The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-20


| the information given in this abstract
| IS exhaustive, so far as the available
! material is concerned. The coal fields
| Of CeIbu, however have been studied
! in some detail by Mr.. Abella and in
"a few other instances more extended
| information has been condensed for
! the present purpose.
COAL.
So far as is definitely known, the
coal Of the Philippine islands is all
Of Tertiary age, and might better be
characterized as a highly carbonized
! Ignite. 1t is analogous to the Japa-
nese coal and to that of Washington,
| but not to the Welsh or Pennsylvania
| Goals. Such lIgnites usually contain
considerable combined water g to IS
per cent? and bear transportation i'll.
They nre also apt to contain much sui
phur. as iron pyrite. rendering them
subject to Spontaneous combustion and
injurious to boiler plates. Neverthe
less, when pyritous seams are avoided
and the Ignite is properly handled it
forms a valuable fuel, especially for
local consumption. In these Islands 1t
would appear that the native coal
might supplant English or Australian
coal for most purposes. Ignite is
widely distributed in the archipelago;
some of the seams are Of excellent
width, and the quality of certain of
them is high for fuel in this class.
Coal exists in various provinces Of
the island OF Luzon CAibIn, Camarines,
Bataan, Sorsogon) The finest beds
thus far discovered appear to be those
in the small islands of Batan, lying
to the east of the southern portion Of
Luzon in latitude 10 degrees 10 min
utes. These seams vary from two feet
six inches to fourteen feet eight
inches in thickness. Analysis have
been made in the laboratory of the
Inspection de Minas, and the mean OF
seven analyses gives the following
Constituent Per Cent.
Wster 20. %
Volatile matter ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 81. IS
Fixed carbon ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 44.4e
Ash ........'.....''''.''..'' ''''''''-.''' SOD
Total OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
One pound of this coal will convert
! 625 pounds of water at 40 degrees
/ centegrade into steam at 100 degrees
! centegrade. The heating effect is
about three-fourths that OF Cardiff
coal. The same beds are known to
| exist in other small adjacent islands,
! Carraray and Rapu- Rapu. A number
| Of concessions for coal mining have
also been granted on the main island
of Luzon Just south of Batan, at the
| town Bacon. No doubt the beds here
are either identical or at least closely
| associated with the coal seams in the
| little islands.
The coal field of southern Luzon is
said to extend across the strait of San
! Bernardino into the northern portion
of Samar. Here coal is reported at half
| a dozen localities, but l have been able
to ascertain no details as to the thick
| ness or quality.
In Mindoro there are large deposits
| of coal in the extreme southern portion
! (Bulacao) and on the small adjacent
| island of Semirara This fuel is said
! to bseimilar to that of Batan.
The islands of Masbate and Panay
contain coal, the deposits of which thus
| far discovered do not seem Of much
! Importance Specimens from the south
.. western portion of Leyte. analysed in
the laboratory Of the Inspection de
Minas. are Of remarkably high quality,
! but nothing definite about the deposit
! is known to me.
The first discovery of coal in the
! archipelago was made In the island OF
/ Cebu in 1927 Since then Ignite beds
have been found on the island at
great variety of points. The most i'm
| portant groupings are on the eastern
| slope within some fifteen or twenty
! miles Of the capital, also named Cebu.
| Though q considerable amount OF coal
has been extracted here, the industry
This is at least in part. due to crude
! methods Of transportation. It Is said,
however, that the seams are often bad
ly faulted.
At UIing. about ten miles west OF
the capital the seams reach a maxi
mum thickness of fifteen and one-half
feet Ten analyses of Cebu coal are at
my disposal. They indicate fuel with
] about two-thirds of the calorific effect
of Cardiff coal. and with only about 4
per cent ash. Large quantities of the
coal might, 1 suspect, contain 8 higher
percentage of ash.
The island of Negroes is nearly par
allel with Cebu, and appears to be OF
similar geological constitution. but IL
has been little explored and little of IL
seems TO have been reduced to subjec-
ton by the Spaniards There are
known TO be deposits of coal at
| Calatrava on the east coast of Negros,
and II is believed that they are of i'm
| portant extent. In the great island OF
Mindanao coal is known TO occur at
eight different localities, but no detail
! ed examinations Of any kind appear
TO have been made. Seven of these
localities are on the east coast OF Min
danao and the adjacent small islands
They indicate the presence of Ignite
from one end of the coast to the other.
The eighth locality is in the western
province called Zamboanga, on the
Gulf Of ibuguey.
PETROLEUM.
In the island of Cebu petroleum has
been found associated with coal at To-
ledo. on the west coast. where a con-
eession has been granted 1t is also
reported from Asturias, to the north