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With commodity prices rising again and market conditions stabilizing, the Metals Economics Group (MEG) found that most mining companies increased their exploration budgets in 2010. In the groups 21st edition of the Corporate Exploration Strategies (CES), MEG found a 44-percent rise in the estimated worldwide exploration total for 2010. MEG found that the estimated total 2010 budget for nonferrous metals exploration reached $12.1 billion, reinstating almost two-thirds of the industry?s $6 billion in cuts to exploration in 2009. Nonferrous exploration refers to expenditures related to precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium and some industrial minerals; it excludes iron ore, aluminum, coal, and oil and gas. In 2008, exploration budgets were at an all-time high of $14.4 billion. This capped a six-year run in which budgets rose. In 2009, nonferrous exploration budgets dropped 42 percent in 2009 as the global economic crisis and declining prices for almost all commodities took their toll on the industry. Metals prices - the primary driver of exploration spending - have improved markedly since bottoming in early 2009, and have traded well above their long-term trends throughout 2010. In response, major, intermediate and junior companies have all increased their aggregate exploration allocations in 2010. In particular, the significant improvement in the availability of equity financings for the juniors over the past 12 to 18 months has allowed this group to account for the largest share of the overall increase in exploration spending this year.

Jan 1, 2011

By Steve Kral

The former mayor of Los Angeles, CA is a believer in public transportation but thinks neither his city nor the entire country is spending enough on basic infrastructure. In fact, the United States has fallen behind most other developed nations in improving public transportation, the former mayor said. Antonio R. Villaraigosa was the keynote speaker at the North American Tunneling (NAT) conference, held June 22-25 in Los Angeles, CA. The event, held every two years, is sponsored by the Underground Construction Association of SME (UCA). This years? conference attracted 1,091 underground construction professionals from around the world. The accompanying exhibition continues to grow, attracting 142 exhibiting companies occupying 162 booths. As always at NAT, registered attendees received the proceedings volume of the conference, which contains 132 papers. The proceedings volume, including a CD of the papers, is available from SME for $149 member, $139 student member and $189 nonmember. The book can be ordered from SME, NAT item #400-4, phone 303-948-4225, 1-800-763-3132, or online at www.smenet.org/store.

By Erich Sarapuu

Today's increasing needs for rapid excavation have stimulated efforts to break rocks without explosives. The application of electric energy for this purpose has been studied by a number of investigators. Following principles have been used in electrical rock breaking: 1. induction heating5 2. high frequency heating4, 14 3. microwave heating6 4. contact resistance heating9,12 5. resistance heating11,13 6. electron beam heating1, 3 7. plasma jet heating2, 8 8. arc heating7 9. condensor discharge energy14 In this paper the presentation of the principles of electrical fragmentation is limited to a process called "electrofracing". This technique uses electrical heating of rock by electrode contact resistance9 and resistance heating" phenomena. The electrically induced stresses inside of rock generate forces which break up the material. The fracturing of ore takes place by tensile stresses instead of compressive forces. The electric energy merely creates fractures in the rock and the separation of fractured material takes place by subsequent mechanical handling. Energy requirements in secondary breaking of iron ores have been about one to two kilowatt-hours per ton of ore. Power requirement is a function of the degree of fragmentation.

Jan 1, 1969

By Joaquin Ruiz

Although Mexico is known for its important base-and precious-metal deposits, and lately oil, some industrial minerals play an important role in the Mexican economy. Sulfur, the most important industrial mineral produced, accounts for approximately 7.5 percent of the total value of mineral production. This commodity is followed by fluorspar, which accounts for 6.4 percent. Predominantly, the fluorspar deposits are very high grade (75 percent CaF) and are contained in lower Cretaceous limestone in the states of Coahuila and San Luis Potosi. Base-metal deposits in the area of Parral (notably San Francisco del Oro), however, have become important fluorite producers in their own right. (San Francisco del Oro has 12 percent fluorite gangue.) Salt from the Guerrero Negro solar-evaporation ponds in Baja California account for 6 percent of the total shares; phosphate from Baja California also accounts for 6 percent. Barite from man to deposits in Lower Cretaceous limestone in Coahuila and exhalative deposits in the Paleozoic section of Sonora account for 1.0 percent. In addition, Mexico is an important producer of gypsum, graphite, and celestite. Although graphite and celestite are not large-scale operations and thus do not contribute much to the Mexican economy, the Mexican graphite and celestite deposits are among the most important in the world; Mexico is one of the world's few sources of celestite. The celestite is in the form of large, high-grade mantos in Cretaceous limestones in northern Mexico.

Jan 1, 1987

By J. W. Powell

Several years prior to 1962, it became obvious that in order to develop ore reserves below the Storke Level, it would be necessary to devise a method to facilitate the ore being lifted three hundred feet to the surface or six hundred feet to the mill. The final plans called for an underground crusher complex with two stages of crushing and a conveyor belt gallery for transport of the ore six hundred feet above, to the third crushing stage. Access into the area was gained in 1962, by sinking Five Shaft approximately one quarter mile southwest of the proposed complex site, and drifting into the area. Collar elevation of Five Shaft is three hundred feet above the 600 Level Crusher Complex. All muck was loaded into ten-ton granby cars, hoisted to the surface and dumped. (See Figure 1 for the relationship between Five Shaft and the Crusher Area) Drifting into the Crusher Area contunued until 1965 at which time the Crusher Room Cutout was started. The Crusher Access Drift (CAD on Figure 2) war driven and mining pm- ceeded according to the description on drawings marked Figure 3a and 3b. After the arch portion of the Cutout was excavated and concreted, removal of the center "pillar" commenced. This muck was removed with an Eimco 123C crawler-mounted front-end loader. (See Figure 4) A total of 576,000 cubic feet of rock was removed from the Crusher Cutout. All sup- port was afforded by grouted roofbolts on a specified pattern, as shown in Figure 3c. Crane support columns were put into place and held by braces welded to roofbolt heads. Sidewalls and endwalls were formed and concreted. (See Figure 5 for the finished product)

Jan 1, 1970

By Connor Meinke, Shaihroz Khan, Kevin Erwin, Rajiv Chandramohan, Muhammad Usman Siddiqui

A geometallurgy study aims to link metallurgy and geology to reduce technical risk and enhance the economic performance of a mineral-processing plant. It does so by accounting for variability in a deposit to develop cash-flow models with variable throughput rates. High-quality sample selection for metallurgical test work that is representative of the deposit is an essential component of a geometallurgy study, but the large multidimensional data set makes sample selection a daunting task, as classifying the data set while respecting its heterogeneity is difficult. This paper presents a streamlined approach for sample selection, using statistical analysis techniques in Python. It cuts down time to select samples from around 1,200 s per drillhole to about 60 s for data classification and from 12 h to 8 h for handpicking samples from the classified data set, translating to cost savings. The cumulative sum method and k-means clustering method are used in the methodology to elegantly classify the data and select representative samples. The effectiveness of the methodology is demonstrated by presenting data from a prefeasibility study of a copper-iron mine in which 40 samples were selected for flotation test work.

Dec 1, 2024

From 2009 to 2012, Aker Wirth, in cooperation with the BGR (German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources), developed a concept for the deep sea mining of manganese nodules, which it also examined by means of a profitability analysis. The study was undertaken for the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. The increasing scarcity of resources, coupled with the continuous rise in resource prices, drive the search for new raw material deposits. As a result, the deep sea is coming increasingly under the spotlight. At depths of more than 1,000 m (3,280 ft), large deposits of ores and precious and high-tech metals, such as manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper and gold, along with rare earths (which are important for the high-tech industry), can be found. The extreme deep sea conditions ? enormous water pressure, ice-cold temperatures and complete darkness ? present huge financial and technical challenges to the mining industry when extracting these materials. Aker Wirth has recognized the potential of this important future market early on and advances the development of relevant products.

Jan 1, 2013

By Aixiang Wu, Minjie Zhang, Zhuen Ruan, Yiming Wang

 The paper combines theoretical and experimental analysis to improve the accuracy of predicting paste yield stress by slump flow. It derives an analytical model of slump flow for yield stress, providing a theoretical basis for quantifying the rheological properties of paste with slump flow. The study uses three different tailings-prepared pastes and constructs an empirical yield stress model, showing high accuracy and good generality.

Aug 1, 2023

There are many risks associated with the storage of nuclear or other toxic wastes. One of the major risks is the escape of material from the repository. No matter how well a storage facility is engineered, the potential escape of dangerous material must be studied. This kind of study will include some estimation of the "travel path" of the particles. The travel path of a radio-nuclide particle will depend on the geological and hydrological parameters of the surrounding rocks. These parameters must be estimated from a limited number of samples available within the study area. Any estimation will -of necessity -contain a certain amount of uncertainty or "estimation error". This uncertainty will be carried through to the analysis of potential movement of particles, so that the estimated travel path itself will be subject to some error. This paper discusses an approach which may lead to a quantification of the uncertainty on the predicted travel path.

Jan 1, 1989

By H. M. Woodrooffe

In the U.S.S.R. three of the world's major-known phosphate deposits are located. These have an estimated reserve of 2,600 million short tons of contained phosphorus. The best known lies in the "Khibiny Massif', an alkalaic rock formation some 600 square miles in area with mountain peaks rising to an altitude of 3300 ft above the surrounding terrain. Location and Climate The Khibiny Massif lies north of the Arctic Circle in the Kola Penin-sula, 100 miles south southeast of Murmansk, at a latitude of 67° 30' north and a longitude of 35° 30' east. It is serviced by rail from Murmansk and Leningrad (900 rail miles south). Figure 1. The phosphate operations are centered about the two cities of Apatity and Kirovsk. The former has a population of 35,000 and is on the Leningrad¬Murmansk railway. Kirovsk, 15 miles to the east, is now a city of 85,000. The region is at the limit of the tree line with most of the ground cover typical tundra. The mean annual temperature is -4°C and, in a normal year, precipitation occurs on 240 days. Because the temperature does not exceed freezing for 300 days each year, virtually all of the precipitation is snow. The two towns are nestled between mountains and, because of the weather, extensive avalanche control systems incorporating major engineering construction have been introduced to divert snow slides away from the populated areas. General Kirovsk was first settled in 1923 and the apatite occurrences were recognized shortly after. In 1933, the first concentrator for the recovery of the mineral was completed, producing in its first year of operation 170,000 tons of concentrate. With the growth and demand for phosphate in the U.S.S.R., a second concentrator was erected at Apatity. It calve on stream in 1963. Because of the severe climate, in the early days mining was limited to 85 days per year. With the introduction of new techniques and improved mining methods, the season has been extended to 115 days.

Jan 1, 1972

By Mohamed Gamal, Bill Zietlow

"In oil fields that have been depleted with conventional surface oil wells but still contain significant reserves, an extraction alternative that has been constructed recently consists of a drilling gallery below the oil-bearing formation at the bottom of a 1,200-ft deep shaft where upward sloping wells are being drilled to allow oil collection by gravity. The gallery is 92-ft diameter with a flat ceiling supported by rock bolts and shotcrete structurally connected to the shaft liner, which doubles as a large tension support element. A special excavation sequence was implemented for the gallery to maximize arching in the stress above the large diameter gallery. The gallery was located in competent sandstone, constructed with sequential excavation methods, and designed with a 3D finite element model. Special consideration was given to optimizing the gallery location to take advantage of the geology for construction and support while giving good positioning to the well drilling equipment. BACKGROUND Brierley Associates was contracted to provide both design and construction management services for an approximately 1,165-ft deep, 18-ft excavated diameter vertical shaft that opens to a 92-ft diameter flat roof gallery. The geotechnical data for the site was based on information available from literature and from data obtained during core drilling and from in-situ testing in a 1250-ft deep borehole. Wire line coring was conducted using a HQ, 10-ft long core barrel with a mud-rotary drilling method through sedimentary bedrock. The geometry of the shaft and the bottom gallery is shown in Figure 1(a). GEOLOGIC SETTING AND STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY The stratigraphy at the site includes a series of interbedded marine limestone, shale, claystone, siltstone, sandstone, and chert units. Limestone and shale are the predominant lithologies in the upper approximately 675 ft, while the lower portion contains five distinct sandstone units and more abundant shale, claystone, siltstone, and coal than the upper zone. A cherty sandstone at a depth of 1,130 below ground surface (bgs) was encountered. At a depth of about 1,000 ft to 1,116 ft bgs, a non-marine sandstone unit was encountered. This sandstone is the hydrocarbon bearing layer. Joints and fractures observed in the limestone had dips ranging from 0 to 90 deg. from horizontal with joint and fracture surfaces that ranged from planar to irregular and smooth to rough. Several, near vertical shear planes with slickensides were observed with surfaces that were generally smooth and planar. RQD values for the limestone ranged from 0 to 100 percent but in general were good to excellent."

Jan 1, 2016

By Ralph E. Weeks

Utilization of true in situ technologies for mining copper in Arizona will involve a complex environmental permitting process. This process is a key factor in determining the feasibility, costs, and implementing time frames required for development of this innovative mining method. The regulatory structure in Arizona is presently changing due to enactment of the Environmental Quality Act (EQA) of 1986 and development of new aquifer protection rules and regulations. The Bureau of Mines has reviewed the comprehensive hydrogeologic characterization, ground water monitoring, mechanical integrity testing, well construction, contingency planning, and other regulatory elements that will serve as mechanisms to assure protection of ground water resources. The purpose of this paper is to inform the domestic copper industry of the significance of the new Arizona regulatory structure and its implications for prospective in situ operators.

Jan 1, 1988

By W. M. Houston

Pebble phosphate deposits of Florida have been established from south of Hardee County to north of the Georgia state line or a distance of over 200 miles and mining has been carried out in an ever-increasing scale since 1885. Deposits that can be mined on the economical standards of today, however, are confined in a roughly circular area about 30 miles in diameter, generally within Polk and Hillsborough Counties, in the central part of the State. The phosphate deposit, which is in the Bone Valley formation of the Pliocene age, is covered by Pleistocene terrace deposits of unconsolidated quartz sand. The matrix is composed of approximately 1/3 clay slimes, 1/3 silica sand and 1/3 phosphate pebbles. The phosphate occurs usually as rounded pebbles, ranging in size from about 1 inch down to approximately 400 mesh. The phosphate may vary from well- defined hard pebbles to soft weathered rock. The color and character of the phosphate will range from smooth buff pebbles to black and white or "salt and pepper rock." The screen size distribution varies considerably between locations and the recoverable phosphate varies may extend down to the 400 mesh size in some areas, while in others the phosphate may cut off sharply at about 35 mesh.

Jan 1, 1962

By George S. Austin

Mud is one of the oldest building materials used by man, but it is not only of historic interest. Even today in many parts of the world, particularly lightly forested areas, it is the chief building material. Many authorities believe that at least 30% and perhaps 50% of the world's present population lives in earthen dwellings (Dethier, 1985, Coffman et al., 1990). Not all of these people are members of primitive societies or live in third world countries. European, African, Asian, and both North and South American countries contain a large number of such structures. In the United States, the American West, and particularly the Southwest, is known for this type of construction. Some of the earliest remains of adobe structures are those discovered in the ruins of Neolithic farming villages in Mesopo¬tamia dating as far back as 7000 BC (Steen, 1972). The word adobe has its roots in Egyptian hieroglyphs denoting brick and evolved to its present form through Arabic and Spanish (Lumpkins, 1977). The Spanish conquest of the New World spread the use of wooden molds to produce a standard adobe brick. Today, the word adobe is used to describe various earth building materials and techniques, usually referring to sun-dried adobe brick now used in the United States, but is also applied to puddled adobe structures, mud-plastered logs or branches (Jacal or waddle-and-daub), pressed-earth blocks, and rammed-earth walls or pisé (Smith and Austin, 1989, Ferm, 1985). Modern mud construction is used in many countries in various parts of the world. In the United States, the states from Texas to California are perhaps best known for this type of construction. Of these states, New Mexico has the dominant reputation for adobe use. Indeed, in New Mexico the Santa Fe style (Fig. 1) has made adobe not only acceptable, but preferred. RAW MATERIALS Adobe soil used by present day adobe producers, and probably past adobe producers as well, is principally sandy loam (50% clay and silt), although clayey silts are used in some areas (Coffman et al., 1990). In New Mexico, the best adobe soils are those developed on stream deposits, particularly Holocene (Recent) terrace deposits and older, loosely compacted geologic formations, such as the Santa Fe Group (Tertiary) located in the Rio Grande Valley. Some modern adobe producers use a mixture of materials from the screened fines of aggregate operations and mud from irrigation ditches in the river valleys combined with varying amounts of sand to produce the proper blend. Mineralogy Bulk Mineralogy: X-ray diffraction analyses of whole rock samples from many parts of the world where adobe is the dominant construction material show the major constituents of adobe are quartz and feldspar, with lesser amounts (in order of abundance) of calcite, clay minerals, and gypsum (Coffman et al., 1990). Adobes from and climates contain considerable calcite; in some cases calcite is second only to quartz in volume. Quartz, feldspar, most of the clay minerals, and some calcite commonly are derived from the mechanical/chemical breakdown of older rocks units. Some of the clay minerals, much of the calcite and perhaps all of the gypsum are precipitated from evaporating water. Clay Mineralogy: Clay-size minerals consist dominantly of clay minerals, but nearly clay-size fractions contain minor amounts of quartz and calcite, and occasionally other nonclay minerals. In earth construction materials from New Mexico, clay-size particles are the most compositionally variable in commercial adobe soils. However, the clay mineral groups in this size fraction consist of about equal parts of expandable clay minerals (smectite and mixed¬layer illite/smectite or I/S) and non-expandable clay minerals (ka¬olinite, illite, and chlorite), with minor quartz, calcite, and feldspar (Smith and Austin, 1989, Austin, 1990). In the and American Southwest, smectite is commonly calcium-rich and the I/S is dis¬organized and randomly interstratified. In a study of 42 New Mex¬ican commercial adobe soils, only two contained chlorite, and vermiculite, sepiolite, and palygorskite were not found. Soils in temperate climates, as are found in the midwestern and northeastern United States, contain an abundance of illite (Potter et al., 1975). The clay minerals in earthen structures of that region and in Europe commonly contain illite with less amounts of kaolinite, smectite, I/S, chlorite, and vermiculite. In contrast, the clay-size fractions of soils of humid tropical areas are typically acid, with kaolinite as the dominant clay mineral and lesser amounts of I/S, illite, smectite, and others (Chamley, 1989).

Jan 1, 1994

By John Bley

White Pine Copper Company operates a mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan using a modified room-and-pillar system for extracting ore.1 Mine production averages 15, 500 tons per day. The terrain is predominantly level and the depth of cover varies from 500 to 800 feet over the present workings with depth increasing as mining progresses down the dip. The deposit is situated on a low angle plunging, anticlinal structure composed of sedimentary beds. Local terminology for the stratigraphic units which contain the ore horizons, named in ascending order, is as follows: lower sandstone, parting shale, upper sandstone and upper shale. The ore zones of copper enrichment are, contained in the parting and upper shales. The parting shale will vary; from 6. 5 to 9.0 feet thick; the upper sandstone from 2 to 10 feet; and the upper shale from 1. 5 to 6. 5 feet. Two variation of the room-and-pillar system are used to extract the ore depending on grade and local ground conditions. One system is called the parting shale method and recovers the parting shale only. This system requires a mining height of 8 1/2 feet to accommodate large-scale, high-capacity equipment and this working height is obtained by removing approximately 1 to 2 feet of the barren lower sandstone with the ore. Under the second system, locally termed full column, the mining height is about 14-1/2 feet and this system removes the parting shale, the upper sandstone and the lower mineralized zone, approximately 1-1/2 feet, of the upper shale at which point it is possible to maintain a competent back (Fig. 1).1

Jan 1, 1964

By Paul H. Miller

After passage by the Congress, Public Law 95-87, the "Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977" was signed by President Carter on August 3, 1977. This law, in its simplest form, was intended to control the environmental effects of surface coal mining and to ensure that mined land is restored to a condition equivalent to that prior to mining. Immediately after the signing, the wheels of government bureaucracy began turning to establish a new federal agency -the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement or OSM -in the Interior Department that would implement the provisions of the Act. Since this took time and because the Congress had not yet provided funding for OSM, a special task force was assembled within the Interior Department to begin the task of writing interim regulations to implement the Act. With respect to the use of explosives, the Act specified that a blasting plan be included in the application for a mining permit. The blasting plan will outline the procedures an operator will use to meet specified environmental protection performance standards. The performance standards established by the Act require explosives to be used only in accordance with existing state and federal laws and regulations and with regulations to be promulgated by the regulatory authority. The regulatory authority was defined as either a state agency operating under an approved state program or the OSM operating under a federal program. As a minimum, it was specified that the regulations should include provisions to require that: 1) a blasting schedule be published in a local newspaper and be mailed to local governments and to all residents living within 1/2 mile of the blasting site . 2) daily notice be given to residents in the area prior to blasting. 3) blast reports be prepared that are maintained for three years and available on request to the public. 4) blasts be designed to prevent injury to persons, damage to property outside the permit area, adverse impacts on underground mines and adverse effects on ground or surface water channels or availability outside the permit area. 5) upon request of residents or property owners within 1/2 mile of the permit area, preblast surveys shall

Jan 1, 1978

By W. Hu

Gravity concentration has been the main method for tin ore beneficiation, based on the significant difference of density between cassiterite and gangue in the tin ore. However, with the exhaustion of rich and coarse reserves, the proportion of tin distribution in slime be-comes as high as 50 to 70% and has a size range of -19 urn. In some sulfide tin ore, most of the tin is of the minus 10-urn size fraction, and thus slime processing has gained importance in tin ore processing. Some innovations are being developed, such as the centrifugal cone separator, belt concentrator, slime table, B-M separator, and slime flotation. Direct flotation with tolyl arsonic acid has been practiced with success.

Jan 1, 1989

By R. Chandramohan, Landon Jackson, C. Meinke

Understanding constraints within the raw battery material supply chain is essential for making informed decisions that will ensure the battery industry’s future success. The primary limiting factor for long-term mass production of batteries is mineral extraction constraints. These constraints are highlighted in a first fill analysis which showed significant risks if lithium-ion batteries are used to fully support vehicle electrification and intermittent energy storage. Nickel, lithium, cobalt and graphite reserves risk 100 percent depletion with significant consumption of known resources. Furthermore, more than 700 new critical mineral mines will need to be developed to meet the required production rates for decarbonization by 2050. Demand for critical minerals will outpace mine development timelines even as improvements are made to battery energy density and compositions. Governments and the private sector need to align themselves on decarbonization goals to establish cooperative agreements on the critical mineral supply chain by reducing the barriers to entry and increasing exploration efforts. Additional measures must also be taken to reduce the demand for critical minerals. Policy such as incentivizing public transportation and biking infrastructure can be exploited to drastically reduce the mineral demand placed on the mining industry.

Feb 1, 2025

By J. Lizak

Calcium carbonate is one of the highest volume industrial mineral products in North America. It is used in filler and extender applications, roofing products, floor tile, glass manufacture, etc. Calcium carbonate has over a dozen major filler and extender applications plus a host of minor uses. North American consumption of calcium carbonate fillers and extenders in 1991 is estimated at over 5,000,000 tons valued in excess of $400,000,000. There were five major suppliers of calcium carbonate fillers in the Middle Atlantic region in 1988 :?Bestone, Genstar, National Gypsum, Thomasville Stone and Lime, and White Pigment. With the exception of Genstar's Maryland operation, all of these operations are within a few miles of York, Pennsylvania. The Millington Group (TMG) purchased the assets of Bestone Corporation in February of 1989. TMG then seized the opportunity to strengthen its business position by acquiring National Gypsum's and White Pigment's Pennsylvania filler businesses in December, 1989 and July, 1990, respectively. By July of 1990 TMG's filler business acquisitions included six quarries and one underground mine, totaling over 1,200 acres and three processing facilities. The assets were restructured into two new companies - Delta Carbonate, Inc. and Penroc, Inc. (hereafter collectively referred to as Delta). Delta identified the assets of the three predecessor companies as undervalued from the outset. The initial phase of Delta's turnaround strategy was to reassess the combined mineral. mining, processing, transportation and marketing assets. The second phase was to effectively integrate these resources in order to exploit their inherent synergy.

Jan 1, 1992

By John R. Bogert

The title of this session is "Wall Street Looks at the Mining Industry," and I am going to attempt to answer the question: Shouldn't Mining Stocks Sell at Higher Price Levels? Or, What Does Wall Street See When Looking at the Mining Industry? Well, it sees a capital intensive business, a technical industry, and a growing industry becoming more vertically integrated. But, at the same time, Wall Street sees a cyclical industry, a fragmented industry of erratic earnings, spotty public relations, a feast-or-famine business where the public usually does not differentiate between coal mining or metal mining, and does not appreciate either the risks or the rewards. As a result, mining stocks generally sell at relatively low price learnings ratios in comparison to other industrial groups. This PIE ratio, the current market price of the capital stock divided by annual earnings per share, is probably the most popular index of a stock's value. The average of the price/ earnings ratios of the 30 stocks comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average is over 14. This diverse group of stocks is widely regarded as being a cross-section and representative of the industrial companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. However, in comparison to 14, Asarco and Kennecott shares are currently available for about 8 times annual earnings. Even discounting earnings from South America, the stock of these two companies sells at only 10 times earnings. Of course, Peruvian politics is currently preventing Cerro shares from selling above 6 times earnings, and Chilean politics keeps Anaconda shares at a PIE multiple of 7. However, even in better times, these companies rarely sell above 10 times earnings. American Metal Climax and Newmont sell at only 11 times earnings as does Phelps Dodge and St. Joseph Lead. Few mining companies then have what can be considered a high PIE ratio-a figure higher than

Jan 1, 1970