Mong Hsu Ruby

The mines were not active since a long time.

Only in 1992 the place east of Mandalay was officially opened by the government for business and that went up exponentially. Within no time 300 companies started mining on 1500 plots. 

This is very close to the Thai border not far from the Thanlwin which is one of the top 5 most famous rivers of the country. The others are Irrawaddy, Chindwin, Mekong, Kaledan and Sittang plus countless smaller ones.

Mong Hsu Rough

Rubies and Sapphires

Mong Hsu Rubies

The main mining area is at Loi Saung Htawk which is about 20 km  from the town. The area war marked into 200 square feet plots and they can be worked on for 3 years, people who pay more got the better pieces since there was already exploration since long time so they now where is the good stuff. It could be said the idea is to break the mountains apart. 

The mines are in a wilderness 

Mong Hsu Ruby Mine

without high value whether in terms of timber etc. it won hurt anyone but there are many people who lived there before and are told to leave with only minimal compensation, Naturally nobody likes that. 

That is a very similar problem in Kachin State with the jade mines.



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