Arizona republican., 1903-03-01
VALUATION OF MINES
Things an Engineer Should Consider
 in Making a Report.

When q mining engineer is called upon to examine and report upon a mine he takes upon himself responsi- bility which may be far-reaching in its conseuuences, for upon his report money is likely to be invested or with held from investment He should, says the Mining and Scientific Press, not only make a careful investigation of the resources and condition of the mine. but should state every fact in any way having bearing upon the cost of operating the property. It is comparatively easy for an experienced engineer to sample mine, and by this means arrive at the gross value of the various blocks of ore as exposed in the workings. passing the estimate upon the average value of samples and the amount of ore ''in sight and many reports containing this sort of infor- | nation neglect to give the cost of op- eratiGnS.
 In addition to gross value of ore in 1 sight should be given the cost of ex- | tracing the available ore, and of con- verting it into bullion, but some engi- neers do not give these figures, though offering no reason for failing to supply
 
 cases, arbitrary costs may be difficult to arrive at, but ordinarily this is not so, there being sufficient precedent upon which to base approximate esti-
 mates, in the cost of operating other properties in the neighborhood.
 Undoubtedly some engineers hesitate to give figures of probable cost for fear that those who may subsequently, have the management of the property may work on different lines from those sug gested in the report, with a consequent difference in cost, which may or may not be complimentary to the engineer making the estimate, but ii the report is based upon the actual conditions and l costs obtaining at the time the re- port is made, the engineer need feel
 no hesitation in expressing his own
 conclusions. Some noted records have
 been made by engineers, who, having
 rendered a report on mining properties, including statement of cost, and being
 placed in charge of the property, have made the expense account correspond l so closely to their previous estimate of
 cost as to cause much favorable ctm-
 lCent on the part os the owners
 l Viewed from anoti...- standpoint, .he
 person employing tta engineer may de-
 sire to have tho cost Of mining ana re- duction omitted. as without tla costs
 the report makes a favorable sl.uw,ng, owing to tn, .are amount of ore "in sight but if the cost of ln,ning the ore
 and reducing it accompany the report, the most favorable reoo,t would provt,
 the property incapable of rroduo ing a profit notel engineer reported or. Q
 gold property some years since, ard in his report stated that there were four millions of dollars in sight. An
 other engineer was sent to verify the
 report, and did so, but added that it
 would require five millions to get it
 cut. This case is directly in point. and
 shows the necessity of a careful engi-
 neer making a report SO complete that
 whoever may have occasion to read it
 may comprehend the situation in all
 its details, and from a business stand point be able to judge of the commer-
 cial value of the property for them-
 selves.