MINING. 



MINING. 



C90 



stamped, and silver ores ground to an exceedingly fine powder ; but 

 from the great value of the metals, the process of washing is carried 

 on differently from that of others, and, in some cases, is dispensed with 

 altogether. 



Management and Internal Economy of Mines. Having now taken a 

 general view of mining operations, and the auxiliary processes which 

 they require, there is still an important branch of the subject which 

 requires some notice, the management and internal economy of mines. 

 As it is on the due regulation of this point that the success of mines 

 in a very great degree depends, it has, both in this and other countries, 

 received great attention, and been reduced to a system as perfect as 

 possible. In England, more especially, all the practical improvements 

 suggested by experience as essential to the profitable and well-regulated 

 existence of large mining establishments have been freely adopted, as 

 we are here unfettered by those formalities and restraints which 

 influence the continental systems, individual interest being allowed 

 unlimited scope. The nature and importance of the subject now 

 under consideration cannot be better expressed than in the words 

 of a gentleman of the highest eminence as a mining-engineer, Mr. 

 John Taylor, who has thus treated it, in connection with late 

 mechanical improvements in the art of mining : 



" Important as the improvements are which we have contemplated 

 in the instruments which the progress of physical science has placed in 

 our hands, those which relate to the government of large bodies of 

 workmen, to the inducement to active enterprise on the part of the 

 labouring miners, to the removal of difficulties in their way, or of 

 placing them in circumstances most favourable to effective exertion, 

 are even more important, and to this may be added the judicious 

 application of those very inventions which have been noticed. It must 

 be recollected that, after all, the great expenditure in mining is for 

 manual labour, and that we have no means as yet devised for pene- 

 trating the rocks which contain mineral treasures but those afforded 

 by the patient and unremitting labour of a great number of men. The 

 regulation therefore of this force, and its due application, is, after all, 

 more important to the success of mines than even the most ingenious 

 mechanical expedients. As an army would undoubtedly fail, however 

 well provided with the most perfect artillery and all the best constructed 

 implements of war, unless the men of which it might be composed 

 were well directed, then- efforts well combined, and their courage well 

 assured by reasonable prospects of success, so in mining we may collect 

 and apply the most complete mechanical arrangements ; but if the 

 greater power of manual labour be not wisely directed, no beneficial 

 results can be expected." 



System of Tutwork and Tribute. Such being the leading features- of 

 mining economy, we may proceed briefly to consider the manner in 

 which they are practically carried into effect, more especially in the 

 deep and extensive mines of Cornwall, where, both from the amount 

 of capital and the number of men employed) every exertion has been 

 made to perfect the mining system, the results of which have since 

 been extended from thence to other parts of England. All the under- 

 ground work of mines in Cornwall, and indeed of most other districts, 

 is of two distinct kinds : dead work, or that carried on in the rock or 

 metalliferous deposit, for the purpose of trial and discovery ; and 

 productive labour, which is employed in the actual breaking down and 

 extraction of the ore. Now it is in the performance of the immense 

 amount of manual Labour requisite in these operations, and in the 

 subsequent process of dressing the ores, that the great expenditure of 

 mining consists ; and the great merit of the Cornish plan lies in 

 performing the whole by a system of contracts, which effectually unite 

 for a time the interests of the miner and his employer, while, being 

 renewed at moderate intervals, it continually allows of that re-adjust- 

 ment which the fluctuating circumstances of the mine may require. 

 The dead work is denominated " tutwork," and the raising of ores 

 " tribute ; " these two species of employment being, by an excellent 

 division of labour common in all mines, kept entirely separate and 

 performed by different individuals, who thus acquire great skill and 

 judgment in their peculiar occupations. The mode of payment 

 adopted in tutwork and tribute is entirely different : in the former 

 case, where the miner is employed in sinking shafts, driving levels, &c., 

 the object being to extract as much useful labour as possible from 

 him for a given sum, he is paid at so much per fathom, according to 

 the work done ; in the latter case, where the quality of the ore raised 

 is a consideration equally important with its quantity, the miner 

 receives a certain per-centage on the actual value, being paid at the rate 

 of so many shillings in the pound upon that value. The excellence of 

 the above principle will readily be seen ; and its advantages are still 

 further increased by the open and public manner in which the con- 

 tracts are made between the men and their employers, thus allowing 

 of free competition as regards the former, and proving an equally 

 effective check against oppression from the latter. 



The usual period for making new arrangement') with the men is at 

 the end of every two months, when, all previous bargains having 

 expired, both parties are again perfectly free to regulate their contracts. 

 Previously, then, to this day, every part of the mine is visited and 

 inspected by the underground agents, who afterwards consult together, 

 and determine their plan of operations for the next two months, 

 registering in detail the work to be performed, and what they consider 

 u a fair price to be paid for each separate item. On the day appointed 



ARTS AND SCL DIV. VOL. V. 



for the "setting " or " survey," as it is termed, the men who usually 

 work in the mine, together with others who may wish for employment 

 there, assemble round the mine-office, upon a small covered platform, 

 in front of which the agents, at the appointed time, make their appear- 

 ance with a book in which their previous examination has been 

 registered. Every piece of work to be performed in the mine is then 

 called out in succession, and accurately defined, and the men make at 

 the time a proposition for working it on certain terms. The price thus 

 offered is, in the first place, usually more than would be fair, or than 

 the men themselves expect to get ; consequently, the moment a price 

 has been named, another offer will be made somewhat lower, and so on 

 till fair terms have been proposed, when the competition (except in 

 rare cases) .will cease, and the work or "bargain" is considered as 

 taken by the last and lowest bidder, whose name is immediately 

 registered opposite to its description in the setting- book. . As each 

 piece of work will require the labour not of one individual but of many, 

 the transaction is still further simplified by the bargain being taken 

 and the contract made with one person only, each gang of men 

 accustomed to work together always selecting one of their number to 

 represent and act for them on these occasions. It is evidently desirable 

 that there [should be_some fplau for binding the men to then- engage- 

 ments, so that they should not be capriciously given up previous to the 

 expiration of the term ; and this is the more necessary, as, owing to 

 the frequent fluctuations of richness or of hardness incident to the 

 vein or to the rock in which they may be working, they may find them- 

 selves unable to realise the amount of wages wlu'ch they had antici- 

 pated : sometimes indeed the change may be so great, that it is not 

 worth their while to go on with it at all. To meet these contingencies 

 there is in most large mines a printed set of regulations, to which all 

 the miners working there must subscribe ; and by which fines are 

 established for the non-fulfiment of contracts, sufficiently heavy to 

 prevent them from being given up while any fair probability exists of 

 their being completed at any reasonable rate of remuneration. In this 

 manner the exertions of the working miner are called into action, and 

 prompted to surmount many of the minor obstacles and fluctuations 

 which often baffle his calculations. Although it may appear harsh to 

 exact a fine when a losing piece of work is given up, it must be remem- 

 bered that, on the other hand, the vein will often improve in quality 

 instead of deteriorating ; and in that case the miner will be greatly 

 benefited, as his Jabour will be employed upon rich ores at the same 

 high rate of payment that was bargained for poorer ones ; and from 

 this favourable change he may benefit as much as the exertions of 

 himself and his co-partners will allow, till the fixed time for the 

 renewal of the contracts again comes round. The set of regulations 

 before alluded to prescribe such other rules and fines as are found neces- 

 sary for the proper management and conduct of the men ; and by 

 means of this simple code, the results of mutual and acknowledged 

 interests, it is found in practice that the necessary discipline can be 

 kept up over the large bodies of men employed in our most extensive 

 mines. 



Superintendence. The mode of superintendence by which the fore- 

 going system is kept in due check is very simple : the principle of self- 

 interest which pervades the whole renders unnecessary much of that 

 minute control which would otherwise be needed. The business of a 

 mine naturally divides itself into several departments the under- 

 ground operations, the pit-work and machinery, the dressing and 

 surface-work, accounts and financial matters, and lastly, the general 

 control. For each of these departments proper agents or superintend- 

 ents are appointed, all being subordinate to a general manager, who 

 communicates and advises with the whole body of the shareholders or 

 " adventurers " at stated periods, or more commonly only with a select 

 committee chosen by them, the whole body meeting but once a year. 

 It may be observed that the agents of a mine are usually chosen from 

 the most intelligent working-miners, who are peculiarly well qualified 

 by their thorough practical knowledge both to form a sound judgment 

 upon the state of the works, and to keep a check upon any frauds 

 which might be attempted by the men, while this selection affords a 

 powerful stimulus to good conduct among them, since it may be 

 attended with such advancement. The general control of extensive 

 mines is of course confided to men of superior education and ability, 

 by whom scientific attainments are brought to the aid of the practical 

 knowledge which superintends the inferior departments. 



Education and Qualifications of Miners. We may conclude this 

 article by a few remarks on the education and qualifications of miners, 

 and upon those institutions which have been established with a 

 view to improvement in this respect. The business of the miner is 

 essentially a practical one, and can only be acquired in the recesses of 

 the mine, and amidst the busy operations carried on upon its surface. 

 Though this obvious truth must be admitted to its full extent, it is 

 impossible not to see that the results of science must, though uncon- 

 sciously to the miner, be needed at every step. In the most costly, 

 the most anxious, and at the same time the most precarious of all 

 mining processes, the exploration of the ground for purposes of dis- 

 covery and trial, geology may be made of the highest value : in under- 

 standing the nature and value of the heterogeneous mineral bodies 

 presented to our view in underground works, chemistry and mineralogy 

 are essential, and it is entirely upon the former science that the whole 

 art of metallurgy is established. Again, we have seen that machinery 



