THE MINERAL AGENT'S HANDBOOK. BY G. C. MAHON, ESQ. EDITED BY THE REV. SAMUEL HAUGHTON, M. A., F.R.S., PRESIDENT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF Dublin; AND ROBERT H. SCOTT, M. A., SECRETARY TO THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN, AND LECTURER IN MINERALOGY WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, HENRIETTA-STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; MINERAL AGENT'S HAND-BOOK. Introduction. SOME time since, on turning over the pages of a recent work on the Improvement of Estates,* I perceived that, though it treated fully and usefully of agriculture and forestry, the author distinctly declined to discuss the subject of the mineral resources of estates, as being, though logically, yet not practically, within the scope of the work; and I know of no book bearing directly on the subject. My profession has been that of a conveyancing attorney; but, having retired from practice, and having lived in a mining district, I have for some years past, and not unsuccessfully, applied myself to the discovery and improvement of its mineral capabilities; in doing so, I necessarily had to study, not only science bearing directly on mining, which I did in this country, and in France, but, what is much more important in a money point of view, the law and practice of mining negotiation, for which my original profession had to a certain extent prepared me.t 66 Of the Mineral Agent's Relations with the Mine-lord. What is a mineral agent? He is not a mine-agent," who represents the mining capitalist as manager of a mine, nor is he the minejobber, the middle-man of mining, who represents every body and nobody by turns. The mineral agent represents the landlord, or "mine-lord, and no one else, and to his mineral property he stands in the same relation as his land-agent stands to his agricultural property. The services which he renders are threefold, and cannot be kept too distinct from one another. He may be employed, 1st, on the discovery of a mine; 2nd, the letting of a mine; or, 3rd, the receipt of the toll or *The Resources of Estates,- -a Treatise on the Agricultural Improvement and General Management of Landed Property. By Lockhart Morton. Longman. 1858. + It will be understood that I speak only of such mining as is carried on in Cornwall and not of mining in coal and limestone districts. B dues of a mine. The first two of these duties are, it is needless to say, by far more important to the employer, and difficult to the agent, than the third, though it almost always happens that this last is that for which the agent is the best paid: it is, in fact, the ignorance and shortsighted views evinced in the choice of mineral agents, able and willing honestly to discharge the first two of these duties, which have left many landlords so long without income from their mineral property. Those who adopt this profession must remember that their own trouble and expense in discharging those duties properly will be very considerable; and as I am acquainted with the fact that many landlords expect to get everything for half nothing, I fully admit that it is necessary to stipulate beforehand for one's expenses in advance. Fair terms of remuneration are, one-half of the sum to be paid on the discovery of the mine, the other half on the completion of the lease. If, however, the landlord chooses to give as part payment his profits resulting from the mine, during the seventh, fourteenth, or twenty-first years of the term, he will act wisely, as, besides giving his mineral agent a general pecuniary interest identical with his own, he will insure an effective surveillance of the lessee at those three important periods. This mineral agent will, as it were, have created a property for him, which after the expiration of the term will probably be more valuable than at the commencement of it. The task is a difficult, anxious, and highly responsible one, which one cannot be expected to undertake from merely philanthropical motives; so that, besides paying the expenses, it is only fair that he should pay £50 for each lordship or townland examined, before the agent undertakes to look out for a lessee, and £50 more upon the completion of the usual twenty-one years' lease. The usual allowance in England is two guineas a day, besides expenses. If he desires the agent's surveillance of the lessee during the existence of the lease, the agent might undertake it on the terms of a reasonably high percentage, say ten per cent. on the three years' profits, as above. A lower scale of remuneration than this would be insufficient to repay the agent for his time and trouble. A knowledge of mineralogy is, next to good habits of business, the most useful accomplishment of a mineral agent. Without it, inasmuch as minerals are the constituents of rocks, a thorough knowledge of mining geology is simply impossible; it is also the great short cut to a knowledge of the chemical composition of mineral substances. In fact, a mineral agent might almost as well be without eyes, as without some practical knowledge of mineralogy, that is, a knowledge of the ordinary rough and ready tests for the discrimination of the obvious characters of minerals. The chief of these are their general appearance, "hardness," "streak," specific gravity," &c. 66 Let us suppose that the agent is directed to examine a property for mines. How is he to set about his work, and what is he to do? He is first to examine all maps, and obtain from libraries, &c., all information relative to the district that he can-such sources are the Ordnance Survey, the Records of the School of Mines, &c.; then to lay down on his OF THE MINERAL AGENT'S RELATIONS WITH THE MINE-LORD. 3 map, allowing for difference of level, the localities where the lodes known to exist on adjacent properties may be expected to traverse that to be examined. By this means he will gain some knowledge of the ground before putting his employer to the expense of visiting it. He chooses for his visit a time when the marshy places are comparatively dry. This done, he arrives, hammer in hand, on the property, and the natives crowd about him to see him run down his game. The best use he can make of them is, to select from among them any who say they have seen indications in the neighbourhood-go with them to the spots, even if not precisely on the estate, and lay them down carefully on his map, with a memorandum of the name of the informant, whether at first sight such indications appear valuable or not; he will thus probably get rid of his visitors seriatim, and will then be thrown on his own re sources. His first search will be for the most exposed parts of the fast rock of the property, some valley, ravine, water course, cliff, or road-cutting, some quarries or old mining trials. Of these he should select, for first examination, such as have their escarpment most at right angles to the course of the known lodes of the district, and as he passes along them look out for rust-marks or "gossan" (decomposed iron pyrites), and mark the spots carefully on his map. This is the grand indication, though not either the only one, nor invariably a safe one. Veins of quartz, or any other substance differing from the mass of rock, especially iron pyrites (undecomposed gossan), also require attention. The rust-marks caused by bog-iron ore, or by water charged with iron, are no indication of the existence of mineral, except at a higher level than itself, and possibly very distant. In case the ground does not present facilities of this kind, he will have to go to the expense of "trenching," or cutting the surface of the rock at right angles to the known run of the lodes of the district, choosing of course the gripes of ditches, and such other places as will be least damaged by an excavation, and the fast rock be reached with least. expense. Before setting about this, he must, of course, calculate whether the probability of success is such as to justify the cost; but unless there is a considerable overburden of earth, the expense will not be found very heavy, as a sinking of eighteen inches or so into the fast and settled rock will probably find the out-crop of every important lode. If there is a considerable overburden of earth, or if the surface is very valuable, it may be better to sink "costeening" pits, and to cut connexions through the rock from one to the other in the Cornish way. I take for granted that, as his examination progressed, he will have marked on the map the precise position of each discovery, with a distinguishing number or letter, and preserved specimens of the indications obtained, attaching to them a corresponding number or letter. We will suppose that his trials have been successful, and that he has found the outcrop of a lode. He will proceed to ascertain its "strike;" that is to say, he will first follow the outcrop longitudinally, by an open cast excavation for a couple of fathoms or so, then take the bearings, and |