Anthracite has been found in Cebú,[1] and satisfactory trials have been made with it, mixed with British bituminous coal. Perhaps volcanic action may account for the volatile bituminous oils and gases having been driven off the original deposits. The first coal-pits were sunk in Cebú in the Valle de Masanga, but the poor commercial results led to their abandonment about the year 1860. There are also extensive unworked coal deposits a few miles from the west coast village of Asturias, which I visited in 1896 with a planter friend, Eugenio Alonso, who was endeavouring to form a coal-mining syndicate. The Revista Minera (a Madrid mining journal) referred in 1886 to the coal of the Alpacó Mountain, in the district of Naga (Cebú Is.) as being pure, dry, of easy combustion, carrying a strong flame, and almost free from sulphur pyrites. Cebú coal is said to be of better quality and cleaner than the Labuan and Australian products, but its heating powers being less, it is less serviceable for long sea voyages.
The coal-mines in the hills around the Cumansi Valley, about eight miles from the Cebú coast (Danao) have been worked for years without financial success. The quality is reported excellent. Indeed, in several of the larger islands of the Colony there are outcrop indications of workable coal, unobtainable for want of transport facilities.
In the Province of Albay, the Súgod Collieries were started by a company formed in the year 1874. There were some fifteen partners, each of whom subscribed a capital of ₱14,300. One of these partners, Ceferino de Arámburu, told me that for a while the result was so good that a Manila banking firm offered to take over the concern from the shareholders at a premium of 20 per cent. upon the original capital. About 4,000 tons of coal were extracted, most of which was given away as samples, in the hope of large contracts resulting from the trials, although it is said that the consumption was too rapid, and that it had to be mixed with Cardiff coal. Seven pits were sunk, and the concern lingered on until the year 1881, when its working was relinquished. The failure was attributed to the shallowness of the pits, which were only 30 metres deep, whilst it was supposed that if the excavation had been continued before these pits were flooded, shale and limestone strata could have been removed, exposing a still more valuable seam, in which case it might have been worth while providing pumping-machinery. The cost of extraction and delivery on the coast was estimated at 75 cents of a peso per ton, whilst Cardiff coal in Manila was worth, at the time, about eight pesos per ton, and the Australian product ranged usually at one to one and a half pesos below that figure, port tax unpaid.
In January, 1898, “The Philippine Mining and Development Company, Limited,” was formed in Hong-Kong with a capital of $1,600,000 (Mex.) in 160,000 $10 shares for the development of Philippine coal deposits and other industries, under the management of a Scotch merchant of long standing and good repute in Manila (since deceased). The Spanish-American conflict which arose four months later impeded active operations by the company.
In May, 1902, a company styled “Minas de Carbon de Batan” was constituted to purchase from and exploit the coal-mines of Messrs. Gil Hermanos, situated in the Island of Batan, Sorsogón Province. The purchase price was fixed at ₱500,000, and the companyʼs capital at ₱1,000,000 divided into 5,000 equal shares. Hopeful reports were made on the property by an American, a Spanish, and a Japanese mining engineer respectively. When I interviewed the Managing Director of the company, in Manila, two years after its formation, no dividend had yet been paid to the shareholders.
Comparative Analyses of Coal
| Source. | Fixed Carbon. | Volatile matter. | Water. | Ash. |
| per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | |
| Cardiff | 83.00 | 8.60 | 4.50 | 3.90 |
| Australia | 71.45 | 16.25 | 2.90 | 9.40 |
| Cebú | 57.94 | 31.75 | 9.23 | 1.08 |
| Rock Spring, Wyo. | 56.50 | 34.50 | 6.25 | 2.75 |
| Cebú | 51.96 | 37.56 | 7.80 | 2.68 |
| Cebú | 49.50 | 35.03 | 11.18 | 3.62 |
I do not know that any capitalist has ever received an adequate return for his investment in Philippine coal-mining.
From the earliest period of the Spanish occupation of these Islands, attention has been given to Gold-seeking.