The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-05-02

inery and equipment necessary for do.
| ing the work can be determined and 9
close estimate OF their cost can BIZ
made. Ali of these matters have con.
siderable bearing on the valuation ant
most certainly should be taken into
consideration to prevent costly mis-
takes.
The above represent some of the
factors which are considered to have
direct bearing upon the valuation
of a prospect, but in the last few year.
Mr.. Hoover's table, section (c) has
played a very important part in the
history of many prospects. The val.
uation of many prospects of tungsten
molybendum and practically all of the
other useful minerals has greatly in.
creased with the high prices Of metals
and there has been opened up and de-
veloped many producing mines which
before the raise in prices were con.
sidered. of small value. In othe,
words, the price of metals has biz
Influence on the value of prospects
and for that reason engineers should
keep posted on the latest prices >ol
metals and the conditions of the mar
ket
Ii. In the Judgment of the party
making the valuation, the property Of
fers sufficiently favorable evidence fol
further investigation factors which
are of more certain and definite ma.
ture are then taken into considera
ton: the costs of the necessary equip
ment, machinery, buildings, tools, sup
plies and other necessities along this
line can be fairly closely estimated
A close study of the water, fuel, tim
Der, transportation, climatic and
health conditions should be made, as
well as an investigation of the gov
eminent and local government regula
tons and the rightly with which they
are enforced. The costs of erecting
the necessary machinery, timbering
mining, road building, the supply and
kind of labor available for this work,
as we'll as the kind of management
which is expected to handle the dew
elopment, represent a few of the diff
ferent matters which have to be taken
into consideration, all of which have
more or less bearing on the success OF
the enterprise, and which If not duly
considered, may make poor invest
ment appear like particularly good
one.
To handle this work satisfactorily a
man should have good theoretical
training, supplemented by broad prac-
teal experience. He should have at
his finger ends the data on all matters
relating to the administration of mines
that he may be able to draw fairly
close and safe conclusions from evil
dence at hand. Without this as a
foundation he may have the ''hunch,"
which, If he follows it, may prove dis
astrous for the purchaser
From the foregoing it can be seen
that the valuation of a prospect is
not an easy or a certain proposition.
1t must not be assumed, however, from
the foregoing remarks, that money put
into a prospect is a poor investment,
but, as in all other lines of business,
one should either be personally ex-
perienced and back his own judg-
ment or have in his employ exper-
fenced men upon whom he can depend
and in whom he has absolute conf
dence both as to their integrity and
ability. Otherwise he may be consid-
cred as taking a gambling chance with
the odds against him.
When handled in the proper man.
ner there is perhaps no line of bust
ness which offers and has actually
developed such large returns on the
initial investments as in successfully
developed prospects, and where the
same amount of personal attention and
experience has been used as in any
other line of business, the failures have
been comparatively few. As a proof
of this statement 1t Is only necessary
to look over the list of fortunes in this
country and see which of them were
founded on an investment
in prospect, and it will generally
be noticed that the man who made
the original investment which turned
out so favorably was a personally ex-
perienced mining man, or was directly
with experienced mining
men, making use of their knowledge
and suggestions. This can be proved
by the fact that one of the main de-
partments of most of the large mining
is devoted to the search
and development of prospects, and
thousands Of dollars are spent by them
In this work. Through it there have
been developed large number of pro-
iucing mines whose values far exceed
the cost spent in finding and develop
ing them.
1t must also be said that an invest
nent made in a proposition having
The risk attached to it which the in
,estment in many prospects has, the
returns on the money should be ex-
oected to be more than ordinary in
'estments. 1t should return to the in
restor a rate which is proportional to
he risk which is assumed. In other |