Mineral Products
Coal--Gold--Iron--Copper--Sulphur, Etc.
Owing to the scarcity of manufacturing industries in this Colony,
the consumption of _Coal_ is very limited, and up to 1889 it hardly
exceeded 25,000 tons per annum. In 1892 nearly double that quantity
found a market. In 1896 the coal imported from Newcastle (New South
Wales) alone amounted to 65,782 tons; in 1897 to 89,798 tons. A small
proportion of this is employed in the forges, foundries, and a few
steam-power factories, most of them situated around Manila, but by
far the greater demand is for coaling steam-ships. Since the American
occupation the increase of steam-shipping and the establishment
of ice-plants all over the Colony have raised the consumption of
coal. Wood fuel is still so abundant in rural districts that coal
will probably not be in general request for the steam sugar-mills
for many years to come.
Australia, Great Britain, and Japan supply coal to this Colony;
in 1892 Borneo traders sent several cargoes of inferior product to
Manila; nevertheless, local capital has been expended from time to
time in endeavours to work up the home deposits.
Philippine coal is more correctly speaking highly carbonized lignite
of the Tertiary age, and analogous to Japanese coal. Batan Island,
off the south-east coast of Luzon Island, is said to have the finest
lignite beds in the Archipelago.
The island of Cebu contains large deposits of lignite. The mines
of Compostela are estimated to be very rich in quantity and of
medium quality. The late owner, Isaac Conui, for want of capital,
was unable to develop them fully. Transport by buffalo-carts from
the mines to the coast was very deficient and costly, and Conui,
who was frequently my guest in Manila in 1883, unsuccessfully
sought to raise capital for constructing a line of railway from the
collieries to Compostela village (east coast). They were then taken
up by a Spaniard, with whom the Spanish Government made contracts
for coaling the gunboats. A tram line was laid down to the pits, but
there was a great lack of promptitude in deliveries, and I heard of
ships lying off the coaling-wharf for several hours waiting to _start_
coaling. The enterprise has by no means given an adequate return for
the over P100,000 invested in it up to the year 1897. The coal-mine of
Danao, on the same coast, has not been more prosperous. When I visited
it in 1896 it had not yielded a cent of nett profit. In 1904 I made
the acquaintance, in Cebu Island, of a holder of P47,000 interest
in this enterprise. He told me that he had got no return for his
money in it. He had spent P1,000 himself to have the mine inspected
and reported on. He sent the report to his co-partners in Manila,
and heard no more about it until he went to the capital, where he
learnt that the Managing Director had resigned, and no one knew who
was his successor, what had become of his report, or anything definite
relating to the concern.
Anthracite has been found in Cebu, [155] and satisfactory trials have
been made with it, mixed with British bituminous coal. Perhaps volcanic
action may account for the volatile bituminous oils and gases having
been driven off the original deposits. The first coal-pits were sunk
in Cebu in the Valle de Masanga, but the poor commercial results led
to their abandonment about the year 1860. There are also extensive
unworked coal deposits a few miles from the west coast village of
Asturias, which I visited in 1896 with a planter friend, Eugenio
Alonso, who was endeavouring to form a coal-mining syndicate. The
_Revista Minera_ (a Madrid mining journal) referred in 1886 to the
coal of the Alpaco Mountain, in the district of Naga (Cebu Is.) as
being pure, dry, of easy combustion, carrying a strong flame, and
almost free from sulphur pyrites. Cebu coal is said to be of better
quality and cleaner than the Labuan and Australian products, but its
heating powers being less, it is less serviceable for long sea voyages.
The coal-mines in the hills around the Cumansi Valley, about eight
miles from the Cebu coast (Danao) have been worked for years without
financial success. The quality is reported excellent. Indeed,
in several of the larger islands of the Colony there are outcrop
indications of workable coal, unobtainable for want of transport
facilities.
In the Province of Albay, the Sugod Collieries were started by a
company formed in the year 1874. There were some fifteen partners,
each of whom subscribed a capital of P14,300. One of these partners,
Ceferino de Aramburu, told me that for a while the result was so
good that a Manila banking firm offered to take over the concern
from the shareholders at a premium of 20 per cent. upon the original
capital. About 4,000 tons of coal were extracted, most of which was
given away as samples, in the hope of large contracts resulting from
the trials, although it is said that the consumption was too rapid,
and that it had to be mixed with Cardiff coal. Seven pits were sunk,
and the concern lingered on until the year 1881, when its working
was relinquished. The failure was attributed to the shallowness of
the pits, which were only 30 metres deep, whilst it was supposed that
if the excavation had been continued before these pits were flooded,
shale and limestone strata could have been removed, exposing a still
more valuable seam, in which case it might have been worth while
providing pumping-machinery. The cost of extraction and delivery on
the coast was estimated at 75 cents of a peso per ton, whilst Cardiff
coal in Manila was worth, at the time, about eight pesos per ton,
and the Australian product ranged usually at one to one and a half
pesos below that figure, port tax unpaid.
In January, 1898, "The Philippine Mining and Development Company,
Limited," was formed in Hong-Kong with a capital of $1,600,000
(Mex.) in 160,000 $10 shares for the development of Philippine
coal deposits and other industries, under the management of a
Scotch merchant of long standing and good repute in Manila (since
deceased). The Spanish-American conflict which arose four months
later impeded active operations by the company.
In May, 1902, a company styled "Minas de Carbon de Batan" was
constituted to purchase from and exploit the coal-mines of Messrs. Gil
Hermanos, situated in the Island of Batan, Sorsogon Province. The
purchase price was fixed at P500,000, and the company's capital at
P1,000,000 divided into 5,000 equal shares. Hopeful reports were made
on the property by an American, a Spanish, and a Japanese mining
engineer respectively. When I interviewed the Managing Director of
the company, in Manila, two years after its formation, no dividend
had yet been paid to the shareholders.
_Comparative Analyses of Coal_
Source. Fixed Carbon. Volatile matter. Water. Ash.
per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.
Cardiff 83.00 8.60 4.50 3.90
Australia 71.45 16.25 2.90 9.40
Cebu 57.94 31.75 9.23 1.08
Rock Spring,
Wyo. 56.50 34.50 6.25 2.75
Cebu 51.96 37.56 7.80 2.68
Cebu 49.50 35.03 11.18 3.62
I do not know that any capitalist has ever received an adequate return
for his investment in Philippine coal-mining.
From the earliest period of the Spanish occupation of these Islands,
attention has been given to _Gold-seeking_.
It is recorded that in the year 1572 Captain Juan Salcedo (Legaspi's
grandson) went to inspect the mines of Paracale, (Camarines); and in
the same district the village of Mambulao has long enjoyed fame for
the gold-washing in its vicinity.
In the time of Governor Pedro de Arandia (1754-59), a certain Francisco
Estorgo obtained licence to work these Paracale mines, and five veins
are said to have been struck. The first was in the Lipa Mountain,
where the mine was called "San Nicolas de Tolentino"; the second,
in the Dobojan Mountain, was called "Nuestra Senora de la Soledad de
Puerta Vaga"; the third, in Lipara, was named "Mina de las Animas";
the fourth, in the territory of San Antonio, took the name of "San
Francisco," and the fifth, in the Minapa Mountains, was named "Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores," all in the district of Paracale, near the
village of Mambulao. The conditions of Estorgo's licence were, that
one-fifth (_real quinto_) of the output should belong to the King;
that Estorgo was authorized to construct, arm, and garrison a fort
for his own defence against anticipated attacks from Mahometans,
and that he should have the title of Castellano, or guardian of
the fort. It was found necessary to establish the smelting-works
in Mambulao, so he obtained a licence to erect another fort there
on the same conditions, and this fort was named "San Carlos." In a
short time the whole enterprise came to grief. Estorgo's neighbours,
instigated by native legal pettifoggers in Manila, raised endless
lawsuits against him; his means were exhausted, and apparatus being
wanted to work the mines, he had to abandon them.
About the same time, the gold-mines of Pangotcotan and Acupan (Benguet
district) were worked to advantage by Mexicans, but how much metal was
won cannot be ascertained. The extensive old workings show how eagerly
the precious metal was sought in the past. The Spanish Government
granted only concessions for gold-mining, the title remaining in the
Crown. Morga relates (1609) that the Crown royalty of one-tenth (_vide_
p. 53) of the gold extracted amounted to P10,000 annually. According
to Centeno, the total production of gold in all the Islands in 1876
did not not exceed P3,600.
During the Government of Alonso Fajardo de Tua (1618-24) it came to
the knowledge of the Spaniards that half-caste Igorrote-Chinese in
the north of Luzon peacefully worked gold-deposits and traded in the
product. Therefore Francisco Carreno de Valdes, a military officer
commanding the Provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos, obtained permission
from the Governor to make a raid upon these Igorrote-Chinese and
appropriate their treasure-yielding territory. After a seven days'
march the Spanish gold-seekers and troops arrived at the deposits,
where they took up their quarters without resistance. The natives held
aloof whilst mutual offers of peace were made. When the Spaniards
thought they were in secure possession of the neighbourhood, the
natives attacked and slaughtered a number of them. The commander of the
district and the leader of the native troops were among the slain. Then
they removed the camp to a safer place; but provisions ran short and
the wet season set in, so the survivors marched back to the coast with
the resolution to renew their attempt to possess the spoil in the
following year. In the ensuing dry season they returned and erected
a fort, whence detachments of soldiers scoured the neighbourhood to
disperse the Igorrote-Chinese, but the prospectors do not appear to
have procured much gold.
Many years ago a Spanish company was formed to work a gold-mine near
the mountain of Malaguit, in the Province of Camarines Norte, but it
proved unsuccessful.
At the beginning of last century a company was founded, under the
auspices of the late Queen Christina of Spain (great-grandmother of
the present King Alfonso XIII.), which was also an utter failure. I
was told that the company had spacious offices established in Manila,
whence occasionally the employees went up to the mines, situated near
the Caraballo Mountain, as if they were going to a picnic. When they
arrived there, all denoted activity--for the feast; but the mining
work they did was quite insignificant compared with the squandered
funds, hence the disaster of the concern.
The coast of Surigao (north-east extremity of Mindanao Is.) has been
known for centuries to have gold-deposits. A few years ago it was
found in sufficiently large quantities near the surface to attract the
attention of capitalists. A sample of the washings was given to me,
but gold extraction was never taken up in an organized way in that
district. A friend of mine, a French merchant in Manila, told me in
1886 that for a long time he received monthly remittances of 4 1/2
to 5 1/2 lbs. of alluvial gold from the Surigao coast, extracted by
the natives on their own account. In the same district a Spaniard
attempted to organize labour for systematic gold-washing, but the
friars so influenced the natives against him that he could only have
continued his project at the risk of his life, therefore he gave it up.
In an independent way, the natives obtain gold from earth-washings in
many districts, particularly in the unsubdued regions of Luzon Island,
where it is quite a common occupation. The product is bartered on the
spot to the Chinese ambulant traders for other commodities. Several
times, whilst deer-stalking near the river, a few miles past Montalban
(Rizal), I have fallen in with natives washing the sand from the river
bed in search of gold, and they have shown me some of their findings,
which they preserve in quills.
In other places in Luzon Island gold is procured in very small
quantities by washing the earth from the bottoms of pits dug from 20 to
25 feet deep and 3 feet wide. The extraction of gold from auriferous
rock is also known to the natives. The rock is broken by a stone on
an anvil of the same material. Then the broken pieces are crushed
between roughly-hewn stone rollers put in motion by buffaloes,
the pulverized ore being washed to separate the particles of the
precious metal. I should hardly think the yield was of much account,
as the people engaged in its extraction seemed to be miserably poor.
Gold probably exists in all the largest islands of the Archipelago,
but in a dispersed form; for the fact is, that after centuries of
search, large pockets or veins of it have never been traced to defined
localities, and, so far as discoveries up to the present demonstrate,
this Colony cannot be considered rich in auriferous deposits. Until
the contrary has been proved, I venture to submit the theory that
every gold-bearing reef in these Islands, accessible to man, has been
disintegrated by volcanic action ages ago.
In 1887 a Belgian correspondent wrote to me inquiring about a company
which, he stated, had been formed for working a Philippine mine of
Argentiferous Lead. On investigation I learnt that the mines referred
to were situated at Acsubing, near the village of Consolacion, and at
Panoypoy, close to the village of Talamban in Cebu Island. They became
the property of a Frenchman [156] about the beginning of 1885, and so
far no shipment had been made, although the samples sent to Europe were
said to have yielded an almost incredibly enormous amount of gold (!),
besides being rich in galena (sulphide of lead) and silver. I went to
Cebu Island in June, 1887, and called on the owner in Mandaue with
the object of visiting these extraordinary mines; but they were not
being worked for want of funds, and he left for Europe the same year,
the enterprise being finally abandoned.
In 1893 "The Philippines Mineral Syndicate" was formed in London
to work scientifically the historical Mambulao Gold Mines already
referred to. One pound shares were offered in these Islands and
subscribed to by all classes, from the British Consul at that time
down to native commercial clerks. Mr. James Hilton, a mining engineer,
had reported favourably on the prospects. After the usual gold-mining
period of disappointment had passed away, an eccentric old gentleman
was sent out as an expert to revive the whole concern and set it
upon a prosperous basis. I had many conversations with him in Manila
before he went to Mambulao, where he soon died. Heavy machinery came
out from Europe, and a well-known Manila resident, not a mining
engineer, but an all-round smart man, was sent to Mambulao, and,
due to his ability, active operations commenced. This most recent
earnest venture in Philippine gold-mining has not, however, so far
proved to be a Golconda to the shareholders.
That there is gold in Mindoro Island is evident from the fact that
the Minguianes, a wild tribe, wear gold jewellery made by themselves,
and come down to the coast villages to barter with this metal, for
they do not understand trading with the coin medium.
As a general rule, failure in most Philippine mining speculations
was chiefly due to the unwillingness of the native to co-operate with
European capitalists in search of quick fortunes for themselves. The
native rustic did not seek and would not submit to constant organized
and methodical labour at a daily wage, to be paid periodically when
he had finished his work. The only class whom one could employ in the
neighbourhood of the mines was migratory and half-subjected, whilst
there was no legislation whatever in force regulating the relations
between workers and capitalists. Some suggested the employment of
Chinese, but the obstacles to this proposal have been pointed out
in Chap. viii. It is very doubtful whether much profitable mining
will ever be done in this Colony without Chinese labour. Again, the
wretched state of the public highways obliged the few enterprising
capitalists to spend their money on the construction of roads which
had already been paid for in taxes.
It is calculated that in the working of mines in the Philippines, as
much as P1,300,000 was spent from the beginning of the last century
up to 1876, without the least satisfactory result.
A Spanish writer [157] asserts that on the coasts of Taal and Bauan,
in the Province of Batangas, there were many traces of old gold-mines,
and remarks: "We are already scared in this enlightened century at
the number who have spent their silver and their health in excavating
mines in the Philippines, only to undeceive themselves, and find
their miserable greed punished."
Still Gold-seeking continues, and the hope of many an American to-day
is centred in the possibility of finding the smile of fortune in the
Benguet and other districts now being scoured by prospectors.
Iron-mines, situated a few miles from Manila, were worked about
the middle of the 18th century by Government, but the result being
disastrous, a concession of working rights was put up to public
auction, and adjudicated to a certain Francisco Salgado, who engaged
to pay annually to the State P20,500 in gold and 125 tons of iron. The
concern was an entire failure, chiefly owing to the usual transport
difficulty. Salgado afterwards discovered an iron mine in a place
called Santa Ines, near Bosoboso, in the district of Morong, and
obtained a concession to work it. The ore is said to have yielded 75
per cent. of pure metal. The greatest obstacle which Salgado had to
contend with was the indolence of the natives, but eventually this
was overcome by employing Chinese in their stead. All went well for a
time, until the success which attended the undertaking awoke envy in
the capital. Salgado found it desirable to erect his smelting-furnaces
on the banks of the Bosoboso River to obtain a good water supply. For
this a special permission had to be solicited of the Gov.-General,
so the opportunity was taken to induce this authority to put a stop
to the whole concern on the ground that the Chinese workmen were
not Christians! Salgado was ordered to send these Chinese to the
Alcayceria in Binondo (Manila), and ship them thence to China at his
own expense. Moreover, on the pretext that the iron supplied to the
Royal Stores had been worked by infidels, the Government refused
to pay for the deliveries, and Salgado became a ruined victim of
religious fanaticism.
The old parish priest of Angat, in Bulacan Province, once gave me
the whole history of the rich iron-mines existing a few miles from
that town. It appears that at about the beginning of last century,
two Englishmen made vain efforts to work these mines. They erected
expensive machinery (which has since disappeared piece by piece),
and engaged all the headmen around, at fixed salaries, to perform
the simple duty of guaranteeing a certain number of men each to work
there daily. The headmen were very smart at receiving their pay,
some of them having the audacity to ask for it in advance; yet the
number of miners diminished, little by little, and no reasonable terms
could induce them to resume work. The priest related that, after the
Englishmen had spent a fortune of about L40,000, and seeing no result,
in despair they hired a canoe, telling the native in charge to paddle
out to sea, where they blew their brains out with pistols.
Afterwards a Spaniard, who had made money during years of office as
Chief Judge and Governor of the Bulacan Province, thought he could,
by virtue of the influence of his late position, command the services
of all the labourers he might require to work the mine. It was a vain
hope; he lost all his savings, and became so reduced in circumstances
that for a long time he was a pauper, accepting charity in the parish
convents of the province.
The Angat iron-mines undoubtedly yield a very rich ore--it is stated up
to 85 per cent. of metal. Up to the Revolution they were still worked
on a small scale. In 1885, at the foot of these ferruginous hills, I
saw a rough kind of smelting-furnace and foundry in a dilapidated shed,
where the points of ploughshares were being made. These were delivered
at a fixed minimum price to a Chinaman who went to Binondo (Manila) to
sell them to the Chinese ironmongers. In Malolos (Bulacan) I met one of
the partners in this little business--a Spanish half-caste--who told me
that it paid well in proportion to the trifling outlay of capital. If
the natives chose to bring in mineral they were paid for it; when
they did not come, the works and expenses were temporarily stopped.
In Baliuag, a few miles from Angat, where I have stayed a score
of times, I observed, at the threshold of several houses, slabs of
iron about 8 feet long by 2 feet wide and 5 inches thick. I inquired
about the origin of this novelty, and several respectable natives,
whom I had known for years, could only inform me that their elders
had told them about the foreigners who worked the Angat mines, and
that the iron in question came from there. Appearing to belong to no
one in particular, the slabs had been appropriated.
Copper is extracted in small quantities by both the wild tribes of
the North and the Mahometans of the South, who manufacture utensils
of this metal for their own use. In the North, half-worked copper
is obtained from the Igorrotes, but the attempt of a company--the
_Compania Cantabro-Filipina_, established in the middle of last
century--to exploit the copper deposits in Mancayan, in the district
of Lepanto, has hardly been more successful than all other mining
speculations undertaken on a large scale in this Colony.
Marble exists in large beds in the Province of Bataan, which is the
west-coast boundary of Manila Bay, and also in the Island of Romblon,
but, under the circumstances explained, no one cared to risk capital
in opening quarries. In 1888 surface (boulder) marble was being cut
near Montalban (Rizal) under contract with the Dominican friars to
supply them with it for their church in Manila. It was of a motley
whitish colour, polished well, and a sample of it sent by me to a
marble-importer in London was reported on favourably.
Granite is not found in these Islands, and there is a general want
of hard stone for building purposes. Some is procurable at Angono,
up the Lake of Bay, and it is from here that the stone was brought
by the Spaniards for the Manila Port Works. Granite is brought over
from Hong-Kong when needed for works of any importance, such as the
new Government House in Manila City, in course of construction when
the Spaniards evacuated the Islands. For ordinary building operations
there is a material--a kind of marl-stone called _Adobe_--so soft
when quarried that it can be cut out in small blocks with a hand-saw,
but it hardens considerably on exposure to the air.
Gypsum deposits occur in a small island opposite to the town of
Culasi (Antique) on the west coast of Panay, called Marilisan. The
superincumbent marl has been removed in several places where regular
workings were carried on for years by natives, and shiploads of it
were sent to Manila until the Spanish Government prohibited its free
extraction and export.
Sulphur exists in many islands, sometimes pure, in unlimited
quantities, and often mixed with copper, iron, and arsenic. The
crater peak of the Taal Volcano in the Bombon Lake burst in 1749
(_vide_ p. 18), and from that date, until the eruption of 1754,
sulphur was extracted by the natives. These deposits were again
worked in 1780, and during a few years following. Bowring states
[158] that a well-known naturalist once offered a good sum of money
for the monopoly of working the sulphur mines in the Taal district.
Mineral oil was discovered some 12 years ago in the mountains of Cebu
Island, a few miles from the west-coast town of Toledo. A drill-boring
was made, and I was shown a sample of the crude _Oil_. An Irishman was
then conducting the experimental works. Subsequently a British engineer
visited the place, and reported favourably on the prospects. In 1896
I was again at the borings. Some small machinery had been erected for
working the drills. A Dutch mining engineer was in charge of the work,
which was being financed by a small British syndicate; but so far
a continuous flow had not been obtained, and it was still doubtful
whether a well had been struck or not. The Dutchman was succeeded
by an American, who, when the Spanish-American War was on the point
of breaking out, had to quit the place, and the enterprise has since
remained in suspense.
There is a tendency, in most new and unexplored countries, to
see visionary wealth in unpenetrated regions--to cast the eye of
imagination into the forest depths and the bowels of the earth, and
become fascinated with the belief that Nature has laid vast treasures
therein; and the veil of mystery constitutes a tradition until it is
rent by scientific investigation.