716 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 517. 



THE TRAINING OF THE MINING 

 ENGINEER* 



We are interested in the management of 

 thirty-two mines, of gold, silver, copper, 

 lead and tin. These mines are situated in 

 Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. In 

 addition, we act for several exploration 

 and development companies, which are en- 

 gaged in other portions of the world. The 

 thirty-two mines mentioned employ about 

 9,000 white men, and produce minerals of 

 a gross value of 6,000,000 pounds sterling 

 annually. 



In the organization of these enterprises, 

 each single mine is a imit of administra- 

 tion. The head of each unit is 'the man- 

 ager,' who is not only necessarily a mining 

 engineer, but he is also the commercial 

 head of the enterprise, and, therefore, the 

 dual capacity of technical and commercial 

 execution is combined in one hand. This 

 form of administration of mines causes 

 mining engineering to differ in the require- 

 ments of training and experience from 

 most other forms of enterprise where tech- 

 nical skill is required. Under the 'man- 

 ager,' who has general charge of the mine, 

 is a staff in charge of various departments. 

 These men comprise a mechanical engineer, 

 surveyor, electrician, metallurgist, chemist, 

 foreman, accountants, etc., and, as in the 

 case of the manager of the mine himself, 

 these men are, except the accountants, of 

 technical and semi-technical character, and 

 have, as in his case, executive control of 

 their departments, combining thus again 

 the commercial and the technical adminis- 

 tration into one hand. The number of 

 'superior' men employed varies with the 

 size of the mine, from two technical sub- 

 ordinates, up to as many as fifteen or 

 twenty on large mines. As said above, all 

 of the staff except the accountant are neces- 

 sarily men of more or less technical train- 



* Tliis ossay is an extract from a private letter. 

 It is published by permission of the author. 



ing. This technical training has been de- 

 rived in foundation either from technical 

 schools, or by self-education within the 

 actual field of practise. 



In addition to this organization of each 

 unit, these mines are combined into ad- 

 ministrative groups under a still superior 

 organization, over which preside engineers 

 of greater distinction and capacity. These 

 men are themselves assisted by a staff of 

 specialists in various departments, and who 

 preside in a general way over all of the 

 mines of their group and their particular 

 departments, in reinforcement of the actual 

 organization of each mine. 



As the men thus employed in capacities 

 superior to workmen are paid salaries vary- 

 ing with the importance of their position 

 and their personal qualifications and ex- 

 perience, an easy method of discussion of 

 the results of technical training can be 

 arrived at by dividing them into classes 

 according to their salaries. There are a 

 total of 272 employees of this technical 

 and semi-technical character (omitting ac- 

 countants and purely commercial agents) 

 in our employ. 



The following table shows the number of 

 men, arranged upon this basis, the char- 

 acter and origin of their training: 



In connection with the above, it may be 

 observed that among men of the lower 



