Colony of North Borneo annual report.

  • British North Borneo
Date:
[1962]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Colony of North Borneo annual report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    254/344 page 202
    Chapter 13: Geology Substantial progress in prospecting was made during 1962. Borneo Mining Limited (formerly Naylor Benzon and Company Limited) continued their prospecting for chromite and iron ore in the Labuk and Darvel Bay areas. The company’s efforts were concentrated on evaluating previous finds in the Labuk area by diamond drilling but new chromite occurrences were also reported in the Darvel Bay area. Soriano Y Cia continued reconnaissance geochemical surveys for copper and nickel in their concessions in the Kinabalu, Labuk, and Segama areas and detailed prospecting of a copper occurrence near Ranau, discovered by them in 1961. Their concession areas have now been revised. A new prospecting licence for copper, nickel, and other minerals was issued to Mr. Tan Chin Cheong of Malayan Miners Limited for part of the Labuk area. Oil exploration by the Shell Company of North Borneo Limited included the marine drilling of one dry hole and geophysical evaluation of oil prospects of the continental shelf. New oil prospecting licences for the Sebatik Island area (Teikoku Oil Company Limited, Japan) and the Jambongan Island area (Clark Borneo Oil Incorporated, United States of America) are under consideration. Plans to establish a large limestone quarry on Balambangan Island are held up because of the expense of transporting the stone to markets outside the country. During the year the Geological Survey completed its pro¬ gramme of reconnaissance geological mapping in the Labuan and Padas Valley area. Surveying continued in Dent Peninsula and substantial progress was made in field investigations of the igneous rocks in North Borneo. A memoir on the geology of the Semporna Peninsula was published and others on the geology of the Pensiangan and Upper Kinabatangan area and on the Labuan and Padas Valley area were prepared in draft form. Investigations of constructional materials were continued and sources of suitable clay for cement-making on Balambangan Island and of high-grade brick clay near Tawau were found. Sources of roadstone near Jesselton were investigated. Special mineral investigations, in addi¬ tion to routine geological mapping, included studies of nickeli- ferous laterite from the Labuk and other areas and silver and gold prospecting in the Semporna area. Cinnabar and scheelite (mercury and tungsten ore minerals) were discovered in river gravels near Ranau. The survey also recorded prospecting informa¬ tion and advised on developments in mineral prospecting.
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