THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF TAIWAN 901 
 
 
to spur the domestic economy to lay a one downstream project all components
foundation for future growth and to bring facilities of the petrochemical
complex have Taiwan into the world ranking of industrial been completed and
put into operation 
and modern countries The projects to be Construction status on the remaining
completed within 5 years included six in four projects were as follows The
$281 the transportation sector three in the million Chiang Kai shek International
Air heavy and chemical industries and one in port at Taoyuan was opened in
March 1979 the energy sector By the end of 1979 five Construction of the
first stage pian for Suao projects were completed and substantial Harbor
was scheduled for completion in progress hqd been made on the other five
June 1979 By August the railway between The North-South Freeway connecting
Keelung and Kaohsiung was fully electri Keelung and Fengshan and with two
sec- fled at a cost of $603 million. Finally, the tions linking Taoyuan and
Hsiaokang Inter- North-Link Railway was completed at the national Airports
was completed on Octo- end of 1979 at a total investment of $140 ber 31 1978
The total length of the freeway million 
runs 373 kilometers, and cost of construc- In 1977, the Government subsequently
tion was NT$45 billion The first of the 10 proposed 12 additional projects
almost all projects to be completed was the Kaohsiung of which are a continuation
of the 10 Shipyard in June 1976 (The shipyard of the previous projects These
included further China Shipbuilding Corporation is also lo- expansion of
the railroad highways into cated in the Kaohsiung Coastal Industrial grated
steel mill harbor nuclear power District next to the integrated steel mill
plants and agricultural mechanization near the second harbor of Kaohsiung)
However the planned extension of the Kaohsiung Shipyard has an annual ship-
North South Freeway designed to link building capacity of 1 5 million metric
tons Kaohsiung with Pingtung was suspended and a repair capacity of 25 million
metric Additionally Government owned enter tons Since its completion two
445 000-ton prises such as the Chinese Petroleum Cor tankers have been launched
and delivered poration Tang Eng Iron Works and Tai 
The first stage construction of Taichung wan Machinery Manufacturing Company
Harbor was completed and opened to traffic were also to mvest substantially
in largein October 1976 at a cost of NT$5 7 billion scale facilities to manufacture
heavy indus Construction on the second stage is current try products4 
ly in progress Also first stage construction In early 1979 formal diplomatic
relations of the mtegrated steel mill of the China between the United States
and Taiwan Steel Corporation was completed at the end were severed Communications
were con of 1977 and construction on the second ducted through nongovernmental
organiza stage is due to be completed in 1982 First tions American Institute
m Taiwan and the stage construction on the first of three Coordinating Council
for North American nuclear powerplants was completed in No- Affairs Despite
the change the United vember 1977 when the first generator States remained
as Taiwan's largest export (636 000 kilowatt capacity) began operation market
and its primary supplier of technol Installation of the second generator
was ogy and investment capital. 
completed in 1979. With the exception of 
 
 
PRODUCTION 
 
Coal was the most important mineral and natural gas, $124; metals, $26; evaporacommodity
mined in Taiwan. Output of ted salt, $5; and miscellaneous nonmetallic bituminous
coal, however, has decreased mining and quarrying, $46. In comparison, annually
since 1967. Domestic crude petro- the value-added output by secondary and
leum production is negligible. The principal tertiary industries related
to minerals and significance of indigenous oil was as a very metals was as
follows in million dollars: 
small supplement to imported crude oil in Chemicals and chemical products,
$3,587; the production of refinery products. Natu- petroleum and coal products,
$2,147; nonral gas output likewise is of little conse- metallic mineral products,
$774; and basic quence by world standards. metals and metal products, $1,745.

The overall value of production by the In addition to coal, the only minerals
mining industry was estimated at $313 domestically mined of significant quantity
million and was distributed as follows, in include salt, dolomite, limestone,
marble, million dollars: Coal, $113; crude petroleum clays, and talc soapstone.5
Amounts of met-