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Show FEBRUARY 23, 1970 OIL & MINING JOURNAL Page 2 AIME chief urges EDITORIAL Man must mine junk to reclaim wealth The experts agree, we have got to mine our trash. It may well be the future's richest source of wealth. The world is running short of the basic raw materials of our technollgical civilization. We have used in these materials profligately. Then we have thrown them away junk or garbage. How to get them back and use them again is a problem man must solve. (Continued from Page 1) He said that government was not immune from ciriticism. The appropriations of Congress anti-polluti- war on because of mounting demands for minerals. I am certain that part of the to combat environmental answer will be found in damage have been belated and inadequate, and in many cities, including my own town of New York, municipal incinerators spew forth more soot than private utilities. Mr. Kinnear, who assumed the presidency of the organization at the annual AIME banquet, conventional uses of fossil fuel, he stated. We may even adopt enlightened policies toward the of metals, recycling andre-us- e instead of littering the landscape with the evidence of our Nature concentrated these essential materials here and there in the predicted that production, earths crust over geological periods of hundreds of millions of years. professional responsibility and Clever man found them fairly easy to discover and exploit. In a pollution would be the three matter of a generation he has managed to turn natures bounty into subjects that would dominate the engineering organizations scarcity. Materials once used by man became dispersed. They were no programs. Production by the year 2000 in longer available in concentrated and handily recoverable form will wells. place an enormous strain on They were lost forever. mines, lodes, or the productive capacity of Forever?Perhaps not. They still exist in the junk piles and trash heaps of civilization. Can they be recovered and 'made to serve extractive industries, he said. manking again? The great nations of earth are engaged in a nuclear fusion reactions cooperative effort to harness the for mans peaceful purpose. Fuel for fusion power exists in practically inexhaustible quantities as heavy hydrogen in the worlds waters. If fusion power ever comes to pass, it will generate temperatures in so high as to be almost incredible by current earthly standards Dean Witter & DENVER the hundreds of millions of degrees. Such a fusion torch would be Co. vice president John R. able almost instantly to break down anything into its original AIME members a elements for reuse by industry, according to the Atomic Energy Bogert, gave look at the mining industry Commission. through the eyes of Wall Street With such a torch it would be possible and practicable to convert last week here. the worlds junk and garbabe into priceless resources. Unhappily, Speaking at the AIME advances have been made, it still looks as though Significant meeting, Mr. Bogert answered though it will be decades before fusion power becomes mans two frequently asked questions, servant. What Does Wall Street See So what can be done now to get some further good out of at least When Looking at the Mining some of the waste products of our society? Industry? and Shouldnt Mining Quite a lot, according to the department of Health, Education and Sell at Higher Price Welfare. With the help of grants from HEWs environmental control Stocks Levels? administration: Wall Street sees mining as a The University of Illinois is generating methane gas for fuel and lighting from waste food, paper, garden trimmings and farm Bogert said, and refuse. a business where the public Louisiana State University is trying to turn cellulose waste, does not differentiate such as sugar cane from which the juice has been squeezed, into low usually between coal mining and metal cost, high protein food. and doesnt appreciate Drexel Institute of Technology is converting animal wasts, mining, either the risks or the rewards. after drying them with superheated steam, into animal feed, As a result, mining stocks fertilizer and fuel. sell at relatively low In Lynn, Mass., city officials and the General Electric Co. are generally ratios in working to process municipal refuse into fuefor generating steam. priceearnings other to industrial Its a race against time. Of 100 minerals most important to its comparison groups. industries, this country for the time being possesses sufficient Bogert pointed out that the supplies within its own boundaries of only about a dozen. So we priceearnings ratios of the 30 have to mine our garbage, trash and junk As soon as we can. stocks comprising the Dow Jones average is over 14. In substituting new jources of energy for some of the profligate waste. We need a heightened awareness of our responsibility as mining, metallurgical and petroleum professionals, he added. We cannot wait for the forthcoming generation to bail us out of our problems, to lead the way to higher production and lower pollution. NEW AIME CHIEF, John C. Kinnear, Jr., urged engineers to battle against join in all-out pollution. AIME hears Wall Street attitude toward mining stocks cyclical industry, fcast-or-famin- e, comparison, Asarco and Kennecott shares arc currently available for about 8 times Published weekly in Sett Leke City, Utah by Charles E. Hayward, of 4386 W. 3780 South, Granger, Utah 84120. Mailing address: P.O. Box 19243, Salt Lake City, Utah 84119. Serving the mining and oil industries of the Rocky Mountain Region. Articles and information herein are true and factual to the best knowledge of the publisher. Information and opinions published are the sole responsibility of the publisher and do not reflect the attitudes or opinions of the merchants, brokers, corporations and service firms who advertise herein or otherwise sponsor this publication. 25 Cents a copy Subscriptions $10 per year Advertising rates: bisplay Advertising eeeeeeeeoeeaeeeeeeeeneeBeeaeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeBeee $2 col. inch Ctanified Advertising .. M$2 for 20 words Phone: Editor & Publisher. Assistant to Publisher Director of Advertising. or 298-240- 3 298-370- 3 Chuck Hayward Enid J. Hayward S BBBBI Bl B f (BIBMIS B MB OBBBBB BOBB BBBB BB BB Hal Funk the stock of these two companies sells at only 10 times earnings. American Metal Climax and Newmont sell at only 11 times earnings as does Phelps Dodge and St. Joseph Few have Lead. mining companies then what can be considered a high PE ratio, he continued. However, one stock that does is International Nickel research-minde- a a d company, leader in its field and producing as its major product a metal that is recognized as having outstanding growth potential. Inco has a PE of about 17 or 18. Gold mining stocks have high PE multiples because of investor belief that a higher price for gold is coming. The uranium and silver mining companies currently have high PEs but this has only been for the past 4 or 5 years due to the sudden popularity of these metals. Regrettably, though, the average PE given a mining stock by the base-met- al investirtj public is probably not more than 10 -f- ully 25 below the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index. What can be done about it? Bogert said he believes that the management of the average should pay mining company more attention to improving the corporate image in order to boost the stature of the stock. In addition to an enlightened public relations program and the allocation of at least 10 percent of the chief executives time to public and stockholder relations, I specifically recommend the following: A warm rapport should be established with the Wall Street financial community by keeping security analysts well informed, and periodically inviting them to visit your offices and facilities. Bogert said the benefits of this rapport would include: the opportunity to see your company through the eyes of a detached, yet interested and knowledgable person, access to original statistical studies, supply and demand projections, comparative performance tables and other research data, and access to the thinking of some of the shrewdest economists and gcopoliticians in the country, if not the world. Hughes pilot plant begins operation the initial of TON OP AH, Nev. Test runs have started in a new pilot plant of Hughes Nevada Mining operations in the former power plant building of the Tonopah Mining Co. here. Field superintendent Walt Simmons reported that the plant Application to mail at second-clas- s postage rates is pending at Salt Lake City, Utah annual earnings. Even discounting earnings from South America, he added, will operate on nearby tailing for about 10 days before raw ores are treated. When operating with tailings, the plant, of latest design, can run up to three tons per hour while the rate with raw ore is estimated at one ton per hour. In phase operation, the pilot plant will be used only with tailings and ore from Hughes properties in Tonopah and elsewhere throughout central Nevada, but at a future date the plant will accept outside ores for test runs, Simmons said. U.S. mineral policy (Continued from effective minerals and mining security, and avert the disaster policy. He revealed he is that will result from squandered working with the Interior Dept, to resources in short supply in a time of escalating demand. develop a legislative program Tunneling millions of dollars in He called the industrys direct assistance to institutions manpower shortage an of higher learning with mineral immediate emergency of critical and mining engineering proportions that can defeat any programs. He also outlined a new attempt at establishing an P&ge 1) administration program to locate and train a new force of skilled and unskilled workers for the mining industry. Finally, he urged the mining and minerals industry to assume leadership in the fight to save the environment. This is your problem and this is your golden opportunity, Ruppc told the engineers. |