Tymon Mellor: Immediately after the end of the Pacific War, the price of graphite, a form of carbon, peaked before declining as the world demand for steel dropped. Following the successful exploitation of graphite on West Brother Island, a number of licences were issued to allow the prospecting for Graphite throughout the New Territories during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Prospecting […]
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In 1938, Hong Kong Mines Ltd, under the management of Mr Laurie Nielson, established Lin Ma Hang as a modern and efficient lead mine. However, the Pacific War and occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese resulted in the mine falling into ruin. The processing equipment was removed and the tunnels stripped of all valuable apparatus and temporary support, leaving […]
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Tymon Mellor: For eight years, Morrison Brown Yung developed the Galena mine at Lin Ma Hang. He excavated the access tunnels and located the main ore body, but with the fall in lead prices as a result of the Great Depression, the mine was un-economic to work. Following his death in 1933, the mine was eventually taken over in 1937 […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the early 1930s, a small mining operation was underway near Lok Ma Chau for wolframe, antimony, silver, gold and tin. The mine was unsuccessful in the commercial exploitation of minerals and the owners consequently lost their investments. The location of the mine has never been identified but the parties involved are well documented. This article describes the […]
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Galena ore, the main source of lead was first discovered at Lin Ma Hang in around 1914. As described in Part 1, a number of attempts were made to commercially exploit the lead ore, but they all failed. That was until Mr Morrison Brown Yung took an interest in the site and introduced modern mining methods to extract the lead […]
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Tymon Mellor: Development of a modern mine at Castle Peak to extract Wolframite or Tungsten ore was awaited with much anticipation by the Colonial Government, but following a number of failed ventures and after much illicit mining, nothing came to pass. Mining Lot No. 12 was returned to Government and the area absorbed into the Ha Tsuen/Castle Peak Firing Range. […]
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Tymon Mellor: Directly after the Pacific War, like many other places, Hong Kong was struggling to recuperate. There was limited capital available and the Government had few resources. Mining was seen by many as a low cost investment, creating employment, generating hard currency and providing revenue to the Government. Unfortunately, this vision was not shared by the Government’s Interim Mining […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the previous article on tin mining in Hong Kong, the existence of a pre-war tin mine was identified near Yuen Long but the actual location of the mine was a mystery. Following further research, new details on the mine and its location have been identified. Following the introduction of the Prospecting and Mining Ordinance of 1906, parties […]
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Tymon Mellor: The Shek Pik reservoir is part of a larger scheme to supply Hong Kong Island with a water supply through submarine pipeline from Lantau Island. The reservoir has a capacity of 24.5 million m3 with a direct catchment of 7.8 km2but with the completed catch waters the catchment area is expanded to 53 km2 or 40% of the […]
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Tymon Mellor: In February, 1951 The International Tin Study Group, an industry body for the tin industry wrote to the Hong Kong Government requesting information about tin mining activity in the territory. A report by the US Office of International Trade on Hong Kong economic activity in 1949 had indicated that Hong Kong had an annual tin ore production of […]
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