378 LATOUCHE: GEOLOGY OF XORTHER X SHAN STATES. 



of silver were produced daily, but that the annual revenue derived 

 by the King of Ava was only 40 ticals (£5). His informant stated 

 that 10,000 Chinese were employed at the mines, a number prob- 

 ably greatly exaggerated. 



The extent of the Chinese workings is still perfectly visible, the 

 hill sides being honeycombed with their adits and shafts, of which 

 some 300 have been counted ; and the remains of their smelting 

 and cupellation furnaces are still to be seen. So far as can now be 

 ascertained, the ore consisted of lead sulphide, associated with 

 zinc blende, iron pyrites, and chalcopyrite, either disseminated in 

 granules through the country rock or aggregated into large masses. 

 It appears to have been produced by the metasomatic replacement 

 of the constituents of the Bawdwin grits and tuffs by minerals 

 deposited from solutions rising along the plane of the great over- 

 thrust fault already described (p. 136). The ore is said to be very 

 rich in silver, picked samples having yielded as much as 87 oz. to 

 the ton of lead. 



The slags rejected by the Chinese miners, amounting it is 

 d ^ estimated to over 100,000 tons, are now being 



removed, by a Company formed for the pur- 

 pose of exploiting the mines, to Mandalay, where they are smelted. 

 The results of the first year's working were satisfactory, 5,030 

 tons of lead and 27,500 oz. of silver bullion having been extracted 

 and disposed of in London, the amount realised being £68,100 ; 

 but owing to very heavy initial expenses, incurred principally in 

 connecting the mines with the Lashio railway by a steam tram- 

 way some 40 miles in length, the profits of the enterprise have 

 as yet been small. 



Silver-lead ore is also found in places among the limestones of 



the plateau, and one occurrence of this kind, 

 Other occurrences. * , _ , . .. ... 



not far from Lashio, is now bemg worked in 



order to supply crude ore to be mixed with the refractory slags of 

 Bawdwin for smelting purposes. In 1909, the quantity of ore ex- 

 tracted from this mine was returned as 5,888 tons. There is also 

 a reputed silver mine among the foot-hills near Taunggaung (B 4). 

 about 20 miles to the north-east of Mandalay ; but the excavation 

 is now almost entirely filled up and overgrown, and no ore is to be 

 seen. The rocks at this locality are limestones belonging to the 

 Naungkangyi series. 



