Mawsitsit

MAWSITSIT **MAW-SIT-SIT (Kosmochlore-Jade) A metamorphic rock with a complex composition from Myanmar (Burma) Maw Sit Sit is a rock, composed from at least six different minerals as main constituents. Those can vary greatly in their relatives amounts and therefore the rock may vary strongly in its visual aspect as well as in its specific gravity value. The name Maw Sit Sit is given by the local people and reminds the locality of origin near Kansi and Namshawa, N-Burma (Myanmar). Previously used names in the west were Jade-Albite or Chloromelanite.

Maw Sit Sit was formed in connection with a high pressure low temperature rock metamorphosis which affected an ultrabasic body locally. New formations of minerals also took place after the culmination of the metamorphosis. Essentially it was a metasomatic reaction between serpentinites and albite dykes. The chromium which is found in most of the constituent minerals most probably stems from former chromite layers which have been dissolved during the metamorphic transitions. Remnants of chromite are sometimes found as relicts within the Kosmochlor spots. The Maw Sit Sit deposit is placed at the rim of a larger peridotite body which has been altered and serpentinized. The deposit is northern and close to the classical Jadeite location in Burma ( Tawmaw, Namshawa).

Authors: Henry A.Hanni & J. Meyer, Basel, Switzerland