OUTPUT RISES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 90, 17 April 1941, Page 4

OUTPUT RISES.

GOLD IN PHILIPPINES.

Gold production in the Philippines has increased amazingly in recent years, and the country has risen to fifth place on the list of world produce™, just behind Australia. The output of gold from all the islands of the Pacific—including Fiji and New Guinea—is now greatei than Australian production.

In the 1926-33 period more than 100,000,000 pesoa' worth of gold was taken from the mountains of Benquet (Luzon) alone. But the principal development of mining in the Philippines haa occurred .eince 1933. There are now many highly successful mines and several important dredging undertakings in the islands. The largest Eroducer is the Balatoc mine, Which has cen ranked among the outstanding gold min-es of the world.

Four years ago its mill capacity was 1200 tons of ore a day, and the output value exceeded a million pesos a month. Tile capacity has since been increased. Some leading mining experts predict that when the many new mines which are the result of recent exploration work come into full production, the output of this group of islands will eclipse the gold output of Australia.