The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1895-10-26
Selecting the Averages That Go
To Constitute Il Fair
Sample.
PROSPECTORS SALTING THEMSELVES.
An Operation Requiring the
Skillful Attention of
an Expert.

Readers of the prospectuses of
mining companies, of which there
are at present no lack, are familiar
with the phrase that samples taken
from the mine have been assayed bv
Messrs. So-and-So, and have YIELD
ed" SO many dollars or ounces to the
ton, as the case may be. Now the
name of the assayer is a guarantee
that the samples submitted to him
contain no more or no less than the
amount certified. 1t is, however, in
no sense a guarantee that the samp-
les so tested represent the actual
average value of the lode. This
latter depends for its accuracy not
only upon the sampler, the condit-
ions under which the samples were
taken, but upon the quantity of the
sample, and whether it was taken
from heap of ore already mined
and accessible outside the mine, or
from the lode itself as standing and
exposed in the workings.
Now the sampling Of heap of
ore is of itself difficult process, but
with care and the exercise of patient
skill, judgment and supervision on
behalf Of the sampler, and the alb
sence of interested parties, a toler-
able correct idea of its average min
eral contents can be arrived at, and
is, indeed, common occurrence
amongst mining men who keep men
and appliances for this work. In
the mining and smelling districts
sampling works are erected solely
for this purpose, and the whole pro-
cess is automatic and mechanical
The ore is crushed in bulk-that is
in quantities of 50 tons and upwards
and in the process of sampling it's
quantity is reduced, great care is
taken to prevent any tampering with
its quality, until at last, finely
crushed sample of a few pounds is
secured, which accurately represents,
by its mineral contents, that of the
total amount operated upon. In
short, it is recognized rule that,
unless the ore is thus treated in a
sampling mill erected for the pur-
pose, a correct idea of its value can
not be obtained.
In spite of all this we are brought
face to face with presumably COM
petent men, who, in an hours ram
BILE through mine, knock off a
piece here and there, and so pretend
that they have procured an average
sample of mass of ore, amounting
to many thousands of tons. The
idea that such an haphazard way OF
doing business can afford any re-
liable data is, to us, SO preposterous
that we have long ago ceased to
place any confidence in the results
SO obtained. They are, in short, as
likely to know on one hand that the
mine is too poor to work, as they
are on the other, to prove that it is al
Eldorado. Only by the most i'm
probable concurrence of circum
stances can these possibly give an ac
curate estimate of the value of thu
lode.
Apart from the treatment of ;
bulk sample of several tons in ;
sampling mill, there is only one re
liable method of ascertaining thu
commercial value of the ore-anc
that is, by milling large quantit.
Of it. If there is no mill near by, i
is wiser and in the end cheaper, t.
go to the expense of conveying tn
ore to the nearest mill than to ru
the risk TIE expenditure of none
on results obtained from crude, i'm
D perfect and unreliable methods.
t In the case of a mine with mi
5 already at work, the duty is simpli
y fed; az if it is not advisable to ae
cept the results obtained by pas
i operators, it is comparatively an eas
matter to clean up the mill, and pr