Show BIG MINES VS PROSPECTS any amount of money is in bank in various commercial centers awaiting investment in mining enterprises this might be cheerful news but for the fact that this coin of the realm is likely to stay under lock and key for a long time to come or most of it and for the reason that the owners of this wealth want to let it out of hock under one condition only and this is for the purchase of big and producing mines tn in order to expedite this investment the capitalistic holders of the money in question have had many experts out in the hills examining mining properties which have been placed upon the bargain counter thousands upon thousands have been expended in examining properties claimed to be just what the investor wanted and hundreds upon hundreds of mines have been visited and inspected and all to no purpose for as a general rule a big and producing mine if at all attractive is not for sale unless at a fabulous price and if offered at a figure supposed to be reasonable it is found to be worth much less than represented and so the months and years roll by and it is only at rare intervals that the sale of a really big and producing mine is recorded and the money stays in the vaults and is likely to remain there until the really big and productive mines are exhausted then and possibly not until then the thousands of promising and meritorious prospects will receive the recognition they deserve it used to be that good prospects were in active demand such is not the case now however and it must be a rare and rich find that will be able to cause any excitement in mining circles at the present time and yet it is to the prospects of today that we must look for the big and producing mines of tomorrow the good prospect as a matter of fact should shoud be more attractive than an old producer and for the reason that its assets are intact and have not been dissipated by production if it has a million or more in ore within its environments practically untouched or undiminished it certainly is worth more than a proposition that was once in possession of a million or more but from whose resources possibly half a million has hag been taken during the process of mine development and operation and yet the tendency of the times is to buy developed mines and ignore the prospects a peculiar phase of this condition being that in making exhaustive examination of mines already developed the expense incurred would in many instances develop a prospect which could be bought at a nominal figure into a producer fully as valuable as the one under inspection and which is held at a figure a thousand times greater than that at which the prospect pet could be purchased it is a pity that investing capital is not i paying more attention to valuable and I 1 meritorious prospects prospects which aref are generally held by needy claim holders who 1 I can develop them only in a spasmodic manner and who may hold them for many years before they can be listed as even 1 occasional producers the hills are full of propositions of this kind which need only i a small amount of money comparatively and a few hundred feet of intelligent and systematic development in order that they may take rank as regular producers and regular dividend payers the claim owner after years of toll toil and hardships may eventually develop his prospect into a bonanza mine why should he sell it then he is on easy street and can take out his velvet as well as could the capitalist who is out after just such propositions but who is not willing to pay the price it is the development of the prospects and not the sale of producing mines that thai means prosperity to this western country and we may look for ditore more activity in mining when capital realizes the fact that after all more money can be made in the acquisition and development of the prospect than in the purchase and operation of a big and pro ducting mine |