The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1909-11-20
The Prospector and His Assays
BY Matt. w. Anderson in The Mining World

average was only about 81 a ton and il
did well to mill half that; for in ore as
saying 81 ton there is nothing with
which to ''tickle the plates"
In letter from friend find the fol-
lowing: Zone assay Is a very uucer-
tain measure by which to gauge q pros
pect, or on which to base auy consider
able amou. Of work. Yet many pros
pectors do both. You or myself would
not place much confidence in an un.
checked assay of our own work, much
less one Of another; there are SO many
ways in which errors can creep in. In
my mill work have found 1t necessary
to constantly run checks against my
sampling and against my assayer's
work."
Sometimes man takes q sample and,
on sending it to an assayer. gets fine
result. Later he sends sample Of the
same kind OF rock to another assayer.
gets nothing and then blames the first
assayer. remember. when hunting
for pay ore in mine some years ago,
was making q raise from the 200-level in
low grade ore. One day my assayer
gave me s42 gold as his result. Did 1
lose my head and send the stuff to mill !?
Mol / carefully sampled all around the
spot. but never took another sample
Ia that raise that carried pay.
One reason prospectors are ready to
blame the assayer II results are disap-
pointing is because they have been edu.
Gated in the wrong way, or not educated
&C all. / am aware that it is thought
most prospectors are full Of theories.
but an intelligent prospeotor living q
few miles from me says: Most pros
pectors have no Intelligent idea OF the
way ore deposits are formed and take
little interest in the subject. They are
simply fatalists." That is the whole
thing in a nutshell. The prospector
believes in luck. aud the educated min
ing engineer is little better. He Is the
graduate of q guessing school.
l wish l could bring my readers to
realization of the fact that everything
in this world conforms to law. We may
not understand the laws governing GER
tain matters, we may make an error In
in interpreting some Of these laws. or
the result of their action but. If we
bslieve in law, we will not make so
great au error as those who think ore
deposits have been male by chance.
go out berrying in the mountains; ON
one bush / fini one large, ripe buckle.
berry. Bushes near it have none.
walk on and I fiud q place where sew
srai bushes are covered aud the pick
ing Is good. From the berry picker's
point of view / am in bonanza; only q
few moments before, in borasca. We
know that certain conditions favored the
growth OF an abundance OF berries In
one place and prevented their appear
ance in another. The plants were sub
ject to laws which we partially under
stand. Now mineral deposits are min
eral growths. They are the outgrowth
OF laws as fixed aud immutable as laws
governing anything else. II we find
one lone color, or get one good assay.
we should not conclude we have found
pay ore. IL is. however. an indication
that we may find it, for the cause that
produced value in one spot would oper-
ate to produce more either adjoining it
or elsewhere in the vein. according to
conditions when the deposit was formed.
Toe fact that we have found one good
huck!eberry is q splendid indication
that there are more. So in quartz
vein. But we shouldn't fool ourselves
into the belief that we have pail 'ul OF
golden berries until we see them right
before our eyes, can actually measure
them. or get them into the pail.