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The Burmese believed that "blazing
red" stones could be found in a "bottomless" valley. Natives
threw pieces of meat into the valley hoping that some stones
would cling to the meat and would be eaten by vultures. The
stones could then be recovered by killing the vultures.
Ruby mining has always been
primitive. The mine is essentially a well, hand dug, to a
depth of 3 to 10 metres. A man is lowered by a rope pulley
system to the bottom, where he scrapes up layers of gravel.
The gravel is then lifted in buckets to the top of the well.
When the day's scraping is finished, the miners sort the
gravel for possible ruby crystals. Mining for ruby has been
going on since prehistoric times in this way and is still in
use today. For thousands of years, men have
wanted to own precious rubies, and there aren't a lot more
out in mines waiting to be found!
