Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1920-02-14
The Business of Mining


S2S1SGSS1SS1S2S1 1S15ISIS151SIS5S9 (By H. A. Wheeler, St Louis, Mo, , The average business man may be forgiven for his frequent inability tt distinguish between prospect and g mine, or between "wildcat" drilling anG developing a proven oil field. His knowledge of such matters is usually so superficial that he fails to recog- nize the great intervening gulf unti after he has lost his money in tryine to bridge over from the prospecting t. producing stage. But mining engi' neer is trained to discriminate clearly between hunting the game and eating the game, and he is not accustomed to regard a meritorious mining enter prise as being too hazardous for bank loans.
 By the term prospecting, or "wild- catting," It means the searching or hunting for ores, minerals, or oil which must always precede mining, or the winning or production of ores, minerals or oil.
 All mines were once prospects and all oil wells were originally "wild- cats", and the searching for proper ties that can subsequently, be devel- oped into paying mines or profitable wells is hazardous venture. Time and money, no matter how literally spent, cannot make a mine out of a prospect, or we'll out of "wild- cat" if under such economic condi- tions as to make it a profitable pro- ducer. Patience, persistence, and am- pie capital may finally succeed in dis covering prospect that can be de- velepode into mine, but the percent age of such successes is so small, and the risk is so hazardous, that only those who can afford thus to gamble the time and money should undertake it. It is game for optimistic, red blooded, strong men who can afford to speculate with more or less of thelr capital and continue smiling if it re- suits in total loss. However, the stakes are usually so large, if crowned with success, that, most fortunately for the progress of the human race there are plenty of men who have the requisite nerve and backbone to "buck the tiger"
 t; Prospecting, or "wild-catting," is a genuine gamble, and although with good judgment and the accumulation of a ripe experience the chances of success can be greatly improved, it is hazardous to expect banking aid. But this applies exclusively to prospecting or "wild-catting," or the searching for profitable deposits or pools.
 After a deposit has been proven up by a prospector, or a pool of oil has been located by "wild-catter," it be- comes as legitimate field for the consideration of the banker as any new enterprise. By proving up prospect I mean the requisites of good modern mining practice that demand sufficient development work in shafts, drifts, and crosscuts, or ample drill holes, to demonstrate an orebody Of sufficient size, richness, and character to make paying mine-not an over grown, excessively worked prospect that may count drifts by the mile, as the famous Sierra Nevada mine, on the Comstock lode. For the latter has never been more than huge prospect, although more or less continuously worked for fifty years through inces- sant assessments. It is extremely un- fortunate that the term mine, without any qualification, is so loosely applied by the market to all underground workings, whether mere prospects or developed producers.
 It is not surprising that the layman, who accepts the term mine without in vestigating whether it is prospect or a producer, has been so frequently misled into a prospecting proposition under the supposition that it was q producing mine.
 WHcn Iilc IoIiidSC oSeuoiy oSAA strated by developments, whether by drifts or drilling; when the grade of the ore and working conditions show that it can be profitably operated then, indeed, is the banker leaning backward if he is too conservative to advance the funds to assist in pro- ducing plant equipment or working capital. .... ...
 With all precautions, there are still uncertain factors-risks that do not render the enterprise as safe as a government bond, some of which are more or less inherent to mining, whereas others are due to changes in markets and local conditions that af- feet all mercantile business. But # those behind the enterprise have good judgment, ample experience, and in- tegrity, without which any enterprise is a dangerous hazard, whether min ing, manufacturing, merchandising, ol banking, mining loans should be as favorably considered by the banker as those in any other mercantile calling,
 The conservative investor is likely +o h., ,,ooro fopoiI;or with tha financial