Advice to Investors in Quartz Reefs.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 92, 15 August 1871, Page 3

Advice to Investors in Quartz Reefs.

—0 1. Don't buy into a mine on the faith of a specimen. The occurrence of ten or fifteen, or a thousand pounds of very rich quartz is no proof that a lode will pay for working. The pooket veins, on whieh no experienced miner wonld buy a claim, are those that have the richest specimens. The mines which have produced the largest crystals and leaves of gold are not ranked among the valuable mines of the State (California), while such mines as the Josephine, the Pine Tree, the A mador, and the Sierra Buttes seldom yielded speoimens. The metal is scattered through the rock, so as to be nearly invisible. 2. Open your mine before you build your mill. It has been a common practice with the inexperienced to assume that the quartz found within a few feet of the surface was a fair sample of an immense quantity below, and their first step was to erect a costly mill. Afterwards the miners found that the quartz ran out within a few yards, or the gold was confined to a pocket. If he has the quartz to justify an enlargement of Ins mill, lie can at any time add more stamps ; but if he has too many stamps lie cannot enlarge his pay chute.

3. Make your mine pay its way. This rule may not be strictly applicable in every case, but the miner should not forget it. If the rock is not rich enough to pay for its extraction, it is unsafe to extract it. It is implied by this rule that you must not sink unless you find gold on the surface. The metal is generally as abundant at the surface, and more easily extracted, than at greater depths. As a general rule the rich quartz mines have paid from the surface down. The general result of sinking in places where there was no gold has been disastrous failure. 4. Beware of going into business as proprietor without experience. A little error in quartz mining may lead to a great loss, and there are chances for little errors on every side. The vein may split, a fault may be oncountered, a green workman may turn too much water into the battery, the timbering of the main shaft may be neglected, or the pump may be allowed to get out of order ; and in each of these contingencies, or a dozen others, it is important that the mine-owner should know what to do. He should understand how every branch of the work in the mine and mill should be done, and how much a good workman can do in a day. 5. Stay in your mine and give your personal superintendence to the work. Many mine-owners have found out that there was under the absentee system far more out-go than income.

(i. Do not imagine that quartz mining is likely to prove profitable -without economy and care. There is no business in which more may bo saved relatively by good management than in this, and in many instances the success of a miner depends entirely upon his economy at the start. After he has opened his mine to great length and depth, has found an immense body of rich quartz, and has a large mill, he can be extravagant, but not safely before.