Tymon Mellor: Mining is always a high risk enterprise, but in the case of the Lam Tsuen lead mines, it was compounded by remote terrain, objecting villagers and corrupt officials. This is the story of the lead mines on the Lam Tsuen river at Ng Tung Chai, near Tai Po. After the Second World War, interest in mining picked up […]
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Hugh Farmer and “Tide Swell”: New information in red. These are introductory notes about Jan Hendrik Marsman, b1892 Netherlands, d1956 [exact dates needed], known as Hank to his friends. He started his working life as an engineer. He developed extensive business interests in the Philippines. As elaborated on below he became involved through his company Marsman Hong Kong China Ltd, in […]
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Tymon Mellor has sent this article which was first published in Economic Geology, 1st November 1961. The article has several photos of the mine, processes and workers. More can be found in the linked article. Not all of them have titles. Source: Needle Hill Mine -Mineralogy and Genesis of Wolframite Deposits 1964 SG Davis Economic Geology, 1st November 1961, Vol 56 No.7 […]
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IDJ has sent an article about Stone Cutters (or Breakers) and their working lives in Hong Kong… The article was originally published in 1952 by the Building Contractor’s Association which subsequently became the Hong Kong Construction Association which exists today. The images shown here have also been supplied by IDJ but are not in the 1952 article. They are all located […]
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IDJ has sent this article published in June 1948. HF: I have retyped it to increase its legibility and to aid site searches. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped version. Government is devoting more attention to mining in the Colony and an attempt is being made to ascertain the potential resources of our mines. This statement was made by […]
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The article Needle Hill Tungsten Mine, published in Newsletter 7, states that the deposits were discovered by G.B. Gifford Hull in 1935 while working on the construction of the Jubilee Reservoir (now Shing Mun). Dan Waters would like to add, “in 1956 Resident Engineer Gordon Gifford Hull kindly invited us lecturers at the old Technical College (now ugraded to Poly […]
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HF: This article is the result of several people’s research into industrial development, lighthouses, log ponds, manufacturing, mining, reservoirs, salt, shipyards, tea, timber mills, transport, utilities and other related topics on Lantau Island. If you can provide information on any of the subjects below, or add to the list, it would be good to hear from you. I can then […]
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Latest information in red. HF: Tymon Mellor has sent this extract from a longer Pathe film from 1953. It shows the lower end of a quarry adjacent to a road. Here a group of about twenty men and women are undergoing the final ardous process of breaking stones into aggregrate sized pieces using a variety of tools. Can someone identify exactly […]
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When Tymon Mellor sent this revised version of his original article on Lin Fa Shan Mine, first posted in November 2014, he suggested it was more a complete re-write. Tymon Mellor: The Lin Fa Shan mine is located in a remote area of the Tai Mo Shan Country Park, on a steep west facing slope of Lin Fa Shan, just […]
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HF: This brief history of the Needle Hill Tungsten Mine does not attempt to cover the geology or mineralogy of the mine, nor details of the mine workings. For a much fuller account, which includes this information plus maps, photographs, plans, location of mine entrances and further references, see The Geological Society of Hong Kong Newsletter Vol 9 No 3 […]
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