Jun 26,2025 |11:59 |

EPISODE:63

 

By THAN HTUN (GEOSCIENCE MYANMAR)

 

JADEITE FROM BURMA

 

This article is a continuation of Episode 62, featuring jadeite from Burma, contributed by HL Chhibber in 1934.

 

3. Jadeite workings in the Tertiary Conglomerates.

 

B. In the neighbourhood of Lonkin (29° 39’, 96° 22’).

 

  1. Kademaw: The workings of Kademaw (25° 39’17”, 96° 20’ 23”) lie near the unimportant Kachin village of Namayang near the 34th mile marked on the Kamaing -Tawmaw road. The mining is carried on along the banks and in the vicinity of the Namayang Hka. At the top, there is generally an overbur­den of alluvium that is under­lain by the Boulder Conglomer­ate, which is mined for boulders of jadeite. In 1929, the Chinese carried out some underground mining by driving tunnels.

 

  1. Mawmaik-ak: The workings of Mawmaik-ak are situated on both sides of the Namayang Chaung between Kademaw and Masamaw, just before the schists crop out in the stream.

 

 

  1. Masamaw: the workings of Masamaw (25° 39’33”, 96° 19’58”) are to be seen adjoin­ing the left bank of the Masa hka, which is an important trib­utary of the Ningma hka. As usual, there is an overburden consisting of red earth cap­ping the conglomerate. From the deposition of the Tertiary jade-bearing conglomerate in the neighbourhood of Masa­maw and elsewhere, it is ap­parent that the great bulk of it must have been deposited by torrential streams from the adjoining hills flowing into Uru Chaung. Similarly, the tor­rential streams with the Uru Chaung must have played an important part in the deposition of the Uru Boulder Conglomer­ate.

 

  1. Maraw-maw: This is a new lo­cality worked in 1929 and lies about 150 yards north-north-west of the Kachin village of Marawgahtaung (25° 38’49”, 96° 19’36”). The workings lie on the hill slope adjoining the right bank of the Ningma Hka. At the time of the author’s visit in November 1928, not a sin­gle pit was to be seen, but on his return at the beginning of May 1929, he found at least one thousand deserted pits. A few Kachins and Shan-Burmans were still working. During the 1929 season, four stones of the value of a few thousand rupees were found besides sev­eral others of smaller value. The thickness of the Tertiary boulder conglomerate here is rather small, and the bedrock, viz., the schists, appears close to the surface. The material for jadeite-bearing boulder con­glomerate came from the ser­pentine deposits of Tawmaw, and the epidiorites and quartz boulders, which constitute the rocks immediately adjacent to the conglomerate, are predom­inant in its constitution.

 

  1. Maw-sisa: The workings of Maw-sisa mostly lie in the bed of the stream of this name, which joins the Uru River about ¾ mile south of Warong village ( 25° 39’13”, 96° 21’15”). These workings start from the junc­tion of the Uru and the Maw-si­sa chaung and continue for about a mile inwards. The pits are rather shallow since the hard, consolidated conglomer­ate makes its appearance very near the surface. Old deserted mayaws (water channels) are to be seen in places.

 

  1. Saung Chein-maw: Some old pits are to be seen at the con­fluence of the Saung Chein and the Uru Chaungs.

 

  1. Ngopinmaw: The workings of Ngopinmaw are seen about a quarter of a mile northeast of Kademaw on the way to San­hka (25° 41’ 8”, 96° 20’57”).

 

  1. Sanhkamaw: The numerous old jadeite workings of San­hkamaw are situated near the Kachin village of Sanhka (25° 41’ 8”, 96° 20’57”), in the area enclosed by the U-shaped bend of the Sanhka chaung near its mouth. They also extend along the Sanhka Hka for a distance of about one mile from its con­fluence with the Uru River. Old workings also occur in the lower course of the Wage hka, which joins the Sanhka chaung about a quarter of a mile south­west of Sanhka.

 

C. In the neighbourhood of Hwe­hka.

 

Tertiary jadeite workings exist in the neighbourhood of Hwehka within a radius of about two miles. As stated above, bands of conglom­erate embedded in the Tertiary sandstones and shales are mined for jadeite, in several places, the names of which are given below:

 

D. In the neighbourhood of Ka­donyat (25° 3’20”, 96° 15’46”).

 

  1. Mabumaw (north-west of Ka­donyat) in the Mabu chaung.

 

  1. Sawbwagyaungmaw (desert­ed). These old workings lie in a small tributary stream of the Kadonyat chaung, about one-third mile north of Kadonyat.

 

 

E. In the neighbourhood of Hwe­hka (25° 29’3”, 96° 16’43”).

 

  1. Hwehkamaw, situated in the neighbourhood of Hwehka village.

 

  1. Hmawlugyaung-maw. These workings are situated in a small dry stream, west of Hwehka village.

 

  1. Sanimaw.

 

  1. Hmowtaung. These quarries have a working face about 30 feet high and near the crest of the hill, about half a mile north of the present Rest House of Hwehka. One old underground worker was seen, who had fall­en in.

 

  1. Mawnanhka (deserted).

The workings Nos 6, 7 and 8 are situated on the hill north of Hwehka.

 

  1. Natyedwin is situated a little north-west of Hpaokang vil­lage, close to the time of the author’s visit.

 

  1. Ohminwa-maw (deserted), situated in the stream of the same name.

 

 

F. In the neighbourhood of Makapin (25° 28’53”, 96° 18’4”)

 

  1. Zibyugon (25° 28’45”, 96° 17’41”) about a mile east of Hwehka on the right bank of Hwehka chaung; worked throughout the year. A very interesting section of Ter­tiaries is exposed in these workings. At the top, there is a wash from the Tertiar­ies, mostly of conglomeratic nature, about 22 feet thick, which is underlain by weath­ered sandstone, yellowish in colour, having a thickness of two feet two inches. Below this comes a clay which is pebbly in places, while pieces and small stumps of lignite are arranged in rows in it. It over­lies the main jadeite-bearing conglomerate, which has a thickness of about 3 feet and is succeeded by hard coarse sandstones, locally called “Phah” (meaning bedrock). This is too hard for the miners to quarry.

 

  1. Mawgyaungwa (deserted). These old workings exist in the Mogyaung Chaung, a trib­utary of the Hwehka Chaung, which joins the latter from the south, a little west of Makapin.

 

 

  1. Makapin. These workings are said to be the oldest, and ac­cording to local inhabitants, the best jadeite comes from them.

 

  1. Namlanmaw comprises a few pits in a small dry stream east of Makapin, which forms the Makapin-Namlan footpath. They only worked during the dry season.

 

 

  1. Satpya-maw (deserted), situ­ated close to the confluence of the Satpya and Hwehka Chaungs.

 

  1. Mawnantee, situated between Mawkalon and Satpyawa, worked only during the dry season.

 

 

G. In the neighbourhood of Mawkalom (25° 29’55”, 96°18’).

 

  1. Nankatmaw, near Mawkalon, worked throughout the year.

 

  1. Metlinwa-maw (deserted), near Mawkalon.

 

 

  1. Mawkalon. This is the biggest centre of mining activity in the vicinity of Hwehka at the present day, and the industry continues all year round.

 

  1. Uke-maw. These workings lie in the Uye chaung, which meets the Hwehka chaung from the west near Mawka­lon. They work throughout the year, but more especially during the rainy season.

 

 

  1. Patit-maw, north of Mawalon in the Hwehka Chaung is worked only during the dry season. In the vicinity of Hwehka, the slopes of the hill north of the village are being worked. It appears that quar­rying commenced at the base of the hill and has gradual­ly proceeded upwards until the present day, the Kachins are working almost at the top, about 550 feet above the bed of the Hwehka Chaung. The bands of jadeite-bearing conglomerate, as remarked already, are intercalated in the sandstones and shales. Sometimes, a number of these bands are present, for example, at Sani-maw, there are three bearing distinctive local names. The lowest layer is the most productive. The thickness of the conglomer­ate bed varies from 1 ½ to 6 feet. Sometimes the boulders forming the conglomerate are huge, a few feet in diameter. Remarkably, the Tertiary conglomerate is very rich in serpentine, and the name ser­pentine-conglomerate would not be a misnomer.

 

Methods of mining.

 

The methods of mining in this area are almost the same as in the case of the Uru Boulder Conglomerate workings. Here too, both the hillside and riverbed workings exist, but the former are more numerous.

 

Mining, as usual, is done with crowbars and mamooties. In some claims, four men work together: one of them does the digging with a crowbar, the second fills up the baskets, and the remaining two dump the debris. For bailing water, bamboo pumps are used, but at Sanimaw, the tedious process of removing water in kerosene cans still prevails. In places, a sort of lever lift is used for hauling up the debris from the pits.

 

About the source of the jadeite found in the Tertiary conglomer­ates of Hwehka, the author has concluded that the stone cannot possibly have come from the Taw­maw dyke and that there must have been another primary occur­rence of the mineral association with peridotites and serpentines of the south, which has either been denuded away or lies concealed in the impenetrable jungle.

 

4. The Uru Boulder Conglom­erate Jadeite-Workings.

 

The Uru Boulder Conglom­erate has worked for jadeite in numerous places, and these work­ings can be classified as follows:

 

  1. Stream-bed workings, where mining is possible throughout the year.

 

  1. Hill-said workings, where the rock is quarried during the rains, help in sluicing away the overburden and the ma­trix of the conglomerate. These hillside workings ex­ist in the neighbourhood of Balakha (25° 37’30”, 96° 17’1”), the deserted village of Manna (25° 36’43”, 96° 16’15”), Nam­maw (25° 38’20”, 96° 15’), etc.

 

Stream-bed workings for jadeite are really too numerous to mention and are situated on the banks or in the bed of the Uru Chaung and its tributaries. They commence from near Kansi (25° 46’ 54”, 96° 22’47”) and contin­ue intermittently right down to Haungpa.

 

References: Chhibber, HL, 1934: The Mineral Resources of Burma, Macmillan and Co Lim­ited, St Martin’s Street, London.