Mining in Taiwan
Heavy industry was further expanded under Japanese rule, but air raids towards the end of World War II decimated mining infrastructure, falling below 19th century production levels.
Pre-colonization the indigenous people of Taiwan traded sulfur from deposits around volcanic vents to Chinese merchants visiting from the continent.
[2] Chinese mining and metallurgy followed the Hoklo, Hakka, and Han to Taiwan Island, particularly after the late Ming (16th & 17th centuries).
Under the consent of the Fujian officials, Yu Yonghe travelled to Taiwan following the explosion of the Fuzhou gunpowder stores in 1696 to mine sulfur.
Yu's voyage began at the coast to Xiamen, crossing the Taiwan Strait and coming to a halt in Penghu before arriving in Tainan.
This trip became the basis of one of the most important works about early Qing-era Taiwan, Small Sea Travel Diaries (裨海紀遊).
[3] As late as 1880, the only resources known to exist in economical quantities and locations were coal, sulphur, and petroleum,[4] all in the volcanic northeastern third of the island.
This was provided from fields near Keelung and Tamsui, whose highly bituminous coal was fast-burning but nonetheless used by the warships of the Fuzhou Arsenal.
[4] The high demand led to rampant smuggling and theft, to the point where the Qing government temporarily banned the trade to rein in its ill effects.
The Republic of China which took over in 1945 was a party to the convention but women continued to work in Taiwanese mines until 1963 when Soong Mei-ling intervened following an accident which killed multiple married couples.
As copper production gradually increased over the years, Jinguashi mining area are good and maintained excellent operating performance.
In order to increase the production, the company started large-scale open-pit mining in 1978 and shifted its focus to mineral refining and processing.
To boost their mineral processing capabilities, the company took out bank loans in 1981 to build the Lile Copper Refinery in the area located at the Golden Waterfall today.
[21] In 2012, Taiwan planned to explore oil offshore of Taiping Island in Cijin District, Kaohsiung City.
In July 2010, the CPC discovered natural gas reserves in Gongguan Township, Miaoli County which was estimated to have a production capacity of at least 1 billion m3.
[24] Taiwan has some of the largest marble reserves in the world, they were first exploited during the Japanese colonial period for construction and as feedstock in the production of cement, fertilizer, carbide, paper, and sugar.
The KMT government supported the redevelopment of the Taiwanese marble industry with the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen establishing both quarries and workshops for unemployed military retirees.
