The Red Cloud chief., 1901-03-22
GOLD IN PHILIPPINES
Plenty of Precious Metal In Our
New Islands.
Many Americans Now Engaged n
Surface Operations - Interest-
ing Particulars by Mining
Authority.


The subject OF gold to he found II
our newly acquired Pacific islands &
treated in the Engineering and Mining
journal by q. ID. Rice. lie says tina
although there is plenty of the pre-
cious metal in the Philippines, IL can
not be obtained in any considerable
amounts without the erection of larg'
stamp-mills or smeltingplants, ant
that the man who is looking for gol'
without great capital had better EN-
ter the field simply as dealer, buy
ing up the accumulated boards Of thu
natives in the interior. Mr.. Rich tell
us that, generally speaking, the gol'
Is found either in alluvial deposits OF
In ledges and veins. The former pa.
best at present. and numerous dis
charged soldiers and civilians are al
ready making considerable none.
from operating on the river banks II
the foothills. Says Mr.. Rice:
''Some miners in the Philippine
claim TO have made large profits b.
working the sands and beaches on th'
sNuNouoks ohV PiuSC oiohB VIZ
beaches Of Panay where there wa
mining apparatus in operation for
mile or more getting out the gold de
posits, which probably had beer
washed into the ocean in the current.
Of some river and deposited along thu
shores. The gold obtained seemed (,
be very fine and worn smooth by lonl
action of the waters. Evidently tn,
original lodgment of this gold wa
In some fnr-away mountain. and IL wa
washed TO the seas by the rivers. Mucl
of this gold was invisible and would b,
classed under the head of flour gold.
"Placer gold in the Philippines al
ways has smoother appearance fol
the reason that il is tumbled about il
the rayincs and along the river-coursel
for long time before it reaches
place OF deposit in the shores of som,
river or at the beaches. The native,
have been at work getting gold foI
nearly 100 years, and some Of then
have secured large stores of the valu
able metal without knowing its tru,
value | have entered nipa shacks o.
the natives for resting place through
the night and have been shown the
collections OF gold and other metal.
OF the native father and his family
Although the shack may not be worth
ten dollars and there may he n shortag,
of the neccsSaries of life, the native
miner will be able TO exhibit n bag
full of nuggets about the size Of peas
most OF them being fattened and worn
Flour gold, too, will he seen. but thi,
Is the kind that the native sells or dis
poses of in some way first and he keep.
the nuggets. In fact, in almost ever,
portion of the archipelago. until the
past few months, there has been prac
tically no profitable way for the natiy,
miners to change his treasure into
commercial money. lie has had TO d,
bis bartcring with gold. aud frequent
~ the gold has had but little eur
rent value in sections of the islands
which have been cut off from the out
side world. | have seen natives il
actual want who were possessors of lit
tie boxes of gold.
"A far richer field TO work in tn,
philippines than prospecting just nov
is to go among these isolated mount all
towns and barrios for the purpose o
purchasing this accumulation of golt
in the hands of natives who have no
the ability to dispose of il. There ar,
many OF the natives who never 90 NOR,
than five miles from their homes dur
ing their lives. and they might hav,
several thousand dollars worth o
gold which they have collected sine,
they could work. and have not beer
able To get the benefit of it for wan
OF means for changing it into CONNER
cial money Large amounts OF thi
gold could be bought up and shipped t,
the seacoast for transportation (,
America or other count res, and tn,
returns would be profitable.
ut is evident that there will not b,
any extensive mining operations in tn
philippines until parties with capita
enter the field and put up stamp mill
| or plants. There are som
rich lodes in the mountains of tn,
southern islands of the Philippines
the promoters of mining schemes ther
are going to make great amount O
money. There are thousands of ma
! tl'es available for service in the mine
at the low rate of wages Of ten to ii
teen cents per day, while there are
great number of Chinese coolies her
who would work for even less tba
that There are at present some Amer
lean mining concerns represented her,
and steps are being taken to put i
necessary equipment to utilize III
veins of quartz which have been |,
Gated. have been through the mil
ing sections OF Panay, part of Luzol
Mindanao and several other island
and in every instance the samples
gold ore were promising"
Arabt PaAha's IxOua EVIL. a. Ma