The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-03
BEFORE INVESTING
HOW TO FIND OUT ABOUT
MINING PROPERTIES.
Certain Questions That Should Be Asked
in Order to Bring Out Right
Information.

The eross-examination that every mining
investor should employ before going into a
mining venture to ascertain the finer noints
of the contemplated Investment reauiras
considerable study SO as to cover the vital
factors, says the Financial World. In a re-
cent meeting of an English company in
London q manager referred to tbe nrodnc-
ton of a Mexican mine as being 80 ooo =
day, whereupon a stakeholder asked
whether the gentleman was talking Ia
terms of American or Mexican currency
receiving the reply that the speaker was
not sure which II was.
OF all the counting of chickens efora
lney are natched, there Is none so mistaken
as the estimation of ore in untried veins
and the talk of reserves to be Obtained hv
cutting a lode at one point. ~
a company Is organized to exploit a prom
Using prospect, and a certain sum of inAlev
Is raised to make a mine out of Il hole in
the ground. Instead of following the ore
exposed at the outcrop, or cut in a pros
pectors trench to determine how far Ii ex-
tends and how much expenditure in equip
ment 1t may justify, the management de-
cides TO start a shaft that is planned to cut
the vein at a depth of several hundred feet.
In the meanwhile, the ore of the outcrop
gives assurance that there is something
there, and the pretentious scheme of oper-
ations tends to magnify the possibilities.
Before the shaft of the cross-cut from ii
can reach the lode. a large amount of stock
has been sold and most of the working
capital has been spent.
Should the cross-cut or shaft intersect The
vein at a poor spot, as is quite possible. tho
shareholders are neediessly discouraged.
Sometimes SO much money has been spent
in taking this long shot that no more re-
mains and the mine passes into other hands
or into those of the insiders. Even IL all
is square and above-boar1, the shaft and
cross-cut may be succeeded by a raise and
by intermediate drifts before 1t is made
plain that the vein has changed its dip be-
tween surface and 500 feet, or that the ore
shoot has a pitch different from that in
ferred at the grass roots.
1t is because miners know something of
the vagaries of ore occurrence tina they
take short views and prefer to go slowly in
their explorations, says the Mining and
Scientific Press. Only simpletons plan
adits to cross-cut creation at a great depth
or sink shafts to intercept ore shoots of
unknown character. 1t will be said that IL
is cheaper to hoist ore through a permanent
vertical shaft than through a prospecting
incline, and that 1t is better mining to
extract ore through an adit than to raise It
through a shaft. Provided you have the
ore. Get the evidence of the ore, its shape
and its position, then go ahead and plan to
extract 1t cheaply. The best mining Is the
cheapest mining; the cheapest is that which
yields the maximum profit during the period
of ownership. and to this we add the pro-
viso that the profit is supposed TO come
from the economical treatment of the ore,
and not from exploiting the simplicity Of
our fellow citizens.