Wastes in Mining. 317 



Since the discovery of tlie solvent action of cyanide of potassium 

 on gold, it was to be expected by anyone possessing any knowledge of 

 human nature that the idea of treating gold ores, in situ, by cyanide 

 of potassium would be suggested. But I must confess that I have 

 been surprised by the number of times this idea has been brought to 

 me, and the different classes of men who have suggested it. The 

 care and thought devoted to the perfection of the details of the 

 schemes have been very great, while their essential difficulties have 

 been forgotten in the enthusiasm, fired by what their inventors con- 

 ceived to be a new and great idea. 



While I am the last who w^ould defend an idea merely because 

 it is old, or who would seek to prevent the enquiry by new minds into 

 old and apparently well-established practice, I think that you will 

 agree with me in including all the energy expended on the above out- 

 lined idea in the category of wasted thought. 



In the .sphere of exploitation of mineral deposits, no better illus- 

 tration of mv meaning can be had than the above. Other instances in 

 the same realm will occur to all of you, which set forth in a smaller 

 wav w'hat the enthusiast above referred to illustrates on a large scale. 

 These I will not touch on, but there is a set of instances which applies 

 to another side of the mining industry which equally well illustrates 

 my meaning. I refer to the problem of administration of the mining 

 industry. 



It has been well said that the best form of Government is that of 

 an Omniscient Despot. But as we can in this world only get a 

 despot without omniscience, we have been constrained to try some 

 other form of Government. Nevertheless, men have always a hanker- 

 ing after the best, and, consequently, whenever a man arises who 

 sho\Vs, even in some degree, an all-embracing knowledge, other men, 

 all willing to work for the one-man show, come under his banner. 



Situated as most metalliferous mines are, far away from the stir 

 of cities and the crowding of men, the administration of a mine tends 

 to become that of a one-man show. This undoubtedly accentuates the 

 individuality of the Manager, makes him self-reliant and resourceful, 

 but it also tends by that very accentuation of individuality, to make 

 him insist on doing things in his own way, without sufficient considera- 

 tion whether that way is the best one possible. The very resourceful- 

 ness of a Mine Manager induces him to try all sorts of experiments 

 which others have tried and tried again, and whose futility has been 

 thoroughly demonstrated. These defects of the virtues of a Mine 

 Manager are not so prominent when there is only one mine in a 

 camp, but when, as in Johannesburg, you have over sixty producing 

 mines, the subtle friction of mind upon mind produces all uncon- 

 sciously to the individual an excitation which is apt to result in a 

 series of experiments, the vast majority of which will have been tried 

 before, and the resulting waste of thought will be great. Some years 

 ago a Mine INIanager boasted to me that he had never been over any 

 other mine on the Rand except his own. His plant showed evidences 

 of this. Some things were excellent, but many designs showed 

 evidences of great ingenuity in doing things in a roundabout way, the 



