Comparing notes
Media
Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal
- Title
- Comparing notes
- Creator
- Keeler, Ralph
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1936
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 24 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL March, 1936 March, 19^ Comparing T| being a tabulation of the annual reports of the got Ralph Keeler Mining-Section Editor and Re1 Which of the Philippine gold mines made the most profit last year? Which of the properties will have the longest life? How much money is tied up in equipment and supplies? The answers to those questions will probably surprise you— look at the chart and see. Many interesting and little-known facts are brought out by the comparison between the annual reports of the operating companies. It is difficult to make such comparisons, since the reports vary considerably in make-up. To one not an accountant (and, we suspect, to many of the accountants) an annual report is a mysterious jumble of figures. Each company has its own method of accounting for the many branches of the business—and the final condensed report which is sent to the stockholder summarizes the highlights of the year’s work. This chart is based on the 1935 and the 1934 annual reports, and the figures have been arranged, so far as possible, so that they will be easy to compare. Ore reserves and bullion pro duction are based on the market price of gold—P70 an ounce. Life anticipated has been calculated by dividing the tons of ore reserves by the tons milled in 1935—not an accurate method, since practically every mill will handle more rock in 1936 than it did in 1935, but at least a conservative one. . The estimated value of equipment and supplies does not include the value of mine and mining properties, except where the writer was unable to separate them. Taxes paid in 1935 are not at all accurate—obviously, the industry paid more than Fl,399,941 in income, bullion, and various other taxes— but it is the best that could be obtained from the reports. Orc reserve figures are somewhat misleading; some mines, for example, Benguet and Balatoc, did not include possible or prospective ore, but only positive and probable ore; other companies included everything that could be considered ore, whether positive, probable, or purely speculative. Then too, the estimates made by engineers—and it doesn’t matter who the engineers are or what their experience is—are at best scien tific guesses, and are sometimes wrong. Witness the Gold Creek upset; four or five of the top-notch engineers in the Islands estimated its ore reserve, and four or five of them were miles wrong. Another point about ore reserves: assuming that the ore as estimat represent Reason: 2 varies, bu containing left in the but 90% < Definite points; m article wa report use that there duction fo it was giv which in n Only tv and Taml past three given. H estimated Of Jaiiunry 1. 1930 Estimated Tons Value As of January Tons 1, 1935 Estimated PRODUCTION 1935 DIVIDENDS 1935 % ORE RES E R V E S 1 2 Antamok Goldfields. . . . Baguio Gold................... ‘ 809,322 109,616 4*16.726,689 2,148,936 725,873 4*16,811,835 231,550 5,887,695 115,584 51,645 P2,490,979 7 874,201 2.1 Fl,000,000 none 72.7 n'one fi,: 3 Balatoc............................ 1,060,726 31,565,450 1,134,883 38,414,422 431,099 12,544,342 2.2 5,100,000 127.4 4,( 4 Benguet Consolidated.. . 1,013,899 28,958,238 981,905 30,075,208 276,187 8,632,056 3.6 5,700,000 95.0 6,( 5 Benguet Exploration.. . . 49,300 494,020 36,700 423,640 32,227 284,171 1.5 none none 6 Big Wedge..................... 58,632 2,063,076 ----- 1,000,000 none none 1.2 none none 7 Bicol Gold...................... 96,000 1,023,360 started 1935 none none none none none 8 Cal Horr......................... 77,227 1,049,014 none given none none 2 none none 9 Coco Grove..................... 14,328,000 cu. yds. 10,154,646 started 1935 none none 4 none none 10 Demonstration................ 200,729 5,145,364 156,012 4,040,659 54,760 930,343 . 7 none none 9 11 East Mindanao.............. 48,665 1,080 595 started 1935 none none 2 none none 12 Gold Creek..................... 30,000 452,500 varied according to engineers 22,825 433^283 0.5 ' none none 6 13 Ipo Gold......................... 49,553 538,400 15,000 180,000 57,707 575,039 0.75 38,825 5.0 7 14 Itogon............................. 440,460 9,851,425 307,420 6,896,443 111,833 2,212,493 3.9 643,864 32.4 1,9 15 I. X. L............................. 144,126 4,576,876 not available 15,333 356,000 3.0 none none 1,6 16 Masbate Consolidated. . 6,415,906 64,244,812 not available 98,172 823,740 9.0 none none 17 Northern Mining........... 12,715 352,780 started 1935 none none none none none 18 Salacot............................•. 145,854 1,618,460 not available 5,822 45,075 2.2 none none 2,4 19 San Mauricio.................. 76,000 2,395,000 started 1935 none none 2.0 none none 5 20 Suyoc Consolidated....... 101,270 2,642,346 not given in report 40,042 790,031 2.5 none none 8 21 Tambis Placer ............. not given in report of 1934 or 1935 not given 99,858 15 ' 45»900 39.7 1 22 United Paracale............. 296,000 4,375,000 not given in report 21,203 575,984 5' none none 6 23 Universal Exploration... not available 30,400 612,648 none none none none none 2 11,236,000 PLUS 14,328,000 4*191,437,187 cubic yards at 3,619,743 4*104,342,550 Coco Grove 1,334,439 1*31,667,595 F12,528,589 54.7 March, 1936 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 ig Notes of d>e &dd mining companies compiled by Keeler \ditor and Reporter as estimated is actually in the mine, the figure still does not represent the amount which the company can count on. Reason: 2 or 3% is left in the mine as pillars, etc.; extraction varies, but is seldom over 92 or 93%. Thus, if 100,000 tons, containing P10 a ton, are in a mine, 2%, or 2,000 tons are left in the mine; from the 98,000 tons mined, worth P980,000, but 90% of the gold is extracted; the final return is P882,000. Definite figures are surprisingly lacking on many important points; most of these were not available at the time this article was written, or at least they did not appear in the report used. Where the word “none” appears, it means either that there was no such item for the period (such as no pro duction for a number of mines last year) or that no figure on it was given. Since the writer has no way of telling which is which in many cases, he has used the same word for both. Only two placer properties dre reported on, Coco Grove and Tambis. Coco Grove has been in operation for the past three months, but no figures on production have been given. Hence it is difficult to predict just how much of the estimated gold contained can be extracted. Tambis Placer gives no ore reserves in the report used, but does state that there is enough ground available to keep two or three more dredges working for the next 15 years. Daily capacities will be different by the time you read this. Suyoc, Itogon, United Paraealc, Demonstration, and many others will be handling more ore. Masbate Consolidated and I. X. L. will not reach the capacities given for some time yet, but much of the necessary equipment has been installed. There’s enough ore blocked out to last 10 years at the present rate of milling, according to the figures. Estimates of ore reserves by the established companies tend to be con servative, while those of the companies not in production yet swing to the optimistic side. However, reserves as given in this table were taken from reports made by engineers of proven standing in the industry here, and we believe that on the whole the figures arc conservative. Such a chart as this represents conditions on the first of the year as compared with January 1, 1935; it is not a tabula tion of conditions as they are now, necessarily, and was pre pared solely because of the interesting inferences which can be drawn from it. NET PROFITS 19.35 19.34 Estimated Value of Equipment A Taxes Paid 19.35 72.7 Pl,375,(100.00 Pl,231,128 P393,381 450 ____ Pl,603,514_______ P36,933 ____ 1 Ant amok Goldfields Paid up Capital none none 255,572 205,882 150 1,007,806 not given 2 Baguio Gold 127.4 4,000,000.00 6,337,750 5,449,832 1200 4,239,718 731,487 3 Balatoc 95.0 6,000,000.00 7,302,277 6,605,841 800 2,388,474 537,848 4 Benguet Consolidated none 500,000.00 16,652 22,574 100 98,582 499 5 Benguet Exploration none 776,454.00 none none 150 361,128 124 6 Big Wedge none none none none none not given none 7 Bicol Gold none none none none 150 957,973 with Benguet 8 Cal Horr none none none none not known not given none given 9 Coco Grove none 997,180.00 195,272 none 175 409,534 20,046 10 Demonstration none none none none 100 not given none given 11 East Minanao none 699,464.00 58,940 none none 76,527 1,768 12 Gold (’reek 5.0 771,738.00 110,072 -2,824 200 550,809 9,970 13 Ipo Gold 32.4 1,981,122.00 806,145 997,457 350 1,684,302 39,128 14 Itogon none 1,000,000.00 167,834 none 150 579,370 5,035 15 I. X. L. none none 178,160 440,358 2000 1,462,009 5,344 16 Masbate Consolidated none 97 JOffiOO none none none 49,430 not given 17 Northern Mining none 2,400,000.00 ir,w none 200 655,689 508 18 Salacot none 500,000.00 none none 150 275,138 not given 19 San Mauricio none 850,000.00 44,220 none 160 1,362,230 4,755 20 Suyoc Consolidated 3977’ 115,413.00 48.140 none not known 138,306 2,428 21 Tambis Placer none 600,000.00 120,939 none 150 “ 702,043 4,068 22 United Paracale none 221,054.20 none none none not given not given 23 Universal Exploration 54.7 P22,885,025.20 P16,884,539 P14,118,149 6635 P 18,602,582 P 1,399,941