The Marble times and Crystal silver lance., 1900-11-16
As to Ore Testing.

trace to few dollars a ION, upon
ore which they know to be barren,
thinking to keep him at work upon a
prospect which will yield nothing,
Speeding valuable time and money to
no purpose, save that of giving a few
dollars worth of work to the assayer.
Perhaps the prospector sends samples
to two different assayers, and one re-
turns him mo trace while the other
gives him a value of few dollars per
ton. The biggest return is usually ac-
cepted as correct, and the mo trace
man is charged with failure. Some
assayers say it makes no difference
whether they return ''no trace or a
ar or two ton, because in neither
case is the ore of any value, but the
accuracy of an assay of ore of very
low grade is more important than that
of an ore carrying a hundred dollars
per ton: in the first case a difference
between mo trace" and dollar or
two may decide the expenditure of hun
dreds or perh APPS thousands of dollars
in development, while in the latter, the
ore will be shipped anyway; and all
know that the smeltela will pay for no
thing but the actual contents of the ore.
These returns of value from valueless
ore are often the result of accident or
carelessness in the hands of an assay
er who has every intention of being
honest. A particle of rich ore in the
grinder left from the last sample, a
salted crueible, a loaded cleaning
brush, a dirty mixing cloth, tluxes
containing a little precious metal,
these and other matters of carelessness
uncleanlineas or disorder about the
laboratory make the difference be-
tween reliability and worthlessness in
the result of assaying. The general
public is not competent to judge of the
qualifications of an assayer any more
than those of a physician. Any man
may buy an outfit for 800 and stick
out his shingle ''Chemist and As
saver" when in reality he knows no.
thing about the correct application of
the principles underlying the trade he
processes. Such instances are more
common than many would believe, and
sometimes people of intelligence who
would at onee realize the ioolishness
OF hunting out the cheapest lawyer or
doctor will give their patronage to
such an assayer i&st because they can
ret his services q little cheaper than
those Of a man who is competent in his
profession and who realizes the i'm
portance of taking pains.
A good assayer is often charged with
failure because his customer is ignof-
ant OF the first principles OF sampling
ore. Sometimes a piece of rock is
broken in two, the hair sent to differ
eat assayers, widely varying results
ara obtained, and one OF the operat ors
is charged With an error when in fact
hoth are correct, and the results are
to tne fact that the metal
was not evenly disseminated through
the sample. 1t ia Well to remember that
like results can only be reasonably
expected when the sample is finely
crushed, thoroughly mixed and care
fully divided. The careful miner will
treat his sample in this way. grinding
- fr,n hi o.,t
nit. mixing and dividiug carefully,
and in every case reserving q portion
of tine sample SO that a check assay
can he made If desired. AS the best
men are liz Die te an occasional mis-
take, no ccnsery atiye miner will eX-
pend any large amount OF labor or
money upon the result OF Il single as
say, but vii base his future work upon
the concurring results Of two or more
assayers.
The best practical test Gi the quail
iications of an aa8ayer is his ability to
check with the smclters or their ship
ment pulps, and if You are in doubt
with whom to trust your work go to
your friends who are ore shippers and
get them to tell you who they patroni&e
No man can De honest in this business
without making many enemies among
those customers who have had higher
assays elsewhere than he can give
them and who had rather believe their
asS&yer dishonest or incompetent than
that their ore is less valgablc than
they hoped. Remember that good men
as rule can get fair price for their
work. If there is any trade in which
''cheap'' work is utterly valueless it is
in that OF the assayer.-M. q Sc. Press.