Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/273

PHILIPPINES — MINER AL RESOURCES ccxlvii portion (Bulacao) and on the small adjacent island of Semirara. This fuel is said to be similar 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. The first discovery of coal in the archipelago was made in the island of Cebu in 1827. Since then lignitic beds have been found on the island at a great variety of points. At Uling, about 10 miles west of the capital, the seams reach a maxi- mum thickness of 15|- feet. Ten analyses of Cebu coal indicate a fuel with about two-thirds the calorific effect of Cardiff coal, and with only about 4 per cent ash. The island of Negros is nearly parallel with Cebu, and appears to be of similar geological constitution, but it has been little explored, and little of it seems to have been reduced to subjection by the Spaniards. There are known to be deposits of coal at Calatrava, on the east coast of Negros, and it is believed that they are of important extent. In the great island of Mindanao coal is known to occur at eight different localities, but no detailed examinations of any kind appear to have been made. Seven of these localities are on the east coast of Mindanao and the adjacent small islands. They indicate the presence of lignite from one end of the coast to tlie other. The eighth locality is in the western province called Zam- boanga. on the Gulf of Sibuguey. In" the island of Cebu petroleum has been found associated with coal at Toledo, on the west coast, where a concession has been granted. It is also reported from Asturias, to the north of Toledo, on the same coast, • and from Alegria, to the south. Natural gas is said to exist in the Cebii coal fields. On Panay, too, oil is reported at Janinay, in the province of Iloilo, and gas is reported from the same island. Petroleum highly charged with paraffin is also found on Leyte, at a point about 4 miles from Yillaba, a town on the w^est coast. Gold is found at a large number of localities in the archipelago, from northern Luzon to central Mindanao. In most cases the gold is detrital, and is found either in existing watercourses or in stream deposits now deserted by the current. There are no data at hand which indicate decisively the value of any of the placers ; they are washed by natives, largely w^ith cocoanut shells for pans, though the batea is also in use. In the province of Abra, at the northern end of Luzon, there are placers, and the gravel of the river Abra is auriferous. In Lepanto there are gold-quartz veins as well as gravels. Gold is obtained in this province close to the copper mines. In Benguet the gravels of the River Agno carry gold. There i^ also gold in the province of Bontoc and in Nueva Ecija. Copper ores are reported from a great number of localities 'in the Philippines. They are said to occur in the following islands : Luzon (provinces of Lepanto, Benguet, and Camarines), Mindoro, Capul,i ]\ias- bate, Panay (province of Antique), and Mindanao (province of Surigao). Many of these occurrences are probably unimportant. The great island of Mindanao, being practically unexplored, is full of possibilities, but as yet no important copper deposit is known to exist there. A lead mine has been partially developed near the town of Cebu, on the island of the same name. The most important deposit of argentiferous galena is said to be at 1 A very small island not on the maps.