Douglas Island news., 1908-01-01
Future of Mining.

The demands of civilization for min erals and their poducts are likely to increase with time rather than de- crease. Of course all the big deposits of the world have not yet been discov- cred, but large portion of the world has been searched for the required minerals with more or less success. As the ores of useful metals are not produced by nature as fast as man de- pletes existing deposits, it is simply matter of time before the human race will have exhausted the more easily ac' cessable and richer deposits, and will have to fall back on those at present considered unpayable under existing conditions. In olden days slave labor made it possible for ore to be worked that otherwise must have been left for a later date Az the present day not only is the condition of the working miner better than of yore, but modern appliances and methods enable very low grade stone to be handled. There is DO reason why future generations should not improve on present prac- tice, so that they can deal with ore of grade now considered not worth while touching. When reporting on a prop erty it is not sufficient to look at it 1 from the past or even the present, bus one must look ahead to a certain ex- tent. Some properties can be con demned as ont of the question right away, others warrant more careful in- vestigation, and often the combined | opinions of two or more specialists, for one man cannot be an expert on all subjects. He may be very good on all points concerning the working of mine, but may lack the intimate knowledge necessary to extract the metal from the ore by the most up-to- date method suitable for that particu- lar ore, allowing for local conditions. Again his business knowledge may be so slight that he would be unable to market the product to the best advant- age, or advise as to the best method of financing the enterprise, for mine may be good, and the ore successfully treated, and yet the venture prove a. failure from financial point of view, owing to unsuitable capitalization, or some other foolish arrangement. Then there is the market price of metals to
 be considered, requiring knowledge of the worlds supply and demand. If a high price is likely to be sustained, then small deposits that would not otherwise be worked may be brought forward with advantage, as has recent lv been the case with copper ventures. If metal reaches too high price, then some substitute is sought for it's common uses. This tends to bring the
 price down again. Or one metal may
 be affected by another, or by some special trade, such as tin, which IS largely produced in silver currency countries, so that when sllFef ls mgr it cannot purchase the same amount O.. labor as when low. Also, tin being chiefly employed in the manufacture of tin plate, and tin plate being largely used in meat-preserving works, the demand for that metal may be intu- enced by tho timed meat industry. As an engineer has enough to do to keep up-to date in his own particular line, he has to depend on the business man to great extent for information of the wheels within wheels likely to affect the demand and price of metal in which he is interested.-Denver
 Mining Science.