PRODUCTION AND MARKETING
mining leases up to a period of 21 years by the Land Officer. The Mines Department is under the Com- missioner of Mines, who is assisted by a Deputy Commissioner, a Superintendent and an Assistant Inspector.
The mining industry of the Colony is in the hands of local Chinese companies and the principal minerals worked are iron, lead, wolfram, graphite and kaolin clay deposits. The production is all exported, iron ores to Japan, lead ores to the United Kingdom and European countries, wolfram to the U.S.A., graphite to the U.S.A., United Kingdom and Europe, and kaolin clay to Japan. The marketing of the ores is on contract, c.i.f. terms and payments are made on the world market prices. An ore-dressing plant capable of concentrating from 500 to 700 tons of magnetite ore to 62% Fe. per day has been installed at the iron mine. Reorganization from opencast workings to underground mining is proceeding and production estimates for the coming year are 200,000 tons of Fe. concentrates. A lead mine will be opened up within the next four months but wolfram mines are inactive because of the low market prices of tungsten. Considerable interest is being shown in the local graphite production. Prospecting for clay deposits has shown a marked increase.
The following table shows the Colony's output of minerals for the year :-
Clay
Minerals
Production
Value
6,063.0 Tons HK$ 363,780.00 90,800.0 Tons
368.3 Tons
Iron
Lead
Graphite
1,840.0 Tons
Wolfram (WO_65%)
60,335.4 lbs.
Molybdenum
3
193.7 lbs.
Tin
3,713,600.00
167,471.60
319,120.00
1,633,886.00
522.99
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