergus County. The
discovery of a new deposit of sapphire about 3 miles from the old mine
in Fergus County, between Middle and South forks of Judith River, has
been reported, though not authenticated.
INDIANA.
Attention
was called by Dr. O. C. Farrington, of the Field Columbian Museum of
Chicago, to the prospecting for sapphire in placer gravels by R. L.
Royse, of Martinsville, Ind. Mr. Royse reports this mineral found in
the auriferous glacial drifts of Morgan County. Nearly all the sapphire
found has a bronze color with a marked sheen or chatoyancy due to
minute regularly arranged inclusions. One gem cut "en cabochon" from
such material gave a very fine cat's-eye effect, with a brownish to
reddish flash. Mr. Royse calls it oriental girasol, a name which may be
used with a certain degree of accuracy.
INDIA.
Kashmir.—-The production of sapphires during 1907 from the Kashmir mines0 amounted to 305,682 carats, valued at £3,144, as compared with 2,837 carats, valued at £1,327, in 1906. The large
oRec. Geol. Survey India, vol. 37, pt. 1,1908.
&
Advance statement of the production of minerals in India in 1908, by
the Director of the Geological Survey of India, June 10, 1909. "Rec.
Geol. Survey India, vol. 36, pt. 3,1908, pp. 164-170.
