Mineral Resources of Taiwan

An early assessment of Taiwan’s mineral resources by the Kuomintang.

“Taiwan is in general not endowed with rich mineral resources. The outstanding productions of raw material have always been agricultural in character rather than that of mining products. As modern industries usually require an adequate supply of various important mineral commodities, Taiwan has to depend largely on foreign sources for the maintenance of some of its leading industrial enterprises.” – Introduction.

This detailed assessment of Taiwan’s mineral resources was authored by C.S. Ho and published in Taipei by the Geological Survey of Taiwan in 1953. It was prepared for the Ministry of Economic Affairs of China and printed by the Shinchu Research Institute of the Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC).

The books’ 300+ pages offer an in-depth review of a variety of deposits found across the island; including gold, clay, coal, Sulphur, natural gas, limestone, gypsum, iron, and asbestos. Three folding maps are present – Geological Sketch Map of Taiwan, Mineral Distribution Map of Taiwan, and Coal Regions, Coal, Fields, and Distribution of Coal-bearing Formations in Northern Taiwan.

At the time of publication, the Kuomintang’s Chinese Nationalist Party on Taiwan was in a state of war with Mao’s newly-created People’s Republic of China. The First Taiwan Strait Crisis would erupt the year following printing. Its likely the English-language volume was distributed in an effort to encourage American investment during a particularly tumultuous period of the Cold War.