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UNITED STATES Mineral Resources

From various technical publications, such as those of Semper, Santos, and others, and from data recorded in the Spanish Mining Bureau, it is learned that only about a score of the islands are known to contain de- posits of valuable minerals. These are arranged below in the order of their latitude, to give an idea of their geographical distribution and to facilitate finding the islands on the map. The latitude of the northern end of each is taken as that of the island. The character of the valuable minerals stated in the table will afford a general notion of the resources of the islands.

MINEKAL-BEARING ISLANDS AND THEIR RESOURCES

Island

Latitude (North End)

Character of Mineral Resources

Luzon.

18° 40'

Coal, gold, copper, lead, iron, sul- phur, marble, kaolin

Catanduanes

14 8

Gold

Marinduque.

13 34

Lead, silver

Mindoro

13 32

Coal, gold, copper

Carraray

13 21

Coal

Batan.

13 19

Coal

Rapu-Rapu

13 15

Coal

Masbate

12 37

Coal, copper

Romblon

12 37

Marble

Samar.

12 36

Coal, gold

Sibuyan

12 30

Gold

Semirara

12 7

Coal

Panay.

11 56

Coal, oil, gas, gold, copper, iron, mercury (?)

Biliran.

11 43

Sulphur

Leyte.

11 35

Coal, oil, mercury (?)

Cebii.

11 17

Coal, oil, gas, gold, lead, silver, iron

Negros.

11

Coal

Bohol.

10 10

Gold

Panaon

10 10

Gold

Mindanao

9 50

Coal, gold, copper, platinum

Sulu Archipelago.

6 30

Pearls

So far as is definitely known, the coal of the Philippine Islands is all of Tertiary age, and might better be characterized as a highly carbonized lignite.

Coal exists in various provinces of the island of Luzon (Abra, Cama- rines, Bataan, Sorsogon). The finest beds thus far discovered appear to be those in the small island of Batan, lying to the east of the southern portion of Luzon, in latitude 13°]'.)'.

The coal field of southern Luzon is said to extend across the Strait of San Bernardino into the northern portion of Samar.

In Mindoro there are large deposits of coal in the extreme southern