1. The History
Ma On Shan iron ore mine is located 6km north-east of Shatin in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Meaning “saddle peak”, mining operations commenced in 1906 when Ma On Shan was found to contain iron ore the previous year. Between 1906-1949, no fewer than five companies tried to make the mine a going concern but were largely unsuccessful. This was due to the destabilising effect of the two World Wars along with the world-wide economic depression in the 1930s. Despite this, it became Hong Kong's largest mines, mainly producing magnetite with reserves estimated at seven million tons. In the 1950s and 1960s, the mine was the only iron ore mine in south-east Asia that was commercially viable with over 3,000 miners working at the mine at its peak.
The first to extract ore using open-cast techniques was the Hong Kong Iron Mining Co. Ltd owned by Sir Paul Chater. The British businessman, of Armenian descent, took out the mining lease and operated it until his passing in 1926. The lease was then taken up by the New Territories Mining Company (NTMC) who were granted a lease in 1931 for 50 years. However, lacking proper investment, mining continued on a small scale with “coolies” grubbing on the surface for ore.
In 1940, mining rights were sub-leased to South China Iron Smelters (SCIS) only for Japanese military occupation to occur the following year in 1941. With iron production forming a key element of their war effort, the Japanese hired-in approximately 1,500 workers to extract iron ore for military purposes.
Post the war, in 1949, SCIS, lacking sufficient capital to invest in the mine, they agreed for it to be taken over by the Mutual Trust Company, latterly renamed the Mutual Mining and Trading Company (MMTC) in 1953. The mine shifted its focus from the selling locally to a local-production-for-export model, with much of the extracted iron ore bound for Japan, where demand was being fuelled by the country’s rebuilding efforts, post-World War Two. Mining continued on an open-cast basis with a steady flow of refugees from China providing cheap labour. The miners were not direct employees of the Company. Instead they were procured via a subcontractor who liaised with the company and organised the miner’s work and took care of their livelihood and welfare. Communities formed and four districts sprung up; the Peak District, Ma On Bridge District, Mid-level District and the Pier District. The largest settlement, the Peak District, was home to approximately 4,000 people made up of the miners and their families and included a main street with shops and places to eat. Additional community buildings included a Lutheran church (Yan Kwong) and the Franciscan St. Joseph’s.
By 1952, the grade of ore being extracted was so low that Japanese buyers were pushing for a discount from MMTC. The four main Japanese iron and steel production companies sent eight investigators from the Nittetsu Mining Company to Ma On Shan to investigate the quality of iron ore. They reported that the grade of the ore could be improved from 32% to 58% if a dressing technique used by Nittetsu back in Japan was utilised. The upshot was that the Japanese buyers agreed to continue purchasing the ore as long as the mine took on technical and management guidance from the Nittetsu Mining Company. The result was the signing of a contract in October 1953 between MMTC and the Nittetsu Mining Company. In March 1954, Nittetsu established offices in Hong Kong in December and started construction of the ore dressing plant. This also coincided with the shift from labour-intensive open-pit extraction of ore to mechanised underground mining as the extraction of larger quantities of iron ore to feed the new plant could no longer be provided using opencast techniques.
A picture from the early 1950s before major landslides and while opencast mining was still in full swing:
You can find a comprehensive history of Ma On Shan's open-cast phase on the HERE.
The first adit, known as Adit A, was driven from the 280 level in 1953. This was in response to open-cut excavation as ore mining moved down the valley became both slower and more dangerous due to the risk of landslides. The lowest was the 240ML tunnel (Adit D) which became the main entrance to the mine. Four more drives were constructed at 7m intervals at 247ML, 254ML, 261ML and 268ML to exploit the body of ore above 240ML, which resulted in a small amount of ore being won in 1955. The ore was extracted using sub-level stoping, with rock blasted from the roof of the stope. Gravity was then used to drop it into vertical shoots and inclined shafts along with conveyer belts, to transport the ores between levels. The ore was then taken from the 240ML tunnel to the ore dressing plant using converted ex-military trucks. The state-at-of-the-art plant operated 24 hours-a-day, producing around 470-80 tons of iron concentrates (60 percent) from every 500-700 tons of raw ore.
The 240ML circa 1950’s(?):
By 1959, all extraction was now from underground. In 1960, a second smaller crushing plant was constructed at the Ma On Bridge District, located between the ore dressing plant and the open-pit area. It was used to process the old tailings of lump ore which were deemed to still have some economic value. After the three-stage process of crushing, screening and dry magnetic separation, the output was then sent on to the main dressing plant at the Pier District for final processing.
In 1960, the levels above 240ML were producing over 150,000 tons a year. However, these deposits had become exhausted by 1965. Previously though, an investigation in 1960 by Japanese engineers which involved drilling long holes into the mountain, confirmed an estimated 4.5-million-ton deposit of iron ore below 240ML. This resulted in the construct of a 2.2km-long tunnel at 110ML, which started in June 1961 and finished in 1963. Officially opened on 17th October 1963, the new tunnels and new equipment represented major investment in the mine with the cost more than HK$3m (at 1960 prices). Additionally, a new portal was established at 240ML, clear of any potential landslides. A 26° ramp was driven down to the 144 ML to connect up with a 30° ramp down to the 110ML. Before the commissioning of 110ML, production from the new workings (which commenced earlier, in 1960) was hauled up the ramps and out at the 240 level (until August 1963).
The haulage level, 110ML in the late 1960s:
The 240ML tunnel was the means by which miners entered the mine, before travelling down the ramp on a cable-hauled railway to their place of work. Teams of 15 men would use air-drills on the rock, before handing over to the blast team to prepare for the daily blast to bring down the ore. Secondary blasts were then used to break up the biggest rocks. The ore was then fed into chutes or draw points where it was then loaded into hand pushed carts or 1m cubed muck skips for pushing by a 4-ton battery locomotive. A series of vertical passes allowed the ore to be dropped to the 144ML where it was then dropped again to the vertical ore bins at 110ML. Here the ore came out of mechanical chutes or hoppers into Gramby Type 2.3m3 mine-cars which could be automatically emptied by opening one side on reaching the surface ore bin. An 8T electric locomotive using a DC-powered overhead line then shuttled the ore in trains of between 12-15 cars to the surface dressing plant pulling. The utilization of theses electric locos contributed to major reductions in transportation cost and, as a consequence, boosted production.
Cross sectional view of the mine:
The tunnels divided into three main levels for extraction, namely 240ML to 192ML, 192ML to 152ML, and 152ML to 110ML. Additionally, the mine had a “scraper” system. Ore was dropped from the stopes to “draw” points where a scraper was pulled past to collect the ore before dropping it into an adjacent ore pass. This allowed one man to clear four draw points using minimal resources.
The amount of ore imported from Hong Kong to Japan grew from 127,000 tonnes in 1963 to 189,000 tonnes in 1971, 90% coming from Ma On Shan. However, in relative terms this was small beer compared to Japan’s imports from other countries. While increasing in absolute term, the relative importance of ore from HK had decreased since 1963. This resulted in the mine finally closing in March 1976, 70 years after operations first commenced and having yielded an estimated 3 million tons of ore. The 400-strong workforce were laid-off, the machinery removed and the government mining lease expired in 1981. The adits above 240ML were lost to landslides, leaving the 240ML and 110ML entrances to the mine accessible. The exterior walls of both 240ML and 110ML were Grade 2 listed in March 2016.
A very comprehensive history of the second phase of Ma On Shan’s history can be found HERE.
2. The Explore
I’ve not done many reports in recent months, down to both too much work and a lack of good explores. Hence wanted to come back with a bit of a bang. This is the first of a handful of reports to come out on my recent trip to HK.
For this one, a massive thanks to the good Doctor Howser for taking me and a fellow HK-based explorer, Sacha, down and through the mine. And for the loan of helmet and torch. Ever since seeing @drhowser and his excellent report from April 2019 HERE I wanted to go here. For some reason when I as last in HK in August 2019, we met up but didn’t get round to exploring the mine. So ending up here this time around was an easy decision.
So on a hot and humid August day we met up at Central on HK island and stocked up. Taking the MTR to Heng On, we took a taxi ride up to near the 240ML entrance to start our through trip. What strikes you first is with the dense undergrowth, you would have no idea that this place was the focus of such extensive extracting activities. We knew the approximate area of the entrance point, but it took a little bit of a search to find it. Once we had, it was an easy in and the start of our four-hour trip through the mine. It was slightly challenging in places, what with some steep-ish scree-covered slopes and collapses to negotiate, but nothing too sketchy.
It was, arguably, one of the best mines I’ve explored. Through trips are always more interesting plus this mine had it all: wagons, flooded stopes, hoppers and cutes, an explosives store and loads and loads of old mining artifacts. We could have easily spent 8 hours in here. So apologies in advance for the very picture-heavy report.
3. The Pictures
Apologies in advance for the picture overload. All pictures taken on my phone. Despite having a borrowed tripod with me (thank you Dr) and my SLR and associated lenses, the scale of the mine wasn't really conducive to getting out my pod and camera and pointing with light. In the circumstances, the pictures came out OK.
After a little stumbling around we came across this former mine building so knew we were near:
Then we come across the concrete 240ML entrance with its rectangular opening and two large circular openings above to house ventilation fans:
And we’re in:
First, we made our way down the short concrete entry adit:
There isn’t much doing at the 240ML level now:
OK, bit late to see that now:
We then quickly turned to the left and started our descent down the long 26 degrees slope that links 240ML to the 110ML. It’s covered in scree but a guide rope is a big help. I didn’t take any pictures of the initial descend so check @drhowser and his report. After 48m we get to the 192DL. Dr Howser had said that he’d check this last time and it was blocked off after 10 or so metres by a serious collapse. However, this time, on close expectation, it became apparent that it could be negotiated. We squeezed through and much to the doctor’s delight the very extensive 192ML was now in our grasp.
Onward we go:
A dead end:
But the main adit continues and then we come to this!
Hoppers and wagons, oh yes:
And lots of cables and wires:
Some rotting wood. Usually a cause for concern in mines, but not so here with cooling through draft:
The temperature was actually perfect down here. 192ML just keeps on going:
The men spend a full day’s shift down the mine so needed spaces to relax and eat and drink. Here’s on such sub room:
Onwards we go:
Here’s the top of a gated ore chute:
Wall of pipes – presumably to bring compressed air to the drills:
Sleepers and rails still very much in evidence:
This looks like a welder’s mask:
Another worker’s rest area:
Some sketchy looking electrics:
Ma On Shan iron ore mine is located 6km north-east of Shatin in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Meaning “saddle peak”, mining operations commenced in 1906 when Ma On Shan was found to contain iron ore the previous year. Between 1906-1949, no fewer than five companies tried to make the mine a going concern but were largely unsuccessful. This was due to the destabilising effect of the two World Wars along with the world-wide economic depression in the 1930s. Despite this, it became Hong Kong's largest mines, mainly producing magnetite with reserves estimated at seven million tons. In the 1950s and 1960s, the mine was the only iron ore mine in south-east Asia that was commercially viable with over 3,000 miners working at the mine at its peak.
The first to extract ore using open-cast techniques was the Hong Kong Iron Mining Co. Ltd owned by Sir Paul Chater. The British businessman, of Armenian descent, took out the mining lease and operated it until his passing in 1926. The lease was then taken up by the New Territories Mining Company (NTMC) who were granted a lease in 1931 for 50 years. However, lacking proper investment, mining continued on a small scale with “coolies” grubbing on the surface for ore.
In 1940, mining rights were sub-leased to South China Iron Smelters (SCIS) only for Japanese military occupation to occur the following year in 1941. With iron production forming a key element of their war effort, the Japanese hired-in approximately 1,500 workers to extract iron ore for military purposes.
Post the war, in 1949, SCIS, lacking sufficient capital to invest in the mine, they agreed for it to be taken over by the Mutual Trust Company, latterly renamed the Mutual Mining and Trading Company (MMTC) in 1953. The mine shifted its focus from the selling locally to a local-production-for-export model, with much of the extracted iron ore bound for Japan, where demand was being fuelled by the country’s rebuilding efforts, post-World War Two. Mining continued on an open-cast basis with a steady flow of refugees from China providing cheap labour. The miners were not direct employees of the Company. Instead they were procured via a subcontractor who liaised with the company and organised the miner’s work and took care of their livelihood and welfare. Communities formed and four districts sprung up; the Peak District, Ma On Bridge District, Mid-level District and the Pier District. The largest settlement, the Peak District, was home to approximately 4,000 people made up of the miners and their families and included a main street with shops and places to eat. Additional community buildings included a Lutheran church (Yan Kwong) and the Franciscan St. Joseph’s.
By 1952, the grade of ore being extracted was so low that Japanese buyers were pushing for a discount from MMTC. The four main Japanese iron and steel production companies sent eight investigators from the Nittetsu Mining Company to Ma On Shan to investigate the quality of iron ore. They reported that the grade of the ore could be improved from 32% to 58% if a dressing technique used by Nittetsu back in Japan was utilised. The upshot was that the Japanese buyers agreed to continue purchasing the ore as long as the mine took on technical and management guidance from the Nittetsu Mining Company. The result was the signing of a contract in October 1953 between MMTC and the Nittetsu Mining Company. In March 1954, Nittetsu established offices in Hong Kong in December and started construction of the ore dressing plant. This also coincided with the shift from labour-intensive open-pit extraction of ore to mechanised underground mining as the extraction of larger quantities of iron ore to feed the new plant could no longer be provided using opencast techniques.
A picture from the early 1950s before major landslides and while opencast mining was still in full swing:
You can find a comprehensive history of Ma On Shan's open-cast phase on the HERE.
The first adit, known as Adit A, was driven from the 280 level in 1953. This was in response to open-cut excavation as ore mining moved down the valley became both slower and more dangerous due to the risk of landslides. The lowest was the 240ML tunnel (Adit D) which became the main entrance to the mine. Four more drives were constructed at 7m intervals at 247ML, 254ML, 261ML and 268ML to exploit the body of ore above 240ML, which resulted in a small amount of ore being won in 1955. The ore was extracted using sub-level stoping, with rock blasted from the roof of the stope. Gravity was then used to drop it into vertical shoots and inclined shafts along with conveyer belts, to transport the ores between levels. The ore was then taken from the 240ML tunnel to the ore dressing plant using converted ex-military trucks. The state-at-of-the-art plant operated 24 hours-a-day, producing around 470-80 tons of iron concentrates (60 percent) from every 500-700 tons of raw ore.
The 240ML circa 1950’s(?):
By 1959, all extraction was now from underground. In 1960, a second smaller crushing plant was constructed at the Ma On Bridge District, located between the ore dressing plant and the open-pit area. It was used to process the old tailings of lump ore which were deemed to still have some economic value. After the three-stage process of crushing, screening and dry magnetic separation, the output was then sent on to the main dressing plant at the Pier District for final processing.
In 1960, the levels above 240ML were producing over 150,000 tons a year. However, these deposits had become exhausted by 1965. Previously though, an investigation in 1960 by Japanese engineers which involved drilling long holes into the mountain, confirmed an estimated 4.5-million-ton deposit of iron ore below 240ML. This resulted in the construct of a 2.2km-long tunnel at 110ML, which started in June 1961 and finished in 1963. Officially opened on 17th October 1963, the new tunnels and new equipment represented major investment in the mine with the cost more than HK$3m (at 1960 prices). Additionally, a new portal was established at 240ML, clear of any potential landslides. A 26° ramp was driven down to the 144 ML to connect up with a 30° ramp down to the 110ML. Before the commissioning of 110ML, production from the new workings (which commenced earlier, in 1960) was hauled up the ramps and out at the 240 level (until August 1963).
The haulage level, 110ML in the late 1960s:
The 240ML tunnel was the means by which miners entered the mine, before travelling down the ramp on a cable-hauled railway to their place of work. Teams of 15 men would use air-drills on the rock, before handing over to the blast team to prepare for the daily blast to bring down the ore. Secondary blasts were then used to break up the biggest rocks. The ore was then fed into chutes or draw points where it was then loaded into hand pushed carts or 1m cubed muck skips for pushing by a 4-ton battery locomotive. A series of vertical passes allowed the ore to be dropped to the 144ML where it was then dropped again to the vertical ore bins at 110ML. Here the ore came out of mechanical chutes or hoppers into Gramby Type 2.3m3 mine-cars which could be automatically emptied by opening one side on reaching the surface ore bin. An 8T electric locomotive using a DC-powered overhead line then shuttled the ore in trains of between 12-15 cars to the surface dressing plant pulling. The utilization of theses electric locos contributed to major reductions in transportation cost and, as a consequence, boosted production.
Cross sectional view of the mine:
The tunnels divided into three main levels for extraction, namely 240ML to 192ML, 192ML to 152ML, and 152ML to 110ML. Additionally, the mine had a “scraper” system. Ore was dropped from the stopes to “draw” points where a scraper was pulled past to collect the ore before dropping it into an adjacent ore pass. This allowed one man to clear four draw points using minimal resources.
The amount of ore imported from Hong Kong to Japan grew from 127,000 tonnes in 1963 to 189,000 tonnes in 1971, 90% coming from Ma On Shan. However, in relative terms this was small beer compared to Japan’s imports from other countries. While increasing in absolute term, the relative importance of ore from HK had decreased since 1963. This resulted in the mine finally closing in March 1976, 70 years after operations first commenced and having yielded an estimated 3 million tons of ore. The 400-strong workforce were laid-off, the machinery removed and the government mining lease expired in 1981. The adits above 240ML were lost to landslides, leaving the 240ML and 110ML entrances to the mine accessible. The exterior walls of both 240ML and 110ML were Grade 2 listed in March 2016.
A very comprehensive history of the second phase of Ma On Shan’s history can be found HERE.
2. The Explore
I’ve not done many reports in recent months, down to both too much work and a lack of good explores. Hence wanted to come back with a bit of a bang. This is the first of a handful of reports to come out on my recent trip to HK.
For this one, a massive thanks to the good Doctor Howser for taking me and a fellow HK-based explorer, Sacha, down and through the mine. And for the loan of helmet and torch. Ever since seeing @drhowser and his excellent report from April 2019 HERE I wanted to go here. For some reason when I as last in HK in August 2019, we met up but didn’t get round to exploring the mine. So ending up here this time around was an easy decision.
So on a hot and humid August day we met up at Central on HK island and stocked up. Taking the MTR to Heng On, we took a taxi ride up to near the 240ML entrance to start our through trip. What strikes you first is with the dense undergrowth, you would have no idea that this place was the focus of such extensive extracting activities. We knew the approximate area of the entrance point, but it took a little bit of a search to find it. Once we had, it was an easy in and the start of our four-hour trip through the mine. It was slightly challenging in places, what with some steep-ish scree-covered slopes and collapses to negotiate, but nothing too sketchy.
It was, arguably, one of the best mines I’ve explored. Through trips are always more interesting plus this mine had it all: wagons, flooded stopes, hoppers and cutes, an explosives store and loads and loads of old mining artifacts. We could have easily spent 8 hours in here. So apologies in advance for the very picture-heavy report.
3. The Pictures
Apologies in advance for the picture overload. All pictures taken on my phone. Despite having a borrowed tripod with me (thank you Dr) and my SLR and associated lenses, the scale of the mine wasn't really conducive to getting out my pod and camera and pointing with light. In the circumstances, the pictures came out OK.
After a little stumbling around we came across this former mine building so knew we were near:
Then we come across the concrete 240ML entrance with its rectangular opening and two large circular openings above to house ventilation fans:
And we’re in:
First, we made our way down the short concrete entry adit:
There isn’t much doing at the 240ML level now:
OK, bit late to see that now:
We then quickly turned to the left and started our descent down the long 26 degrees slope that links 240ML to the 110ML. It’s covered in scree but a guide rope is a big help. I didn’t take any pictures of the initial descend so check @drhowser and his report. After 48m we get to the 192DL. Dr Howser had said that he’d check this last time and it was blocked off after 10 or so metres by a serious collapse. However, this time, on close expectation, it became apparent that it could be negotiated. We squeezed through and much to the doctor’s delight the very extensive 192ML was now in our grasp.
Onward we go:
A dead end:
But the main adit continues and then we come to this!
Hoppers and wagons, oh yes:
And lots of cables and wires:
Some rotting wood. Usually a cause for concern in mines, but not so here with cooling through draft:
The temperature was actually perfect down here. 192ML just keeps on going:
The men spend a full day’s shift down the mine so needed spaces to relax and eat and drink. Here’s on such sub room:
Onwards we go:
Here’s the top of a gated ore chute:
Wall of pipes – presumably to bring compressed air to the drills:
Sleepers and rails still very much in evidence:
This looks like a welder’s mask:
Another worker’s rest area:
Some sketchy looking electrics:
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