[*] For full details of the most recent improvements in thecyanide process and in other methods of extraction, thereader is referred to Dr. T. K. Rose's "Metallurgy of Gold,"third edition.
It is unnecessary to describe methods by which power for mining purposes has been obtained—that is, up to within the last five years—beyond a general statement, that when water power has been available in the immediate locality of the mine, this cheap natural source of power has been called upon to do duty. Steam has been the alternative agent of power production applied in many different ways, but labouring under as many disadvantages, chief of which are lack of water, scarcity of fuel and cost of transit of machinery. Sometimes condensing steam-engines have been employed. For the generation of steam the semi-portable and semi-tubular have been the type of boiler that has most usually been brought into service. Needless to say, when highly mineralised mine water only is available the adoption of this class of boiler is attended with anything but satisfactory results.
Recently, however, there is strong evidence that where steam is the power agent to be employed the water-tube type of boiler is likely to be employed, and to the exclusion of all other forms of apparatus for the generation of steam. The advantages of this type, particularly the tubulous form (or a small water tube), made as it is in sections, offers unrivalled facilities for transport service. The heaviest parts need not exceed 3 cwt. in weight, and require neither heavy nor yet expensive brickwork foundations.
WATERLESS POWER.
The difficulties in finding water to drive a steam plant are often of such a serious character as to involve the abandonment of many payable mines; therefore, a motive power that does not require the aqueous agent will be a welcome boon.
It will be a source of gratification to many a gold-claim holder to know that practical science has enabled motive power to be produced without the necessity of water, except a certain very small quantity, which once supplied will not require to be renewed, unless to compensate for the loss due to atmospheric evaporation.
Any carbonaceous fuel, such as, say, lignite, coal, or charcoal, can be employed. The latter can be easily produced by the method described in the Chapter on "Rules of Thumb," or by building a kiln by piling together a number of trunks of trees, or fairly large-sized branches, cut so that they can be built up in a compact form. The pile, after being covered with earth, is then lighted from the base, and if there are no inlets for the air except the limited proportion required for the smouldering fire at the base, the whole of the timber will be gradually carbonised to charcoal of good quality, which is available for the waterless power plant.
The waterless power plant consists of two divisions: First, a gas generating plant; secondly, an internal combustion or gas engine in which the gas is burnt, producing by thermo-dynamic action the motive power required. The system known as the Thwaite Power Gas System is not only practically independent of the use of water, but its efficiency in converting fuel heat into work is so high that no existing steam plant will be able to compete with it.
The weight of raw timber, afterwards to be converted into charcoal, that will be required to produce an effective horse-power for one hour equals 7 lb.
If coal is the fuel 1 1/3 lb. per E.H.P. for one hour's run.
If lignite is the fuel 2 1/2 lb. per E.H.P. for one hour's run.
The plant is simple to work, and as no steam boiler is required the danger of explosions is removed. No expensive chimney is necessary for the waterless power plant.
Where petroleum oil can be cheaply obtained, say for twopence per gallon, one of the Otto Cycle Oil Engines, for powers up to 20 indicated horse-power, can be advantageously employed.
These engines have the advantage of being a self-contained power, requiring neither chimney nor steam boiler, and may be said to be a waterless power. The objection is the necessity to rely upon oil as fuel, and the dangers attending the storage of oil. A good oil engine should not require to use more than a pint of refined petroleum per indicated horse-power working for one hour.
Fortunately for the mining industry electricity, that magic and mysterious agency, has come to its assistance, in permitting motive power to be transmitted over distances of even as much as 100 miles with comparatively little loss of the original power energy.
Given, that on a coal or lignite field, or at a waterfall, 100 horse-power is developed by the combustion of fuel or by the fall of water driving a turbine, this power can be electrically transmitted to a mine or GROUP OF MINES, say 100 miles away, with only a loss of some 30 horse-power. For twenty miles the loss on transmission should not exceed 15 horse-power so that 70 and 85 horse-power respectively are available at the mines. No other system offers such remarkable efficiencies of power transmission. The new Multiphase Alternating Electric Generating and Power Transmission System is indeed so perfect as to leave practically no margin for improvement.
The multiphase electric motor can be directly applied to the stamp battery and ore-breaker driving-shaft and to the shaft of the amalgamating pans.
APPROXIMATE POWER REQUIRED TO DRIVE THE MACHINERY OF A MINE.Rock breaker 10 effective horse-powerAmalgamating pan 5 effective horse-powerGrinding pan 6 effective horse-powerSingle stamp of 750 lb. dropping90 times per minute 1.25 effective horse-powerSettlers 4 effective horse-powerOrdinary hoisting lift 20 effective horse-powerAllow 10 per cent in addition for overcoming friction.
Besides this electrical distribution power, which should not cost more than three farthings per effective horse-power per hour, the electrical energy can be employed for lighting the drives and the shafts of the mine. The modern electrical mine lamps leave little to be desired. Also it is anticipated that once the few existing difficulties have been surmounted electric drilling will supplant all other methods.
Electric power can be employed for pumping, for shot firing, for hauling, and for innumerable purposes in a mine.
Electricity lends itself most advantageously to so many and varied processes, even in accelerating the influence of cyanide solutions on gold, and in effecting the magnetic influence on metallic particles in separating processes; while applied to haulage purposes, either on aerial lines or on tram or railroads, it is an immediate and striking success.
It is anticipated that in the near future the mines on the Randt, South Africa, will be electrically driven from a coalfield generating station located on the coalfields some thirty miles from Johannesburg. Such a plant made up of small multiples of highly efficient machines will enable mine-owners to obtain a reliable power to any extent at immediate command and at a reasonable charge in proportion to the power used. This wholesale supply of power will be a godsend to a new field, enabling the opening up to be greatly expedited; and no climatic difficulties, such as dry seasons, or floods, need interfere with the regular running of the machinery. The same system of power-generation at a central station is to be applied to supply power to the mines of Western Australia.
All the world over, the operation of winning from the soil and rendering marketable the many valuable ores and mine products which abound is daily becoming more and more a scientific business which cannot be too carefully entered into or too skilfully conducted. The days of the dolly and windlass, of the puddler, cradle, and tin dish, are rapidly receding; and mining, either in lode or alluvial working, is being more generally recognised as one of the exact sciences. In the past, mining has been carried on in a very haphazard fashion, to which much of its non-success may be attributed.
But the dawn of better days has arrived, and with the advent of schools of mines and technical colleges there will in future be less excuse for ignorance in this most important industry.
This chapter will be devoted to Company formation and working, in which mistakes leading to very serious consequences daily occur.
It is not necessary to go deeply into the question why, in the mining industry more than any other, it should be deemed desirable as a general rule to carry on operations by means of public Companies, but, as a matter of fact, few names can be mentioned of men who mine extensively single handed. Yet, risky as it is, mining can hardly be said to be more subject to unpreventable vicissitudes than, say, pastoral pursuits, in which private individuals risk, and often lose or make, enormous sums of money.
However, it is with Mining Companies we are now dealing, and with the errors made in the formation and after conduct of these Associations.
The initial mistake most often made is that sufficient working capital is not called up or provided in the floating of the Company. Promoters trust to get sufficient from the ground forthwith to ensure further development; the consequence being that, as nearly 99 per cent of mining properties require a very considerable expenditure of capital before permanent profits can be relied on, the inexperienced shareholders who started with inflated hopes of enormous returns and immediate dividends become disheartened and forfeit their shares by refusing to pay calls, and thus many good properties are sacrificed. In England, the companies are often floated fully paid-up, but the same initial error of providing too little money for the equipment and effective working of the mine is usually fallen into.
Again, far too many Companies are floated on the report of some self-styled mining expert, often a man, who, like the schoolmaster of the last century, has qualified for the position by failing in every other business he has attempted. These men acquire a few geological and mining phrases, and by more or less skilfully interlarding these with statements of large lodes and big returns they supply reports seductive enough to float the most worthless properties and cause the waste of thousands of pounds. But the trouble does not end here.
When the Company is to be formed, some lawyer, competent or otherwise, is instructed to prepare articles of association, rules, etc.; which, three times out of four, is accomplished by a liberal employment of scissors and paste. Such rules may, or may not, be suited to the requirements of the organisation. Generally no one troubles much about the matter, though on these rules depends the future efficient working of the Company, and sometimes its very existence.
Then Directors have to be appointed, and these are seldom selected because of any special knowledge of mining they may possess, but as a rule simply because they are large shareholders or prominent men whose names look well in a prospectus. These gentlemen forthwith engage a Secretary, usually on the grounds that he is the person who has tendered lowest, to provide office accommodation and keep the accounts; and not from any particular knowledge he has of the true requirements of the position.
The way in which some Directors contrive to spend their shareholders' money is humorously commented on by a Westralian paper which describes a great machinery consignment lately landed in the neighbourhood of the Boulder Kalgoorlie.
"It would seem as if the purchaser had been let loose blindfold in a prehistoric material-founder's old iron yard, and having bought up the whole stock, had shipped it off. The feature of the entire antediluvian show is the liberal allowance of material devoted to destruction. Massive kibbles, such as were used in coal mines half a century ago, are arranged alongside a winding engine, built in the middle of the century, and evidently designed for hauling the kibbles from a depth of 1000 feet. Nothing less than horse-power will stir the trucks for underground use, and their design is distinctly of the antique type. The engine is built to correspond—of a kind that might have served to raise into position the pillars of Baalbec, and the mass of metal in it fairly raises a blush to the iron cheek of frailer modern constructions. The one grand use to which this monster could be put would be to employ it as a kedge for the Australian continent in the event of it dragging its present anchors and drifting down south, but as modern mining machinery the whole consignment is worth no more than its value as scrap-iron, which in its present position is a fraction or two less than nothing."
Next, a man to manage the mine has to be obtained, and some one is placed in charge, of whose capabilities the Directors have no direct knowledge. Being profoundly ignorant of practical mining they are incompetent to examine him as to his qualifications, or to check his mode of working, so as to ascertain whether he is acting rightly or not. All they have to rely on are some certificates often too carelessly given and too easily obtained. Finally, quite a large proportion of the allottees of shares have merely applied for them with the intention of selling out on the first opportunity at a premium, hence they have no special interest in the actual working of the mine.
Now let us look at the prospects of the Association thus formed. The legal Manager or Secretary, often a young and inexperienced man, knows little more than how to keep an ordinary set of books, and not always that. He is quite ignorant of the actual requirements of the mine, or what is a fair price to pay for labour, appliances, or material. He cannot check the expenditure of the Mining Manager, who may be a rogue or a fool or both, for we have had samples of all sorts to our sorrow. The Directors are in like case. Even where the information is honestly supplied, they cannot judge whether the work is being properly carried out or is costing a fair price, and the Mining Manager is left to his own devices, with no one to check him nor any with whom he can consult in specially difficult cases. Thus matters drift to the almost certain conclusion of voluntary or compulsory winding up; and so many a good property is ruined, and promising mines, which have never had a reasonable trial, are condemned as worthless. But let us ask, would any other business, even such as are less subject to unforeseen vicissitudes than mining, succeed under similar circumstances?
It is now very generally agreed that to the profitable development of mining new countries, at all events, must look mainly for prosperity, while other industries are growing. Therefore, we cannot too seriously consider how we may soonest make our mines successful.
What is the remedy for the unsatisfactory state of affairs we have experienced? The answer is a more practical system of working from the inception. Although it may evoke some difference of opinion I consider it both justifiable and desirable that the State should take some oversight of mining matters, at all events in the case of public Companies. It would be a salutary rule that the promoters of any mining undertaking should, before they are allowed to place it on the market, obtain and pay for the services of a competent Government Mining Inspector, who need not necessarily be a Government officer, but might, like licensed surveyors, be granted a certificate of competency either by a School of Mines or by some qualified Board of Examiners. The certificate of such Inspector that the property was as represented, should be given before the prospectus was issued. It is arguable whether even further oversight might not be properly be taken by the State and the report of a qualified officer be compulsory that the property was reasonably worth the value placed upon it in the prospectus.
Probably it will be contended that such restrictions would be an undue interference with private rights, and the old aphorism about a fool and his folly will be quoted. There are doubtless fools so infatuated that if they were brayed in a ten hundred-weight stamp-battery the "foolishness that had not departed from them" would give a highly payable percentage to the ton. Yet the State in other matters tries by numerous laws to protect such from their folly. A man may not sell a load of wood without the certificate from a licensed weighbridge or a loaf of bread without, if required, having to prove its weight; and we send those to gaol who practise on the credulity and cupidity of fools by means of the "confidence trick." Why not, therefore, where interests which may be said to be national are involved, endeavour to ensure fair dealing?
Then with regard to the men who are to manage the mines, seeing that a man may not become captain or mate of a river steamboat without some certificate on competency, nor drive her engines before he has passed an examination to prove his fitness, surely it is not too much to say that the mine manager or engineer, to whose care are often confided the lives of hundreds of men, and the expenditure of thousands of pounds, should be required to obtain a recognised diploma to prove his qualifications. The examinations might be made comparatively easy at first, but afterwards, when by the establishment of Schools and Mines the facilities have been afforded for men to thoroughly qualify, the standard should be raised; and after a date to be fixed no man should be permitted to assume the charge of a mine or become one of its officers without a proper certificate of competency from some recognised School of Mines or Technical College. The effect of such a regulation would in a few years produce most beneficial results.
In New Zealand, whose "progressive" legislature I do not generally commend, they have, in the matter of mine management, at all events, taken a step in the right direction. There a mine manager, before he obtains his certificate, must have served at least two years underground, and has to pass through a severe examination, lasting for days, in all subjects relating to mining and machinery connected with mining. In addition, he must prove his capacity by making an underground survey, and then plotting his work. The examination is a stiff one, as may be judged from the fact that between 1886 and 1891, only 27 candidates passed. Then the conditions were made easier, and from that date to 1895, 19 passed. Of the 46 students who gained first-class honours, 30 have left for South Africa or Australia, in both of which countries New Zealand certificated men are held in high estimation.
But returning to the formation of the Company, care should be taken in appointing Directors that at least one member of the Board is selected on account of his special technical knowledge of mining, and others for their special business capacity. The ornamental men with high sounding names should not be required in legitimate ventures. Also, it is most important that the business Manager or Secretary should be a specially qualified man, who by experience has learned what are the requirements of a mine doing a certain amount of work, so that a proper check may be kept on the expenses. The more Companies such a Secretary has the better, as one qualified man can supervise a large staff of clerks, who would themselves be qualifying for similar work, and gaining a useful and varied experience of mining business. An office of this description having charge of a large number of mines is, in its way, a technical school, and lads trained therein would be in demand as mine pursers, a very responsible and necessary officer in a big mine.
With respect to the men to whom the actual mining and treatment of ores and machinery is committed the greatest mistakes of the past have been that too much has been required from one man, a combination not to be found probably in one man in a thousand. Such Admirable Crichtons are rare in any profession or business, and that of mining is no exception. Men who profess too much are to be distrusted. Your best men are they who concentrate their energies and intellects in special directions. The Mining Manager should, if possible, be chosen from men holding certificates of competency from some technical mining school and, of course, should, in addition, have some practical experience, not necessarily as Head Manager. He should understand practical mine surveying and calculation of quantities, be able to dial and plot out his workings, and prepare an intelligible plan thereof for the use of the Directors, and should understand sufficient of physics, particularly pneumatics and hydraulics, to ensure thoroughly efficient pumping operations without loss of power from unnecessarily heavy appliances. Any other scientific knowledge applicable to his business which he may have acquired will tell in his favour, but he must, above all things, be a thoroughly practical man. Such men will in time be more readily procurable, as boys who have passed through the various Schools of Mines will be sent to learn their business practically at the mines just as we now, having given a lad a course of naval instruction, send him to sea to learn the practical part of his life's work.
But, of course, more is wanted on a mine than a man who can direct the sinking of shafts, driving of levels, and stoping of the lode. Much loss and disappointment have resulted in the past from unsuitable, ineffective, or badly designed and erected machinery, whether for working the mine or treating the ores. To obviate this defect a first-class mining engineer is required.
Then, also, day by day we are more surely learning that mining in all its branches is a science, and that the treatment of ores and extraction of the metals is daily becoming more and more the work of the laboratory rather than of the rule-of-thumb procedure of the past. Every mine, whether it be of gold, silver, tin, copper, or other metal, requires the supervision of a thoroughly qualified metallurgist and chemist, and one who is conversant with the newest processes for the extraction of the metals from their ores and matrices.
It has then been stated that to ensure effective working each mine requires, in addition to competent directors, a business manager, mining-manager, and assistants, engineer, chemist, and metallurgist, with assistant assayers, etc., all highly qualified men. But it will be asked, how are many struggling mines in sparsely populated countries to obtain the services of all these eminent scientists? The reply is by co-operation. One of the most ruinous mistakes of the past has been that each little mining venture has started on an independent course, with different management, separate machinery, etc. Can it then be wondered at that our gold-mining is not always successful?
Under a co-operative system all that each individual mine would require would be a qualified, practical miner capable of opening and securing the ground in a miner-like manner, and a good working engineer; and in gold-mining, where the gold is free in its matrix, a professional amalgamator, or lixiviator. For the rest, half a dozen or more mines may collectively retain the services of a mine manager of high attainments as general inspector and superintendent, and the same system could be adopted with respect to an advising metallurgist and an engineer. For gold, as indeed for other metals, a central extracting works, where the ores could be scientifically treated in quantity, might be erected at joint cost, or might easily be arranged for as a separate business.
A very fruitful cause of failure is the fatuous tendency of directors and mine managers to adopt new processes and inventions simply because they are new. As an inventor in a small way myself, and one who is always on the watch for improved methods, I do not wish to discourage intelligent progress; but the greatest care should be exercised by those having the control of the money of shareholders in mining properties before adopting any new machinery or process.
We have seen, and unfortunately shall see, many a promising mining company brought to grief by this popular error. The directors of mining companies might, to use an American saying, "paste this in their hats" as a useful and safe aphorism. "LET OTHERS DO THE EXPERIMENTING; WE ARE WILLING TO PAY ONLY FOR PROVED IMPROVEMENTS." I can cordially endorse every word of the following extracts from Messrs. McDermott and Duffield's admirable little work, "Losses in Gold Amalgamation."
"Some directors of mining companies are naturally inclined to listen to the specious promises of inventors of novel processes and new machinery, forgetting their own personal disadvantage in any argument on such matters, and assuming a confidence in the logic of their own conclusions, while they ignore the fruitful experience of thousands of practical men who are engaged in the mining business. The repeated failures of directors in sending out new machinery to their mines ought by this time to be a sufficient warning against increasing risks that are at once natural and unavoidable, and to deter them from plunging their shareholders into experiments which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, result in nothing but excessive and needless expenses.
"It is certain that new machines and new processes are, and will be, given attention by mining men in proportion to their probable merits; but the proper place for experiments is in a mill already as successful as under known processes it can be made. In a new enterprise, even when the expense of an experiment is undertaken by the inventor, the loss to the mine-owner in case of failure must be very great, both in time and general running expenses. Directors should not believe that a willingness to risk cash in proving an invention is necessarily any proof of value of the same; it is only a measure of the faith of the inventor, which is hardly a safe standard to risk shareholders' money by.
"The variety of modifications in approved processes ought at least to suggest the desirability of exhausting the known, before drawing on the unknown and purely speculative. It should also be borne in mind that what might appear at first sight to be new processes, and even new machinery, are, in fact, often nothing but old contrivances and plausible theories long ago exploded among practical men.
"Many mining companies have been ruined, without any reference to their mines, through men deciding on the reasonableness of new process and machinery who have no knowledge of the business in hand. It is assumed often, that if an inventor or manufacturer of new machinery will agree to guarantee success, or take no pay if not successful, the company takes no risk. In actual fact a whole year is wasted in most cases, failure spoils the reputation of the company, running expenses have continued, and further working capital cannot be raised, because all concerned have lost confidence by the failure to obtain returns promised. All this in addition to the regular, unavoidable risks of mining itself, which may, at any moment during the year lost, call for increased expenses and increased faith in ultimate success. To the mining man who makes money by the business, the natural risks of mining is all he will take; it is sufficient; and when he invests more money in machinery he takes good care that he takes no chances of either failure or delay.
"The following are rules which no mining company or individual mine-owner can afford to neglect.
"(1) The risk should be confined to mining. No body of directors is justified in taking a shareholder's money and investing it in new processes or machinery when the subscription was simply for a mining venture. Directors are invariably incapable of deciding whether a so-called improvement in machinery or process is really so or not, and the reasonable course is to follow established precedents.
"(2) The risk of selecting an incompetent manager should be reduced to minimum by taking a man with a successful record in the particular work to be done. The manager selected should be prohibited, as much as the directors, from experimenting with new methods or machinery. A really experienced man will require no check in this direction, as he will not risk ruining his reputation.
"(3) The only time for a company to experiment is when the mine is paying well by the usual methods, and the treasury is in a condition to speculate a little in possible improvements without jeopardising regular returns."
Probably this is the best place to insert another word of warning to directors who are not mining specialists, and also to investors in gold mining shares. Assays of auriferous lode material are almost invariably worthless as a guide in the real value of the stone in quantity. The one way to decide this is by battery treatment in bulk, and then only after many tons have been put through. The reason is obvious. First, the prospector or company promoter, if he knows it, is not in the least likely to pick the worst piece of stone in the heap for assay; and, secondly, even should the sample be selected with the sole object of getting a fair result, no living man can judge the value of a gold lode by the result of treatment of an ounce of stone. So when you see it stated that Messrs. Oro and Gildenstein, the celebrated assayers, have found that a sample of rock from the Golden Mint Mine, Golconda, assays at the rate of 2,546 oz. 13 dwt. and 21 gr. to the ton, and that there are thousands of tons of similar stone in sight, the statement should be received with due caution. The assay is doubtless correct, but the deductions therefrom are most misleading.
A few words of advice also to directors of mine-purchasing companies and syndicates, of which there are now so many in existence, may probably be found of value. It is not good policy as a general rule to buy entirely undeveloped properties, unless such have been inspected by your own man, who is both competent and trustworthy, and who should have indeed an interest in the profits. Large areas, although so popular in England, do not compensate for large bodies of payable ore; the most remunerative mine is generally one of comparatively small area, but containing a large lode formation of payable but often low grade, ore.
It is worse still, of course, to buy a practically worked out mine, though this too is sometimes done. It must be remembered that mining, though often so profitable, is nevertheless a destructive industry, thus differing from agriculture, which is productive, and manufactures, which are constructive. Every ton of stone broken and treated from even the best gold mine in the world makes that mine the poorer by one ton of valuable material; thus, to buy a mining property on its past reputation for productiveness is, as a rule, questionable policy, unless you know there is sufficient good ore in sight to cover the purchase cost and leave a profit.
One of the greatest causes of non-success of gold-mining ventures, particularly when worked by public companies, is the lack of actual personal supervision, and hence, among other troubles, is that ultra-objectionable one—gold stealing from the mills, or, in alluvial mining, from the tail races. As to the former, the following appeared in 1893 in the LondonMining Journal, and is, I think, worthy of the close consideration of mine directors in all parts of the world:—
"No one that has not experienced the evil of gold thieving from reduction mills can have any idea of the pernicious element it is, and the difficulty, once that it has got 'well hold,' of rooting it out. It permeates every class of society in the district connected with the industry, and managers, amalgamators, assayers, accountants, aye, even bank officials, are 'all on the job' to 'get a bit' while there is an opportunity. To exterminate the hateful monster requires on the part of the mine proprietors combined, stern and drastic measures undertaken under the personal supervision of one or more of their directors, and in many instances necessitating the removal of the whole of the official staff."
The writer narrates how about twenty years ago he was led to suspect that in an Australian mine running forty head of stamps, in which he held a controlling interest, the owners were being defrauded of about a fourth of the gold really contained in the ore, and the successful steps taken to check the robbery.
"We first of all dispensed with the services of the general manager, and then issued the following instructions to the mine and mill managers, I remaining at the mine to see them carried out until I substituted a practical local man as agent, who afterwards carried on the work most efficiently:—
"(a) Both of these officials to keep separate books and accounts; in other words, to be distinct departments.
"(b) The ore formerly was all thrown together and put through the mill. I subdivided it into four classes, A, B, C, and D, representing deep levels north and upper levels north, deep levels south and upper levels south, and allotted to each class ten heads of stamps at the mill.
"(c) The mine manager to try three prospects, forenoon and afternoon of each day, from the dumps of each of the four classes and record in a book to be kept for that purpose the estimated mill yield of each one.
"(d) The mill manager was required to do the same at the mill and keep his record.
"(e) There were four underground bosses in each shift, twelve in all. I had a book fixed at the top of the shaft in which I required each of these men, at the expiry of every shift, to record any change in the faces of the quartz and particularly in regard to quality.
"(f) Having divided the ore into four classes I instructed the amalgamators, of which there were two in each shift, six in all, that I required the amalgam from each to be kept separate, with the object of ascertaining what each part of the mine produced.
"(g) I procured padlocks for the covering boards of the mercury tables and gave the keys to the amalgamators with instructions that they were not to hand them over to any one except the exchange shift without my written authority, and instructed them that they should clean down the plates every three hours, and after cleaning down the amalgam, buckets to be placed in the cleaning room, which I instructed to be kept locked and the key in charge of the watchman night and day.
"(h) The whole of the amalgam taken from the plates during each twenty-four hours to be cleaned and squeezed by the two amalgamators on duty every forenoon at nine o'clock in the presence of the mill manager, who should weigh each lot and enter it in a book to be kept for the purpose, and the entry to be signed by the mill manager and both amalgamators as witnesses.
"(i) Every alternate Friday the mortars (boxes) to be cleaned out; the work to be commenced punctually at eight A.M. by the six amalgamators in the presence of the mill manager, assisted by the three amalgam cleaning room watchmen and the four battery feeders on duty, prohibiting any of them from leaving until the cleaning up was finished, and the amalgam cleaned, squeezed and weighed, and the amount entered by the mill manager in the record look and attested by the amalgamators.
"I think the intelligent readers (particularly those with a knowledge of the business) will see the drift of the above regulations, viz., for there to be any peculation the whole of the battery staff—fourteen in all—would have to participate in it, and the number was too many to keep a secret. Formerly the amalgam cleaning room was sacred to the mill manager, and on announcing to that official the new instructions he at once tendered his resignation in a tone of offended dignity, immediately followed by that of the mine manager. It is a significant fact that shortly afterwards these two officials purchased a large mill and other property at a cost of ten thousand pounds, and that the mine yielded for the following three years during which I was connected with it an average of over 17 dwt. to the ton, as against formerly 10 to 12 dwt.
"The reader must draw his own conclusions. I used to make it a practice to visit the mine daily and prospect the ore, and having the mine and mill managers' daily prospecting as a guide as well as my own, every man at the mill knew it was impossible for them to thieve without my detecting it; moreover, I made it a rule to discharge any of the mill employees that I discovered were interested in any small private claims.
"The crux of the whole thing is having a practical miner at the head of affairs, and it is impossible for him to thieve if the work is carried out in the manner I have described."
To bring the whole matter to a conclusion. It may be taken as a safe axiom that to make gold mining in the mine as distinct from mining on the Stock Exchange really profitable the same system of economy, of practical supervision, and scientific knowledge which is now adopted in all other businesses must be applied to the raising and extraction of the metal. Then, and not till then, will genuine mining take the place to which it is entitled amongst our industries.
This chapter has been headed as above because a number of the rules and recipes given are simply practical expedients, not too closely scientific. My endeavour has been to supply practical and useful information in language as free from technicalities as possible, so as to adapt it to the ordinary miner, mill operator and prospector, many of whom have had no scientific training. Some of the expedients are original devices educed by what we are told is the mother of inventions; others are hints given by practical old prospectors who had met with difficulties which would be the despair of a man brought up within reach of forge, foundry, machine shop, or tradesmen generally. There are many highly ingenious and useful contrivances besides these I have given.
LIVING PLACES
The health of the prospector, especially in a new country, depends largely on his housing—in which particular many men are foolishly careless, for although they are aware that they will be camped out for long periods, yet all the shelter they rely on is a miserable calico tent, often without a "fly," while in some cases they sometimes even sleep on the wet, or dusty, ground. Such persons fully deserve the ill health which sooner or later overtakes them. A little forethought and very moderate ingenuity would render their camp comparatively healthy and comfortable.
In summer the tent is the hottest, and in winter the coldest of domiciles. The "pizie" or "adobie" hut, or, where practicable, the "dugout," are much to be preferred, especially the latter. "Pizie" or "adobie" is simply surface soil kneaded with water and either moulded between boards like concrete, to construct the walls, or made into large sun-dried bricks. Salt water should not be used, as it causes the wall to be affected by every change of weather. A properly constructed house of this material, where the walls are protected by overhanging eaves, are practically everlasting, and the former have been standing for centuries. There are buildings of pizie or adobie in Mexico, California and Australia which are as good as new, although the latter were built nearly a century ago.
Adobie dwellings are warm in winter and cool in summer, and can be kept clean and healthy by occasional coatings of lime whitewash.
The dugout is even more simple in construction. A cutting, say ten feet wide, is put into the base of a hill for say twelve feet until the back wall is, say, ten feet high, the sides starting from nothing to that height. The front and such portion as is required of the side walls are next constructed of pizie or rough stone, with mud mortar, and the roof either gabled or skillion of bough, grass, or reed thatch, and covered with pizie, over which is sometimes put another thin layer of thatch to prevent the pizie being washed away by heavy rain. Nothing can be more snug and comfortable than such a house, unless the cows, as Mark Twain narrates, make things "monotonous" by persistently tumbling down the chimney.
When the Burra copper mines were in full work in Australia, the banks of the Burra Creek were honeycombed like a rabbit warren with the "dugout homes" of the Cornish miners. The ruins of these old dugouts now extend for miles, and look something like an uncovered Pompeii.
When water is scarce and the tent has to be retained, much can be done to make the camp snug. I occupied a very comfortable camp once, of which my then partner, a Dane, was the architect. We called it "The Bungalow," and it was constructed as follows: First we set up our tent, 10 ft. by 8 ft., formed of calico, but lined with green baize, and covered with a well set fly.
Next we put in four substantial forked posts about 10 ft. high and 15 ft. apart, with securely fixed cross pieces, and on the top was laid a rough flat roof of brush thatch; the sides were then treated in the same way, but not so thickly, being merely intended as a breakwind.
The tent with its two comfortable bunks was placed a little to one side, the remaining space being used as a dining and sitting room all through the summer. Except in occasional seasons of heavy rain, when we were saved the trouble of washing our dishes, the tent was only used for sleeping purposes, and as a storehouse for clothes and perishable provisions. I have "dwelt in marble halls" since then, but never was food sweeter or sleep sounder than in the old bush bungalow.
A BUSH BED
To make a comfortable bush bedplace, take four forked posts about 3 ft. 6 in. long and 2 to 3 in. in diameter at the top; mark out your bedplace accurately and put a post at each corner, about 1 ft. in the ground. Take two poles about 7 ft. long, and having procured two strong five-bushel corn sacks, cut holes in the bottom corners, put the poles through, bringing the mouths of the sacks together, and secure them there with a strong stitch or two. Put your poles on the upright forked sticks, and you have a couch that even Sancho Panza would have envied. It is as well to fix stretchers or cross stays between the posts at head and foot.
In malarial countries, sleeping on the ground is distinctly dangerous, and as such districts are usually thickly timbered, the Northern Territory hammock is an admirable device, more particularly where mosquitoes abound.
NORTHERN TERRITORY HAMMOCK
This hammock, which is almost a standing bedplace when rigged, is constructed as follows:—To a piece of strong canvas 7 feet long and 2 1/2 feet wide, put a broad hem, say 3 1/2 inches wide at each end. Into this hem run a rough stick, about 2 feet 8 inches by 2 inches diameter. Round the centre of the stick pass a piece of strong three-quarter inch rope, 8 to 10 feet long and knot it, so as to leave a short end in which a metal eye is inserted. To each end of the two sticks a piece of quarter-inch lashing, about 6 feet long, is securely attached.
To make the mosquito covering take 18 feet of ordinary strong cheese cloth, and two pieces of strong calico of the same size as the canvas bed; put hems in the ends of the upper one large enough to take half-inch sticks, to all four extremities of which 8 feet of whipcord is to be attached. The calico forms the top and bottom of what we used to call the "meat safe," the sides being of cheese cloth. A small, flapped opening is left on the lower side. When once inside you are quite safe from mosquito bites.
To rig the above, two trees are chosen 7 to 8 feet apart, or two stayed poles can be erected if no trees are available. The bed is rigged about 3 feet from the ground by taking the rope round the trees or poles, and pulling the canvas taut by means of the metal eyelet. Then the lashings at the extremities of the sticks are fixed about 3 feet further up the trees and you have a bed something between a hammock and a standing bed. The mosquito net is fixed above the hammock in a similar manner, except that it does not require the centre stay.
An old friend of mine once had a rather startling experience which caused him to swear by the Northern Territory hammock. He was camped near the banks of a muddy creek on the Daly River, and had fortunately hung his "meat safe" about four feet high. The night was very dark, and some hours after retiring he heard a crash among his tin camp utensils, and the noise of some animal moving below him. Thinking his visitor was a stray "dingo," or wild dog, he gave a yell to frighten the brute away, and hearing it go, he calmly went to sleep again. Had he known who his caller really was, he would not have felt so comfortable. In the morning on the damp ground below, he found the tracks of a fourteen foot alligator, which was also out prospecting, but which, fortunately, had not thought of investigating the "meat safe."
PURIFYING WATER
There is not a more fertile disease distributor, particularly in a new country, than water. The uninitiated generally take it for granted that so long as water looks clear it is necessarily pure and wholesome; as a matter of fact the contrary is more usually the case, except in very well watered countries, and such, as a rule, are not those in which gold is most plentifully got by the average prospector. I have seen foolish fellows, who were parched with a long tramp, drink water in quantity in which living organisms could be seen with the naked eye, without taking even the ordinary precaution of straining it through a piece of linen. If they contracted hydatids, typhoid fever, or other ailments, which thin our mining camps of the strong, lusty, careless youths, who could wonder?
The best of all means of purifying water from organic substances is to boil it. If it be very bad, add carbon in the form of the charcoal from your camp fire. If it be thick, you may, with advantage, add a little of the ash also.
I once rode forty-five miles with nearly beaten horses to a native well, or rock hole, to find water, the next stage being over fifty miles further. The well was found, but the water in it was very bad; for in it was the body of a dead kangaroo which had apparently been there for weeks. The wretched horses, half frantic with thirst, did manage to drink a few mouthfuls, but we could not. I filled our largest billycan, holding about a gallon, slung it over the fire and added, as the wood burnt down, charcoal, till the top was covered to a depth of two inches. With the charcoal there was, of course, a little ash containing bi-carbonate of potassium. The effect was marvellous. So soon as the horrible soup came to the boil, the impurities coagulated, and after keeping it at boiling temperature for about half an hour, it was removed from the fire, the cinders skimmed out, and the water allowed to settle, which it did very quickly. It was then decanted off into an ordinary prospector's pan, and some used to make tea (the flavour of which can be better imagined than described); the remainder was allowed to stand all night, a few pieces of charcoal being added. In the morning it was bright, clear, and absolutely sweet. This experience is worth knowing as many a bad attack of typhoid and other fevers would be averted if practical precautions of this kind were only used.
TO OBTAIN WATER FROM ROOTS
The greatest necessity of animal life is water. There are, however, vast areas of the earth's surface where this most precious element is lamentably lacking, and such, unfortunately, is the case in many rich auriferous districts.
To the practical man there are many indications of water. These, of course, vary in different countries. Sometimes it is the herbage, but probably, the best of all is the presence of carnivorous animals and birds. These are never found far from water. In Australia the not over-loved wily old crow is a pretty sure indicator of water within reasonable distance—water may be extracted from the roots of the Mallee (Eucalyptus dumosaandgracilis)—the Box (Eucalyptus hemiphloia) and the Water Bush (Hakea leucoptera). To extract it the roots are dug up, cut into lengths of about a foot, and placed upright in a can; the lower ends being a few inches above the bottom. It is simply astonishing how much wholesome, if at times somewhat astringent, water may thus be obtained in a few hours, particularly at night.
Hakea leucoptera. "Pins and needles."—Maiden, in his work "Useful Native Plants of Australia," says: "In an experiment on a water-yieldingHakea, the first root, about half an inch in diameter and six or eight feet long, yielded quickly, and in large drops about a wine-glass full of really excellent water."
This valuable, though not particularly ornamental shrub (for it never attains to the dimensions of a tree), is found, to the best of my belief, in all parts of Australia, although it is said to be absent from West Australia. As to this I don't feel quite sure. I have seen it "from the centre of the sea" as far west as Streaky Bay, and believe I have seen it further West still. Considering the great similarity of much of the flora of South Africa to that of Australia, it is probable that some species of the water-bearingHakeamight be found there. It can readily be recognised by its acicular, needle-like leaves, and more particularly by its peculiarly shaped seed vessel, which resembles the pattern on an old-fashioned Indian shawl.
If the water found is too impure for drinking purposes and the trouble arises from visible animalculae only, straining through a pocket-handkerchief is better than nothing; the carbon filter is better still; but nothing is so effective as boiling. A carbon filter is a tube with a wad of compressed carbon inserted, through which the water is sucked, but as a rule clay-coloured water is comparatively innocuous, but beware of the bright, limpid water of long stagnant rock water-holes.
TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE FILTER
Take a nail-can, keg, cask, or any other vessel, or even an ordinary wooden case (well tarred inside, if possible, to make it water-tight). Make a hole or several holes in the bottom, and set it over a tank or bucket. Into the bottom of the filter put (1) a few inches of washed broken stone; (2) about four inches of charcoal; (3) say three inches of clean coarse sand (if not to hand you can manufacture it by crushing quartz with your pestle and mortar), and (4) alternate layers of charcoal and sand until the vessel is half filled. Fill the top half with water, and renew from time to time, and you have a filter which is as effective as the best London made article.But it is better to boil your water whether you filter afterwards or not.
Clear the inside of the water-cask frequently, and occasionally add to the water a little Condy's fluid, as it destroys organic matter. A useful cement for stopping leaky places in casks is made as follows: Tallow 25 parts, lard 40 parts, sifted wood ash 25 parts. Mix together by heating, and apply with a knife blade which has just been heated.
CANVAS WATER BAGS
Are easily made, and are very handy for carrying small supplies of drinking-water when prospecting in a dry country; they have the advantage of keeping the water cool in the hottest weather, by reason on the evaporation. The mouthpiece is made of the neck of a bottle securely sewn in.
MEDICINE CASE
Medicine is also a matter well worthy of thought. The author's worst enemy would not call him a mollycoddle, yet he has never travelled in far wilds without carrying something in the way of medicine. First, then, on this subject, it cannot be too often reiterated that if common Epsom salts were a guinea an ounce instead of a penny the medicine would be valued accordingly, but it is somewhat bulky. What I especially recommend, however, is a small pocket-case of the more commonly known homeopathic remedies, "Mother tinctures," which are small, light, and portable, with a small simple book of instructions. Though generally an allopath in practice, I once saved my own life, and have certainly helped others by a little knowledge in diagnosing complaints and having simple homeopathic remedies at hand to be used in the first stages of what might otherwise have been serious illnesses.
PRODUCING FIRE
Every one has heard, and most believe, that fire may be easily produced by rubbing together two pieces of wood. I have seen it done by natives, but they seldom make use of the operation, which is generally laborious, preferring to carry lighted fire sticks for miles. I have never succeeded in the experiment.
Sometimes, however, it is almost a matter of life or death to be able to produce fire. The back of a pocket knife, or an old file with a fragment of flint, quartz, or pyrites struck smartly together over the remains of a burnt piece of calico, will in deft hands produce a spark which can be fanned to a glow, and so ignite other material, till a fire is produced.
Also it may not be generally known that he who carries a watch carries a "burning glass" with which he can, in clear weather, produce fire at will. All that is required is to remove the glass of your watch and carefully three parts fill it with water (salt or fresh). This forms a lens which, held steadily, will easily ignite any light, dry, inflammable substance.
When firearms are carried, cut a cartridge so that only about a quarter of the charge of powder remains. Damp some powder and rub it on a small piece of dry cotton cloth or well-rubbed brown paper. Push a loose pellet of this into the barrel, insert your half cartridge, fire at the ground, when the wad will readily ignite, and can be blown into flame.
TO COPY CORRESPONDENCE
The prospector is not usually a business man; hence in dealing with business men who, like Hamlet, are "indifferent honest," he frequently comes to grief through not having a copy of his correspondence. It is most desirable, therefore, either to carry a carbon paper duplicating book and a stylus, or by adding a little sugar to good ordinary black ink you may make a copying ink; then with the aid of a "yellow back" octavo novel, two pieces of board, and some ordinary tissue paper, you may take a copy of any letter you send.
TO PROVIDE A SIMPLE TELEGRAPHIC CODE
Buy a couple of cheap small dictionaries of the same edition, send one to your correspondent with an intimation that he is to read up or down so many words from the one indicated when receiving a message. Thus, if I want to say "Claim is looking well," I take a shilling dictionary, send a copy to my correspondent with the intimation that the real word is seven down, and telegraph—"Civilian looking weird;" this, if looked up in Worcester's little pocket dictionary, for instance, will read "Claim looking well." Any dictionary will do, so long as both parties have a copy and understand which is the right word. By arrangement this plan can be varied from time to time if you have any idea that your code can be read by others.
A SERVICEABLE SOAP
Wood ashes from the camp fire are boiled from day to day in a small quantity of water, and allowed to settle, the clear liquid being decanted off. When the required quantity of weak lye has been accumulated, evaporate by boiling, till a sufficient degree of strength has been obtained. Now melt down some mutton fat, and, while hot, add to the boiling lye. Continue boiling and stirring till the mixture is about the consistency of thick porridge, pour into any convenient flat vessel, and let it stand till cool. If you have any resin in store, a little powdered and added gradually to the melting tallow, before mixing with the lye, will stiffen your soap.
TO CROSS A FLOODED STREAM
Take a half-gallon, or larger, tin "billy can," enclose it in a strong cotton handkerchief or cotton cloth, knotting same over the lid, invert, and, taking the knot in the hand, you have a floating appliance which will sustain you in any water, whether you are a swimmer or not. The high silk hat of civilisation would act as well as the can, but these are not usually found far afield.
TO MAKE A HIDE BUCKET
At times when prospecting in an "incline" or "underlay" shaft, particularly where the walls of the lode are irregular, a hide bucket will be found preferable to an iron one. The mode of manufacture is as follows: Procure an ox hide, "green," if possible; if dry, it should be soaked until quite soft. Cut some thin strips of hide for sewing or lacing. Now shape a bag or pocket of size sufficient to hold about a hundredweight of stone, and by puncturing the edges with a knife, marline-spike, or other pointed tool, sew together; make a handle of twisted or pleated hide, and having filled your bucket with dry sand or earth let it stand till the whole is quite dry, when it will be properly distended and will maintain its shape until worn out.
TO MAKE A "SLUSH LAMP"
Where candles are scarce and kerosine is not, a "slush lamp" is a useful substitute. Take an old but sound quart tin pannikin, half fill it with sand or earth, and prepare a thin stick of pine, round which wrap a strip of soft cotton cloth. The stick should be about half an inch longer than the depth of the pannikin. Melt some waste fat, fill the pannikin therewith, push the stick down into the earth at the bottom, and you have a light, which, if not equal to the electric or incandescent gas burner, is quite serviceable. In Australia the soft velvety core of the "bottle brush,"Banksia marginata, is often used instead of the cotton wick.