The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-01-05
INACCURATE ASSAY|NG IS
CAUSE OF HEAVY LOSSES
,,Av BE DUE TO cARELEssNEss
OR DlsHoNEsTY-REsULTs
SHOULD BE CHECKED.
&c. L. Sheldon in Engineering and
Mining Journal.)

rosnonsible for serious trouble anC
GREAT expense. Sometimes they are
caused by carelessness. The assayei
NAV employ cheap help in the crush
ing. bucking, or quartering of the
sample. which results in the sample
Incoming sailed with gold from a pl e.
vious rich sample. An instance of this
nature in which l was personally in
terested occurred at Cripple Creek
wears ago. A vein was found near the
surface by trenching, sampled care
fully and given to a competent, honest
assayer, who returned $500 gold per
ton. l Immediately resampled for a
check and my return showed only S12
per ton.
one time in Mexico, samples from
various veins averaged 76 OF. silver
and 81 gold per ton. The vein was
to s feet wide and looked good, so |
denounced it, In correspondence with
Chicago friend, l mentioned the mat
Ter. In a short time l received a wire
offering me one thousand pesos for an
interest in the claim. This 1 accepted
and did 40 to so IT. of development
work on it. During the work. sent
this friend samples of the ore. The re-
turns came back showing Sc to SO gold,
IS to 20 OF silver, and some lead l
then took new general samples and
sent to a reliable assayer of my ac-
quaintance in the United States These
checked with the Chicago assayer. l
lost a friend, as l was never able to
convince him that it was the assayer's |
fault, not mine. 1t was a pretty fair
prospect at that?
Another time in Mexico, in the vi
cinity of a property that l owned, l
found a small mountain of eruptive |
rock probably three quarters of a
mile in diameter, surrounded on one
side by limestone, on the other by
granite, with a large river near. This
mountain was of highly siliceous rhy-
oite, iron stained, a kindly appear
ance for mineral My first samples
gave "a to IS in gold and silver. about
equal values of each. L took out
iona, good for 80 days, for the exclu {
sive prospecting of the area. The '
surface in many places was bare rock
exposure. With my mozo we spent II
or Is days sampling the claim care
fully and thoroughly over large sur =
face areas, breaking and quartering 7
each sample. These samples, assayed a
by a Mexican assayer in the employ of +
an American ore buyer. ran $3.50 to IS d
in gold and silver. l retained part of f.
ten of the principle samples. l went f.
to the states soon thereafter and had
these tested by two reputable assay q
ers obtaining an average of 80 cents. !,
Not many years ago over 100000 v
was spent on a large low-grade ore n
body in Montana, a promoter with lit I,
tie mining experience being placed as q
the manager. A large mill was erect le
ed. A competent assayer was employ n
ed at the mine during all the develop 81
ment period and mill construction. +,
This assayer gave returns continu- b.
OF "a per ton. After running the mill n
time, he reported about 81 for the Il
feed, with the tailings less than soc 81
per ton; but the actual recovery was o.
less than 81 per ton. To friend of Il
mine who was employed on the prop W
erty as general mechanic, the promoter v
one day mentioned the peculiar re- 81
suits, asking him his opinion of them 81
This assayer was the only one who el
had been on the job; no other assays n
had been secured but his. My friend r,
suggested that he take some general
samples himself, unknown to the as
saver, and send half of each to differ
ent reputable assayers. These results
showed that he had no commercial ore,
as they gave around $3.50 per ton. The -
mill has been idle ever since. 1t was
found that this assayer had deliber-
ately given the higher values with the -
intention of breaking the manager :,
(Which he did) on account of some -
iancied wrong .
The Tonopah mine was found by a.
Jim Butler. His first samples were n
thrown out the back door of former -,
klondike assayer (near there, who III
reported that they were no good. Later II,
samples taken by Butler, given to the 20
Reconsideration oddie, of Nevada. and :,
sent by him to a reputable assayer at 70
Austin, Nevada, gave over 5000 in gold. u,
The Klondike assayer, hearing of this, N
Jug up the CLASSY. white quartz sam IN
Pies he threw away, and checked with or
the Austin man. He then attempted on
10 find and locate the ground but is
JAILED. The Austin assayer, for maxi is
ng the test, received what is believed
10 be the record price for single as b.,
say $4,000. which was promised him -
x the samples were any good.
In 1890 Cornishman. whom l knew -.
Nel' prospecting at Cripple Creek %
this being about one year prior to -,
BOB Womack's discovery of ore on
"omack Hill. at Cripple Creek, dis 49,
'oVered what has ever since been ~,
'nown as the Gold King mine, up Pow -
'rty gulch (near the Kathelin). He -
coated il and did the discovery work, -