Show mining possibilities of the philippine islands wiliiam E pearson provincial supervisor at luzon has furnished the mining review with the following bearing on the mining miffing possibilities of uncle sams possessions in the orient while the present mining regulations of the philippines have held out but little inducement du to miners and prospectors and while the majority who know of the real wealth of the islands in ledges of quartz and alluvial deposits have been waiting for more liberal mining laws others have worked on hoping that in time they would meet with proper consideration on the part of the lawmaking power this is particularly true of a little band of practical prospectors who more than three years ago located quartz and placer claims on the eastern coast of Mas bate not farther than a days run by steamboat from manila this little colony of prospectors have associated themselves under the name of the orien mining and mercantile company and have located many groups of claims in the district mentioned prospecting has gone on for three years and a conservative estimate of expenditures would probably place the amount at forty thousand pesos apesos this has been expended in sinking shafts running tunnels sluicing testing hydraulic locations and taken altogether makes a most commendable showing the men who have thus held on in the face of considerable odds certainly deserve more than ordinary credit that gold exists there in paying quantities is demonstrated by samples that have been brought to manila from time to time and the profit that has resulted to the operators even with the crude appliances that have been used and from the native labor employed much of the property of the voluntary association is located on the Guini batan river where it is said ample water may be had for mining on a large scale this whole mineral district is easily accessible its transportation facilities being of the best the bay near the principal claims being a landlocked harbor where freight might be discharged with the least inconvenience it appears to be evident now from reports of mining engineers and tests made by practical prospectors that the area of mineral bearing country in the philippines is larger and more promising than at first believed that the development of min mineral bearing districts will not be much longer delayed is also very certain investigations and reports touching the mineral wealth of the philippines appear to affirm the belief often expressed that while there are large gold bearing areas that will be worked with ample returns the quartz is low grade but it exists in inex haus tible quantities and that the alluvial deposits only require modern hydraulic machinery to work the old river beds to advantage the gold bearing regions of Mas bate and Lepanto Bonton Donton have sufficient clent material that has already been tested and located to keep all the machinery that may be brought to these islands busy for a generation the ledges of quartz are oi of immense width and have been traced by outcroppings outcrop pings for many miles while the river beds show immense bodies of gravel that offer ample inducement to capital in this connection it might be well to point out the necessity for an amendment to the present law which precludes the holding of more than one claim by the same individual on a ledge the lower the grade of the ore the greater number of claims will be required to induce capital to take hold of mining propositions so it is not difficult to understand the restriction of the present law with the mining laws of the united states extended to these islands there is every reason to believe that the mining industry of the philippines would be one of the most considerable factors in the prosperity of the islands within five years |