Mines at Bawdwin. Little is known as to the quantity available but this is probably large.
Gold is found in a large number of the Burma rivers and streams, but its extraction has not proved a lucrative industry owing to lack of concentration. At the beginning of the present century dredging operations were commenced in the Irrawaddy and two of its branches in the Myitkyina district, but although the total output reached 9041 ounces in 1909, the venture was recently abandoned. A mine which promised good results was worked for some time at Kyaukpazat in Katha, but in the end failed to prove remunerative.
Gypsum is a soft, white or transparent mineral from which plaster of Paris is made. In the form of scattered transparent flakes it is widely disseminated in the lower Tertiary rocks of the Irrawaddy basin, but is not made use of to any extent. Mixed with cement gypsum confers the property of slow setting.
Iron ores, mostly of lateritic origin, are found and worked on a small scale in many parts of the Province. At Wetwin, near Maymyo, the deposits are comparatively extensive and are being exploited and used for fluxing purposes in the smelting of the Bawdwin silver-lead mines. Similar deposits exist at Twin-ngè.
A mineral very closely resembling jade and known as Jadeite has, for a very long time, been extracted in the form of rounded boulders from a yellow or orange clay at Tawmaw and Hweka, and from river mines at Mamôn on the Uyu, all in the Myitkyina district. It is derived from dykes in serpentine which have been intruded therein under great pressure. The working is still by primitive native methods. The stone is exported in large blocks by way of Mogaung and Kindat where an ad valorem duty is levied, the right of levying being farmed out by Government. The farmer assesses the value of the stone; the owner may either pay duty on the assessment or require the
