IRON ORE IN SURIGAO PROVINCE ^ 



By Wallace E. Pratt and Victor E. Lednicky 

 (From the Division of Mines, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.) 



ONE PLATE AND 1 TEXT FIGURE 



CONTENTS 



Introduction. Geology. 



Geography. Character of the Iron Ore. 



Situation. Quantity of Ore. 



Physiography. Commercial Possibilities of the 



Vegetation. Deposit. 



INTRODUCTION 



Between the towns of Gigaquit and Cantilan on the eastern 

 coast of Surigao Province, Mindanao, the country is conspicuously 

 barren of vegetation, and the hills are covered with a mantle 

 of red soil. The barrenness of these hills, so strongly in contrast 

 with the heavy forests commonly observed in uninhabited 

 country, has often attracted attention and comment. The Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey charts of this coast, for instance, bear 

 the notation "Red Hills" across the central part of the barren 

 region. 



Mr, H. F. Cameron, chief engineer for the Department of 

 Mindanao and Sulu, first recognized the true character of the 

 red earth which makes this section of the coast so conspicuous. 

 Mr. Cameron was struck with the similarity between the Surigao 

 red earth and the clayey iron ores of the Nipe Bay region 

 in Cuba. He procured samples, which were analyzed by official 

 request in the Bureau of Science, and were proved to be in reality 

 high-grade iron ore. Mr, Cameron believed his samples to be 

 representative and that the deposit of iron ore was enormously 

 large. Following this report, which was made officially, the area 

 covered by the ore was reserved by executive order from mineral 

 location, pending a further examination to determine the char- 

 acter of the ore and the extent of the deposit. This paper con- 

 tains the results of the official examination which was made 

 during the latter part of February and the first part of March, 

 1915. 



' Received for publication June 29, 1915. 



335 



