Palau--History--Pictorial works;Boxite–Palau

Description provided by photographer Roy Simonson reads: "Part of the hillside strip mine for bauxite ore, once operated by the Japanese, near Ngardmau. The strip mining was carried out stepwise on the slope and the ore hauled in little cars on a narrow-gauge railroad to the washing mill. The soil, which is the main source of ore, is lateritic and contains numerous bauxite gravels."

View from top of an abandoned Japanese washing plant, with a stockpile of washed bauxite ore near Ngardmau. Description provided by photographer Roy Simonson reads: "Another view from the top of the old washing mill to show part of the stockpile and the tailings out into the river floodplain where the trees have been killed, the towers on which the cable tramways were supported, and the ocean in the distance."

Description provided by photographer Roy Simonson reads: "Stockpile of washed bauxite ore and part of the ruins of the washing plant built by the Japanese near Ngardmau, west-central Babelthuap. Immediately beyond the ruins are the floodplain of the Adeiddo River, the cuts to show the deep regolith over the Almonguii agglomerate (where the Japanese had a narrow-gauge railroad), and the village of Ngardmau. In the distance is a partly cleared and terraced hillside."