992 Subsurface Geologic Methods 



ble racketeers who prey on the small operators and investors. Some of 

 these are men of "respectability" and prominence who have never found 

 a pound of ore but have achieved prominence through some means or an- 

 other — such as publication of numerous papers on abstract theory. They 

 usually give nothing for their high fees except a nonoperating report set- 

 ting forth generalities that the operator already knows. The writer knows 

 of one consultant who was paid a fee of $30,000 for a five-day examination 

 at a mining property without even going underground. The report con- 

 tained nothing of value but a prominent name on the title page. 



Past experience, therefore, has tended to lower the prestige of geolo- 

 gists with the small mine operator, who today sees no reason to increase 

 his operating overhead by the employment of nonproductive personnel. 

 And yet the small operator is the very person who can least afford the 

 luxury of being without competent geologic technology. A large company 

 can more afford to make a mistake in planning ore-finding development 

 than can the small company. To a small company one costly mistake 

 means the end of the enterprise. Numerous operating failures result from 

 lack of ore-finding technology, and thus the vicious circle is completed. 



The difference between efficient, effective, economic, research applica- 

 tion of geology and ineffective geologic application is the difference be- 

 tween skilled and unskilled field and office representation of geologic data. 

 The degree of success in finding ore is usually a factor of the man's ability 

 to map detail and make effective representation of the facts collected so 

 that they can be integrated and readily interpreted. Good representation 

 makes it possible to predict localization of ore from a study of empirical 

 or statistical relationships of geologic data and without necessarily know- 

 ing the theoretical factors or processes that brought about this localization. 

 In this respect ore finding is based on statistical odds and very often on 

 empirical criteria. 



Geologic Technique and Theory 



The literature is saturated with undocumented and interpretative 

 maps and charts of all types, theories, and hypothesis; but very little de- 

 tailed and objective factual data is available for study. Therefore, conclu- 

 sions and theories are arrived at on the basis not of factual data but on 

 the weight of authority. 



For a man to become a proficient surgeon he must study medical 

 theory, but he must also take intensive training in the techniques of sur- 

 gery. The medical profession is loaded with technique and that is why 

 this branch of science has progressed so rapidly. Today mining geology is 

 in a primitive stage of development in comparison to what this science 

 will eventually become, once we become less pretentious about our knowl- 

 edge of geologic processes, get our feet on the ground, and devote some 

 time to the less "brainy" study of ore finding and fact-finding techniques. 

 The results of geologists' inability and incompetency in gathering factual 



