Evening star., 1898-11-07
Prof. Becker's Report on the Philip
pines.
DETAILS OF COMMERCIAL INTEREST
Data Recorded in the Spanish
Mining Bureau.
PRECIOUS METALS FOUNI

made public important report on the
| mineral resources of the Philippine Islands
by George F. Becker of the geological sur
Vey- This memorandum probably covers
all the main discoveries in the geology Of
the Philippines which are of economic in
terest. 1t is drawn up from da ia recorded
IN the Spanish mining bureau, but not pub
lshed-manuscript mine reports by the late
William Ashburner, verbal information op.
tanned in Manila and various technical pub
hcations of Semper. Santos, Roth, Drasche,
Abella and others.
only about score of the islands are
known to contain deposits of valuable min
erals. These are arranged below in the or
der of their latitude to give an idea of their
geographical distribution and to facilitate
hndlng the islands on the map. The lati-
tude of the northern end of each is taken
as that of the island. The character of the
valuable minerals stated in the table will
afford general notion of their resources
Luzon, coal, gold. copper. lead, iron, sui
phur marble. kaolin; Catanduanes. gold:
Marinduque. lead, silver: Mindoro, coal.
gold copper; Carraray, coal: Batan, coal;
Rapu,Rapu. coal; Masbete. coal, copper;
Romblon, marble; Samar, gold, coal: Sbu-
yam, gold; Semarara, coal: Panay. coal, oil,
gas, gold, copper, iron mercury (0: Biliran,
sulphur: Leyte, coal. oil, mercury C?); Cebu,
coal. OIL gas. gold. lead silver iron; Ne
gros, COAL Bohol, gold: Panaon, gold Min
danao. coal. gold, copper, platinum; Sulu
Archipelago, pearls.
Coal.
SO far as is definitely known, the coal oe
the Philippine Islands is all of tertiary era
and might better be characterized as a
highly carbOniZed Ignite. 1t is analogous
to the japanese coal and TO that of Wash
| ington, but not to the Welsh or Pennsylva-
MIA Goals. Such lignites usually contain
considerable combined water Is to 1s per
cent? and bear transportation ILL., They are
also apt to contain much sulphur. as iron
pyrite, rendering them subject to sponta-
neous combustion and injurious to boiler
plates Nevertheless. when pyritous seams
are avoided and the Ignite is properly
handled it forms u valuable fuel, especially
fer local consun ption. In these islands it
would appear that the native coal might
supplant English or Australian coal for
most purposes. Lignite is widely distrib-
uted in the archipelago, some of the seams
are of excellent width and ,he quality of
certain of them is high for fuel in this
class.
Coal exists in various provinces of the
Island of Luzon (Abra, Camarines. Batan,
Sorsogon). The finest beds thus far dis
covered appear to be those in the small
island of Batan, lying to the east of the
southern portion of L.uzon. in latitude IL
deg. 10 min. These seams vary from two
feet six inches to fourteen feet eight inches
in thickness.
Petroleum.
In the Island Of Cebu petroleum has been
found associated with coal at Toledo. on
the west coast, where a concession has
been granted. 1t IS also reported from AS
turias. to the north of Toledo on the same
coast. and from Algeria. to the south. Nat
Urai gas is said to exist in the Cebu coal
helds. on Panay, too. oil is reported at
Janiuay. in the province of lloilo and gas
is reported from the same island. Petro-
I Ion hTspE1 oh
found on Leyte, a a point about four miles
| from Nilld5a a town on the west coast.
Gold.
Gold is found at a vast number of lo,a1i-
! ties in the archipelago. from northern Lu-
! zen to central Mindanao In most cases
the gold Is detrital, and is found either in
| existing water courses or in stream de-
| posts now deserted by the current. These
last are called "&luVunas'' by the SDan-
tards. 1t is said that in Mindanao some of
the srdyels are In an elevated position and
adapted to hydraulic mining. There are no
data at hand which intimate decisively the
value OF any of the pacers They ar.
washed by natives, largely with cocoanut
smells for pans, though the batea is also IN
use.
In the province of Ahra at the northern
end of LuZon. there are placers. and tho
gravel of the River Abra is aurlferous In
LapantO there are gold-qUartz veins as well
as gravels. Gold is obtained in this nrov
lnce close 70 the copper mines. In Rcnquet
the grayels of the River Agno carry gold
lhefe is also gold in the province of Bon
toe and in Nueva Ecija. The most i'm
I'ortant of the auriferous provinces is Cam
arlHes NOrtc. Here the townships of Mann
DuldO. PJrdcale and I.abo are eGDacia1Iy-
| Wen known as gold-producing localities.
MI DraSche, a Well-knOWn German geoIo-
Slst, says that there were 100 natives at
work on the rich quartz veins of this place
az the time OF his visit. about twenty-five
l. years Slnce- AT faracale there parallel
| Gtartz veins i'll granite of which is
twenty feet in width, and contains a chute
III which the ore is said to assay thirty
| eight ounces of gold to the tor. One MAY
suspect that this assay hardly represented
an average sample. Besides the localities
mentioned, many others in this province
have been worked by the natives
The islands of Mindoro, Catanduanes. ST.
buyan, Samar, Fanay, Cebu and BohCl are
reported to contain gold, but no exact data
are accessible.
At the south end of the small island of
PanaOn, which is just to the south of
Leyte, there are gold quartz veins, one of
which has been worked to some extent. 1t
is six feet in thickness and has yielded
from 81 to 81 to the ton.
In the Island of Mndanao there are two
known gold-bearing districts. One of these
is in the province of Surigao. where placer
and other townships show graYels and
veins. The second district is in the prov
| ince of Misamis. Near the settlement OF
ImpOnan. and on the Gulf of Macajalar
there are said to be many square klometers
OF gravels carrying large quantities of gold
with which is associated platinum The
product of this district was estimated some
years since at 1JO ounces per month, all
extracted by natives with bateas or cocoa
nutshell dishes.
Copper.
Copper ores are reported from a great
number of localities in the Philippines
They are said to occur in the following
Islands: I-uzon provinces of Lepanto Ben
guet and Camarines), Mindoro, Capul, Mas
| bette. Panay Cprovince of Antique) and Min
danao tprovince of Surigao). Many of these
occurrences are probably unimportant. The
great island OF Mindanao, being practically
uEeXplored is full of possibilities, but as
yet no important copper deposit is known
10 exist there. An attempt was made to
work the deposit in Masbete, but no success
seems to have been attained. On the other
"a nd I4IlzCr aims c.Arr,ar. 70