The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-06
The California Of Asia
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.

however, have proved far less costly as miners than was supposed and the work of two of them Is equal to that of one of our men. At the same time they receive only 20 cents a day of ten hours, which would equal a 50-cent day for the Amer ican miner, according to his work if the same rates were employed The Japan ese workmen are paid $l a day and the 600 Chinese receive 30 cents. The 75 Americans are paid about $5 a day each, with house rent and board. The company now has five large mines on it's conces- sion and over 200 stamps. It haa a cyan ide plant, and it is treating altogether on the average about 1000 tons of ore daily. The net profit Is $l.S5 a ton so that the mines making from their quartz
 worAs alone $lS50 of clear money day. This means almost $50 an hour all day and all night the year through. Think of a property which brings in more than a dollar every minuate all the year round and you have some idea of the profits of this big American property away out here on the opposite side of the globe.
 In addition to the quartz mines. this company has large placer deposits which
 have been worked for centuries, but which will probably pay well under dredging There are altogether about g square miles of such ground. The com pany Is using American machinery and it gets the most of it's supplies from the , United States. It pays out more than $10000O year to Americans in salaries, and it's importations for the mines amount to s250o00 every 12 months. It is now spending upward of s10.0O0 for can dles used by the miners and $30,O00 per annum for dynamite.
 The New Gold Mines.
 There is great deal of placer mining done by the Corean natives They are satisfied with small profits, and a man
 will at vi him 10 cents a day. where he would not labor steadily In the quartz mines at 25 cents day. Altogether, the total export of gold from this country is about $2,25O,- GOO a year, and about $1000,000 or more of this comes from mines and placers out side the Oriental Consolidated company above mentioned.
 I have Just had a long talk with MT. A. R. Weigall, a well known mining en- gineer in the employ of the Collbran and Bostwick Development company. MT. Weigall is a graduate of the Sydney, Australia, Mining university, and during the past nine years has been operating throughout the far east. He left the famous Mount Morgan mines of Queens land to prospect in the Dutch East In- dies, and later on was employed in Siam, Siberia, Japan and Corea. He has been all over Corea, and he tells me the coun- try Is well mineralized. I asked MT. W Nearly every stream shows more or less color, and we have reason to believe that there is gold in every prov ince. There are several large concessions in the same region as the Oriental Con solidated, which have been more or less warked. One of them belongs to the English, another to the Germans, and a third to the French. The English ran a 20-stamp mill for some years on high grade ore but they shut down about two years ago and have left The Germans are still mining, and they are said to be making money. They have rich ore, but will give no information as to their profits. The French are also operating near Chosan in the same district.
 The Suan Gold Mines.
 "In addition to these mines in north ] eastern Corea, are the Suan gold mines, ! belonging to Collbran and Bostwick. They 1 lie about 56 miles from Pyeng-yang, and l can be reached in eight hours by train and two days across country These mines
 promise to pay very well. They have 1 been worked about a year, and they have l taken out about 900 tons of ore, which
 will yield s12 per ton. In addition, there is 8 per cent of copper in the ore The company is putting up a plant, and by next October 1t will be reducing about 100 tons daily This mine was discovered by an Englshman, who took MT. Coll bran in as a partner. He got up a combi- nation, including the Mitsuis of Japan.
 They sent engineers to investigate it, who reported against 1t, and so the Mitsuis dropped out Then the Englishman gave up and Collbran and Bostwick organ ized new company In Seoul, on cap italzaton of s500.0O0 to develop the prop erty and 1t promises to be one of the most valuable mines In Corea."
 4 The Chlcksan Gold Mines.
 Are there any other gold mines now being worked?'
 Yes" replied Mir. Weigan, land there are several which promise to pay much more in the future. One of these Is the Chicksan mine, which lies 45 miles south of Seoul, not far from the sea. That mine has large quantities of low grade ore and 1t can be worked at a profit, if on a large scale, at as low as S2 per ton. The ore contains g or s per ton, and it Is better on the average than the ore of the Oriental Consolidated. The coun- try is of great size. This mine was orig inaly granted to the Japanese, but they gave it over to young American named Deshler, a stepson of the late Governor Nash. He came out here from Columbus. o. After he got hold of the mine he in- terested Columbus capital in 1t, and also