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PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
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dicted that gold production during 1933 from lode mining alone will reach 14,000,000 pesos. In addition, there is a small production from placer operations and from desultory mining in other parts of the Islands.
With the present market price of gold, other districts are being prospected and companics are being organized to explore claims that show possibilities. Of the new districts that are being explored both for lode and placers the following may be mentioned: the Abra-Bontoc-Kalinga districts of the Mountain Province, the Ipo- Salacot districts of Bulacan, the Pantabangan-Peñaranda districts of Nueva Ecija, the San Nicolas district of Pangasinan, the Iponan-Cugman districts of Oriental Misamis, the Curuan district of Zamboanga, and the San Teodoro-Puerto Galera districts of Mindoro. Renewed activity is also reported in the Paracale-Mambulao district of Camarines Norte and in Suriago where the Tambis Gold Dredging Company has been working since it took up the interest of the Lianga Mines Limited in Hinatuan River. No silver mining is done in the islands, but silver is produced as a by-product of gold mining. Small quantity of platinum is also recovered in connection with placer operations.
The native furnaces of Bulacan continue to be the only source of iron production. Development of the chromite deposit in Camarines Sur is now being pushed to reach the production stage at an early date. Other metallic deposits worthy of considera- tion are the copper of Mankayan and Suyoc; chromite of Zambales and Pangasinan; iron of Surigao and Calam bayanga Island; manganese of Ilocos Norte and Masbate; and lead and zinc of Masbate and Marinduque.
Coal is being produced from Cebu, Mindanao and Batan. Two cement plants, one in Cebu and another in Binangonan, Rizal, manufacture Portland cement for export and for domestic consumptional Lime factories in Rizal, Tayabas and Iloilo produce quick and slack lime for use in sugar refineries. Exploratory drilling for petroleum in Bondoc peninsula encountered slight indications of petroleum and natural gas but the quantity was not sufficient for commercial exploitation. Small quantity of bituminous rock of Leyte is now being mined for road construction. Guano and phosphatic rock are also being produced from the deposits of Capiz, Pangasinan, Tayabas and other provinces.
FORESTS
Timber forests are found in all the principal islands of the archipelago, covering an area of about 65,476 sq. miles, or 57.21 per cent. of the total area. Not less than 53,352 sq. miles are commercial forests. These forests contain some of the finest timber in the world, especially for cabinet work. Many species of the Dipterocarp family arc used as substitute for mahogany and are sold in foreign markets as Philippine mahogany. Minor forest products such as rattan, oils, copal gum, tanbark, dyebark, and dyewood are abundant.
The Government owns more than 99 per cent. of all the standing timber of the Philippines, and the Bureau of Forestry has control over them. The public forests are not sold, but are developed under a license system. There are at present 107 sawmills, which are equipped with modern machinery fit to meet the big enterprise of the Islands.
FISHERIES
Fishing, until recently an undeveloped industry in the Philippines, is rapidly coming to the front. Although commerical fishing is largely in the hands of the Japanese each year sees a greater investment of Filipino and American capital.
The waters along the extensive coasts of the islands teem with common varieties of food-fishes. Among those found in commercial quantities are anchovies, sardines, silversides, mackerels, snappers, pampanos, tunas, sea-basses, mullets, milkfishes, barracudas, porgies and parrotfishes. The local market is under-supplied and con- siderable quantities of fish and fishery products are imported. With the more exten- sive use of modern fishing equipment and methods of transportation so that the in- terior towns can be supplied there will be a decrease in the imports of this character. The commereial canning of fish is now an established industry in the islands. Others sea-products found in the Philippine waters are shark-fins, sponges, trepang, pearls, and pearl-shells, top-shell and widow shells.
JA