The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-11
RICH ANCIENT MINES
ARE ALL IMAGINARY
Mining Engineers Declare That
Accounts Are Fables
THE OLD SILVER MINES
Much Harm Is Done Legitimate Mining
propositions BY INSCRIPTIONS Pro-
moters-Great on Telling
Victims Their stories

San Antonio, Tex, July 10.-(Special.)-
According to Leroy Jackson, we'll
known mining engineer who has seen
many years service in Mexico and South
Africa, the wealth of old mines in both
countries is a fable.
"A great deal of harm is done legiti-
mate mining propositions by unscrup'
ulous promoters of what is generally
known as old workings he said. "Peo-
pie inclined to get rich quick listen to
the smooth yarns of this gentry and
usually pull out with a lot of cxper-
of money, besides having acquired a
taste of mining that is apt to keep them
from making investments in sound prop
critics.
The fact of the matter is that the
old workings l have run across In Mex
leo and Mashonaland offered very lit
tie inducement for exploitation. 1 have
examined many of the old mines and
have found that they invariably were
abandoned because they had been ex-
hausted or, to use modern phrase, did
no longer produce pay ores. The old
few, and are, as far as | have been
able to discover of Spanish origin
Whether they had been worked by the
Aztecs and possibly before them by the
Toltecs no one seems to be in a position
to say, although it is quite probable
ha Cro ri cta cd in, xxyhar 10
Aztecs left off.
THE promoters of these old mines are
great on telling their victims that mod
ern machinery and separation methods
will do wonders in them. In doing this
they have a great deal of honest truth
on their side for such is really the case
There is no doubt that even the tail
ings of these old mines are pretty good
stuff and can be worked over profitably
if the necessary plant can be installed,
but in cases where this is not done they
are quite useless. There are only two
ways in which the ore and tailings of
an ancient mine can be made to pay
and that is to either erect a separation
plant on the property or else make their
to the nearest smelter or
cyanide plant an inexpensive matter The
former method requires a great deal
of capital and so will the latter In most
instances.
The old silver mines, while richer
on the whole than the gold mines of
the same period, are of course, entirely
out of the question with the present
prices of silver That they are really rich
in ores nobody can deny and for that
reason more victims stand to their credit
than to any of the other old mine propo-
sitions. 1t is my experience that an
old mine always attracts more atten-
ton than a new one People have been
filled up with great deal of tommy
rot about the wealth of the ancients and
for this reason any kind of an Ophir
yarn makes them fall.
Il have met these conditions not only
in Mexico but also in South Africa. In
that country the ancient workings are
to be found in Rhodesia or to be more
specific, in Mashonaland as far north as
Salisbury and Bulowayo. There is no
doubt that some ancient people mined
gold there but assays made of both the
fresh ore and the buildings have shown
that they are nothing
miner would go into ecstacy over. The
ancients In both countries referred to
lacked our modern machinery and meth
DDS but they had at their disposal an
unlimited amount of slave labor and for
that reason 1 am inclined 20 think could
make mines pay which we cannot
Mr.. Jackson goes to Mexico to look
over several prospects on the Pacific
slope for New York capitalists.