YANGON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- A 300-ton massive jade stone, discovered in Phakant, Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state and cut into pieces, will be sold at Myanmar's Gem Emporium set for December, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
Local and foreign experts are being invited to assess the price of the jade stone.
The jade stone was unearthed in October 2016 at Mat Lin Chaung mine, jointly operated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation and the private Yandanar Taung Tann Gems Company.
Stored in a warehouse in Nay Phi Taw under tight security, the jade stone is currently valued at over 10 billion kyats (7.35 million U.S. dollars), from which the government has collected over 2 billion kyats as extraction tax, the report said.
The profit will be shared between the government and the private company at a percentage of 25 and 75 respectively.
According to official statistics, Myanmar earned 23 million U.S. dollars from export of jade in the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2017-18 which began in April, increasing by 746,000 dollars as compared with the same period of the last fiscal year.
The country also fetched 61.9 billion kyats (45 million U.S. dollars) earlier in March when over 4,200 lots of raw jade were sold at a government-sponsored jade exhibition, said the Ministry of Commerce.
Myanmar jade is mainly exported to China and India with China being the biggest purchaser.
During the last fiscal year 2016-2017, Myanmar exported over 11,000 tons of raw jade worth of 246.7 million U.S. dollars to neighboring markets.
