Most of the gold-quartz veins of Japan have been worked for many generations and only the poorer sulphide zones remain.
The Island of Formosa, which was acquired by Japan in 1895, had been represented by early European travelers as a storehouse of untold riches. Not until 1890 were the sites of the old workings rediscovered, the discovery of flakes of gold during the construction of a railway precipitating a rush of Chinese miners to the island.[172]
[172] “Mining in Japan, Past and Present,” the Bureau of Mines, Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Japan, 1909, pp. 17 and 64.
The total output of gold in Chosen (Korea) in 1914 approximated $5,000,000, but at present the output is declining because of the abnormal rise in the price of chemicals and materials necessary for mining. The yield for 1918 will probably not exceed $3,500,000, 60 per cent. of which will be obtained from three mines operated by foreign capital. The chief gold-quartz mines of Chosen are included in the American concession at Unsan in North Pyong-an Province, northwestern Korea. From these mines is derived about half of the annual gold production of Chosen. Korea also contains a large number of placer deposits, mostly small, that have been extensively mined by Koreans. The placer deposits of the Unsan district have not yet been worked, but those of the Chiksan district are being exploited by the Japanese.[173]
[173] U. S. Commerce Reports, February 26, 1914.
The small, scattered gold deposits of China, both vein and placer, are worked almost exclusively by the Chinese, as none has been discovered of sufficient richness to attract foreign capital. On the Island of Hainan, southeast of the mainland, the Chinese government is operating mines.
Exploration work carried on in China up to the present does not indicate that the country will ever become an important producer of gold. Even in the provinces contributing most of the present output—Manchuria, Yunnan, and Szechuen—the gold industry gives little promise of growth. During the years 1911, 1912, and 1913, 700 streams were examined in the last two provinces and gold was found in 430, but in no case in sufficient quantity to pay for working.
There have been many rumors concerning the gold deposits of the vast and unexplored territory of Tibet since the very earliest expeditions to that country but the field is still closed to modern enterprise and even to careful scientific examination. Despite previous reports, it has been stated by the geologist accompanying a British expedition about 10 years ago that the mineral value of Tibet was not easily apparent. Near the frontier of the State of Bhutan there are many colonies of gold washers. The Tibetan gold is found in nuggets as well as in spangles and dust, but the Tibetans are said to be careful to leave the nuggets intact, or to replace them if disturbed, under the belief that they are living and are the parents of the spangles and dust, or the roots from which new gold grows, which latter would disappear were the lumps removed.[174]
[174] U. S. Commerce Reports, February 26, 1914.
Siam, Burma, Indo-China, and the Federated Malay States at present contribute only a small part of the gold production of Asia. Exploration and prospecting are proceeding actively and the results to date are favorable. Future developments may substantiate the statements of the ancient writers and cartographers that there was much gold in this region. Gold and other minerals are known to exist in Afghanistan, but with the exception of a gold mine near Kandahar, in charge of a European, the mineral resources are almost entirely undeveloped.