Blogs

10. Assured.
Unusually regular, even and continuous; demonstrating permanent, very extensive numeralization.

9. Superior.
Regular, continuous, promising permanent extensive mineralization.

8. Very good.
Continuous, not entirely regular, slight doubts as to permanent extensive mineralization.

7. Good.
Continuous, somewhat irregular, some portions might be unprofitable.

6. Fair.
Continuous but uneven. Indications that some portions would not be profitable.

No investments present such vicissitudes of fortune as mining ventures. There is scarcely a man in our country who has not at one time or another purchased mining shares in the hope that he might secure an investment comparable to those glittering examples of success so industriously advertised by the promoter. Yet mining is a good business, and it is desirable that investors should purchase mining stocks.

In some great mines where large ore reserves, sufficient for many years' working, have been proved up, the shares become a business proposition, and their value can be safely estimated according to the worth of the ore in sight and the cost of mining and milling it; but for ordinary mines the tables above will be found serviceable in estimating stock values.

10. Assured.
Every facility for mining at a minimum cost unusual security against dangers.

9. Superior.
Facilities for mining at a low cost. No dangerous conditions indicated.

8. Very good.
No special difficulty or impediment in mining. The ordinary dangers only.

7. Good.
Slight difficulties to overcome and consequent dangers a little above the average.

6. Fair.
Engineering difficulties and dangers beyond the average, but not at all unsurmountable.

Usually a man who has discovered a mine can in a little while find someone to undertake its promotion, and then, if the agent is not strictly honest, the contracts and agreements are so drawn that the owner is completely under the control of his agent. Usually the first step is to make an agreement stating on what terms the agent may control the property. Frequently the time limit is made as extended as the mine owner will allow, and the promoter goes to work or perhaps only appears to go to work to obtain subscriptions for the proposition.

One can reject a mining proposition in short order, and one short chapter is sufficient to indicate conditions, any of which should be warrant enough for declining to take an interest in such a proposition. The investor would probably find a means for making inquiries through his bank as recommended, and would first learn of the local standing of the proposition, and the men connected with it.

An investor in mining stocks, an intelligent investor who studies a proposition, and has an established system by which he weighs the merits of the opportunities presented to him, may surely consider all the mining regions of the world, for with honest men in the management one's money can be sent anywhere, provided the inducement is good enough. To the majority of people the propositions offered from one's own country naturally seem the most desirable.

Plain business methods should apply, and this introduces the subject of the business organization. It may consist of a well furnished office, a big safe, a stock book and a talkative promoter. Probably there will be prospectuses, maps and numerous samples. An outfit such as this should make one cautious1 iand whenever the flag is put out, as it were, to catch the eye, the investor should beware.

This is a condition which should be emphasized in one's thoughts; the money is in the new discoveries, the big money; the rare returns which give a competency for a small investment put at risk. Always it has transpired that where a great discovery is made a swarm of speculative enterprises follow after, the promoters stating that their mines are just adjoining, or just in line with, some well known important proposition and mining discovery.

If one who casually buys a mining stock, believing, so he says, that he is "stuck," yet hoping that the reports may prove true, could know all the struggle, pathos, hopes, despair and moments of triumph attending the effort for the financial development of a mining enterprise; one would sympathize with the promoter, and wonder at the determination, which, if success is to be obtained, must meet and overcome prejudices, must encounter doubts, and incredulous disbelief during years of effort to find success in beating down all barriers, and obtaining the necessary capital to operate the mine.

In the pre-Cambrian regions arid among the intrusive older mountains of Central Europe, both pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic, there are found silver and rare minerals with some gem stones; and then the Mesozoic with the coal and iron mines of England; and the Cenozoic with the coal and iron mines of Germany and France, and the great basin formations containing the clays and earths on which so many European industries are founded.

It is the man behind the gun who wins the battle, and it is the man who overcomes the difficulties of operation who finally makes the mine a success.

A great mine owner once said: "It is easier to get a mine than a man. Give me a man and I will get the mine." There is much of truth in this saying, and many a good mine has been spoiled by poor management.

Along the eastern exposure of the Andes, occupying Mesozoic bordering on Cenozoic regions from Colombia southward, there is a little known, scarcely explored territory of vast extent where rumors of mineral wealth unknown reaches from time to time the outer world ; but on one side deep forests, and on the other towering mountains block the way to a country where there are indications that ore deposits as rich as any in the more accessible portions of this great range of mountains will be discovered.

When one considers an investment in dividend- paying mining stocks it is usually all a question of price ; not entirely so, however, because it sometimes happens that wideiy advertised offerings of dividend-paying mining stocks turn out to be the worst kind of swindles; the dividend, so called, being simply repayments of a small proportion of the money received from the sale of stock. This is a thoroughly dishonest practice and one distinctly forbidden by the law; it is done, however, and there are many subterfuges to hide the real character of the payment.

The question of what value to place on a mining stock is one involving several calculations. A mine is worth the value of the ore it may contain, less the cost of getting the value out, and turning it into money. If the mine being considered is a gold proposition the question of turning the product into money may be disregarded because the product is money. With all other mines the question of converting the product into cash must have serious attention.