The Mining outlook for 1936

Title

Creator

Keeler, Ralph

Language

English

Year

1936

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

February, 1936 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 The Mining Outlook for 1936 By Ralph Keeler Mining-Section Editor and Reporter Mining men all over the Islands agree that, barring entirely unforeseen happen ings, 1936 will be the greatest year that the Philippines has ever had. Every op eration has plans which will result in more production. Several new plants will be built. Gold, as usual, will be the backbone of the industry, but devel opments in several other branches are likely to prove interesting. Predictions as to the exact amount of gold which will be produced this year, while of no particular value, are interest ing. The general opinion of mining men is that there will be a decided increase over 1935; few of them care to name a figure. This writer ventures the guess that there will be at least a 25% gain in gold shipped; that the 1936 total will be around 1 * 40,000,000. Others have predicted several millions more; no one believes that there will be any less. To reach the 1 * 40,000,000 mark there must be an average of P3,250,000 a month. January saw a little less than F3,000,000 produced, but there will be a steady increase from now on throughout the year. New operations will boost the gold shipments considerably, but increased production from the older companies will add even more to the monthly totals. During 1935 Salacot, Cal Horr, United Paracale, and Gold River built new mills and started production. (Demonstra tion’s mill started operation in December, 1934.) Virac brought an old .stamp mill from Masbate and operated it for a short time. Of the four new plants, Gold River was the only one built without adequate orc reserves; the other three will add considerably to the gold total. This year will see Big Wedge, San Mauricio and East Min danao with mills in operation, while Ukab and Hartwell will also be among the mines producing ore, and new mills in Mas bate and older plants there greatly enlarged. Itogon, Suyoc Consolidated, Antamok Goldfields, Baguio Gold, United Paracale, Demonstration, Benguet Exploration— Going on shift at Antamok Goldfields. One of the Mining crews about to go to their places of work There's going to be lots doing hire, too—Suyoc Consolidated. The main office is at rhe right, and the mess building at the left. all will have larger capacities by the middle of the year. Ben guet and Balatoc will increase their production figures. In the Masbate district, Masbate Consolidated and I. X. L. are rapidly completing construction programs leading to much higher tonnages. In the Paracale district, Coco Grove will probably be turning out from 1 * 150,000 to f * 200,000 a month by June, while several other properties are nearly ready for milling plans. The Mindanao district is still practically untouched—and much may be expected from it. The future of mining in the Philippines will depend to a great extent upon the legislation enacted at the next session of the assembly. It is generally felt that the Commonwealth will not injure its newest and most promising industry. Of great interest this year will be developments in petroleum, chromium, manganese, iron. Chromite has been highly boost ed during the past year, but actual results, in dollars and cents, have been meager to date. A market may be. found in Japan for chromite—indications so far are that there is a consider able quantity of the ore here. Until the present investigations are completed, and a definite policy established, there can be no growth of the oil industry here. So far, it has not been settled that there is crude oil in any considerable quantity in the Islands—and it will take much more exploration work before this can be determined. The development of other branches of the industry has just been started; with favorable legislation, there may be valuable deposits uncovered. A recent favorable tendency among the mining operators has been the move to reorganize the Gold Mining Association into a new, more powerful group. The present organization has not included all of the interests involved, and has tended to be more of a Baguio organization than anything else. The new set-up, as explained so far, will combine the resources of all of the mining companies as far as legislation and compe tition are concerned. The stock market will reflect the conditions in the field, strange as it may seem. Although prices of individual mining stocks seem to vary with no regard for operating conditions, the prosperity of a company can not help but influence the price of its stock. All in all, 1936 should be a good year for the mining fraternity.

Media