XVIII Mine Management
No matter how splendid a company’s holdings may be naturally, there cannot be expected any profits from the workings of the deposits if there be not a sound business management. H. C. Hoover, the prominent mining engineer and mine manager, says, “Good mine management is based upon three elements: first, sound engineering; second, proper coördination and efficiency of every human unit; third, economy in the purchase and consumption of supplies.” And he goes on to emphasize the fact that “no complete manual will ever be published upon ‘How to Become a Good Mine Manager.’” In view of this damper upon good intentions one might possess, and granting that the subject is one that cannot be taught (except along very general lines possibly), no attempt will be made to enter into arguments concerning this important subject of Mine Management.
Good administrative ability can be improved by cultivation just as can an individual of the vegetable kingdom; but there must first be the existent, innate ability. No man should attempt such a hard proposition as the management of a mine, with its varied phases of activity, unless he has found himself possessing the fundamentals that go to assure success in managerial positions. Furthermore, he should not think, because he has been successful in running a clothing business or any other mercantile line, that he is certain to succeed in running a mine.
The duties of directors and president are pretty much the same in all sorts of incorporations. But, while there are many mining companies—and successful ones, too—that hold upon their directorates men who probably never saw a mine prior to their present ventures, it may still be stated that it is obviously advisable to select for such places men who have knowledge and sound ideas concerning the industry of mining. To be sure, if they are ignorant along mining lines, they can, and often do, place the blame for their shortcomings upon their manager, their consulting engineer, or their superintendent. But this is not an auspicious state of affairs and it were well for stockholders to see to it that they elect to the directorate men who are cognizant of mining economics.
The well-organized mining concerns of today maintain their engineering staffs just as completely as do other great technical businesses. The engineer is a very important man in mining affairs. His duties are probably more varied than those that appertain to any other sort of engineering. His operations will extend into the realms of the mechanical, the civil, the chemical, the metallurgical, the hydraulic, and the electrical engineers. He must be posted along the latest conceptions in geology, mineralogy, and physics. Besides he should be an accurate and rapid mathematician and draftsman.
The manager finds in the engineer his most helpful and trusted aid. Often the engineer performs many of the functions usually attaching to the office of manager and, in the absence of the latter person, he may attend to all of the management. As stated above, the qualities that make a good manager are inherent; hence, to a certain extent, we may hold the deduction that good mining engineers, also, must possess innate qualities. Yet there may be pointed out this distinction between the make-up of a good man for manager and that of a good mining engineer: one, as said, cannot learn his business except through his own experience, while the other can receive vast benefit by study of a theoretical nature and by practice.
Lately, there is much said about the consulting mining engineer. His field of usefulness is broad. He can be asked to add his opinions and recommendations to those of the regular engineer, at any time; he can be used at times when the duties are too much for the resident engineer; he can be called upon to substitute; he need not live near the property, but may visit it periodically. Thus, while his retention is deemed remunerative, his services are available at a fractional part of what he would demand if he were employed exclusively by the company.
Under ordinary working conditions, it should be considered just as essential for a mine to take an occasional inventory as it is for a mercantile establishment. In truth, there is far more need in mining operations of the knowledge thus derived than in any other business. In mining, as already suggested, the business is one of selling off the stock in trade without replenishing it. The opening of more reserves of ore is not bringing more goods into the stock, but it may be likened to simply unpacking more goods in the storehouse. No new reserve can be added—they can simply be found and unpacked, as it were.
This finding entails the greatest amount of concern, and upon its successful practice depends the life of the mine. The presumption is strong that many mines have been abandoned while they really contained possibilities; but lack of knowledge of things geological, or perhaps failures to explore, permitted the operators to remain ignorant of the splendid assets that were available. Proof of this error has been found in many mines that have been subsequently re-opened.
The work of sizing up the quantity and the value of available ore is known as sampling. It is not well to limit the practice of sampling to the times only when a sale is contemplated. Reports based upon careful sampling should be issued frequently. Some companies employ men whose sole occupation is the daily sampling of every working face. The assay results obtained from the collected samples inform the superintendent just “how the stuff is holding up” throughout the mine and he governs his work accordingly. At longer intervals, the engineer should go into the work more thoroughly by not only taking very careful, scientific samples (not the usual “grab” samples taken by the daily sampler) but also by making careful memoranda of the physical appearances of the ore with its thickness and all geological data that will tend to throw light upon the permanency of each body. The engineer’s monthly report will then be a substantial guide to the manager and the directors.
Managers, too, are expected to make periodical reports—monthly, quarterly, or annually—to the directors who, in turn, issue reports to the stockholders. The reports of managers and directors are not usually technical in their nature, although sometimes it is the practice of a manager to attach the engineer’s report to his own for the perusal of such readers as may desire to dip into the technical affairs of the operations. Usually, the directors’ reports are of a simple, financial nature, stating the conditions of affairs in plain business language to the persons whose cash has been invested in the enterprise.
It may happen that, for some reason, a special report is desired by the directors who may be contemplating some consolidation or other financial move and both the manager and the engineer will be required to furnish detailed statements concerning their respective branches. If a sale is planned, it may be that not only the company’s engineer, but very probably another engineer engaged by the contemplative purchaser, will make examinations. They may work together or separately, as best suits them mutually, but it is upon the reports issued by them that the satisfactory price for the exchange of title is based.