Mining Engineer' Report Book and Directots' and Shareholders' Gaide to Mining Reports

Abstract

EVER since the search for the gold mines of El Dorado in 1595 was described by Sir Walter Raleigh in his work on the discovery of Guiana, the prototype of modern mining reports, experts have constantly been engaged in reporting on mineral deposits with a view to induce capitalists to invest money. A report on a mining property should set forth clearly details of the position, means of access, fuel, water and timber supply, amount of development, and the character, value and form of the deposit. It should, moreover, be written in so lucid a manner as to be intelligible to the educated investor. Unfortunately, this is not always done. Many so-called experts of eminence have been known to fill up their reports with a bewildering mass of abstruse technicalities and theories, and to omit many essential details requisite for arriving at the value of the mine. While it is obvious that a thorough examination of a mine cannot be covered by a set of rules, it is highly desirable that the work should be carried out in a systematic manner, and errors of omission avoided. With this object in view, Mr. Field has drawn up a series of suggestions in a convenient form. He enumerates 126 queries that should be answered as far as possible in the report on any mine. Blank pages are appended; and it is recommended that the various heads should simply be indicated by numbers during the inspection of the property, and subsequently incorporated in the observations recorded in the report. The volume is issued in pocket-book form so arranged that the blank pages, which can be replaced by others, shall be facing the page of questions. The right hand pages, which would be covered when the book is in use, are devoted to selected tables and memoranda. The volume is of handy size—it measures 5 by 3½ inches—and will undoubtedly prove useful to experienced mining engineers. Whether it will also be of assistance to directors and shareholders, as the title-page suggests, may be questioned. Mining Engineer' Report Book and Directots' and Shareholders' Gaide to Mining Reports. By Edwin R. Field. Pp. 39. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1900.)