PRIMARY PRODUCTION
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are built. Three are located in the Cheung Sha Wan district, adjacent to a site ear- marked for a permanent market in Kowloon.
Mining
Opencast methods are employed to mine kaolin, feldspar and quartz. Japan and Taiwan remained the major markets respectively for high-grade kaolin and feldspar. Local light industries consumed all the quartz, more than half of the kaolin and some feldspar.
Under the Mining Ordinance the Crown has the ownership and control of minerals. The Land Officer is empowered to grant mining leases and the Commissioner of Mines to grant mining and prospecting licences. Details of leases and licences in operation are published twice a year in the Government Gazette. At the end of the year, two mining leases, five mining licences and three prospecting licences were valid for different areas.
The Mines Division of the Labour Department enforces legislation relating to mining and explosives, and safety regulations. It processes mining and prospecting applications, inspects mining and prospecting areas, stone quarries, blasting sites and explosive stores, and issues shotfirers' blasting certificates. The division also controls the possession, conveyance, storage, manufacture and use of explosives in Hong Kong, including the delivery of explosives from government depots to blasting sites. In addi- tion, it manages government explosives depots that provide bulk storage facilities for all explosives imported into Hong Kong.
Under a continuing agreement with the Ministry of Defence, a quantity of explo- sives is stored at ammunition depots on Stonecutters Island to relieve the storage burden at government depots. Expansion of storage facilities, including construction of a new government explosives depot on Stonecutters Island to replace the Green Island Government Explosives Depot, is underway. Construction of a cartridged slurry explosive manufactory on Stonecutters Island is also expected to proceed in early 1979.
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