Mathewson set prices on his calcium bentonite at $35 per ton for pit run, $45 per ton for minus 10-mesh material, and up to $80 per ton for finely ground and screened product, truck-loaded at the mine. Fine material was also super-sacked on-site. His direct costs for minus 4-mesh were about $22 per ton, leaving a profit of $15 per ton. Existing roads were used for all transportation across BLM land to the highway. His overhead costs, with no equipment, labor, insurance, or office help, were minimal. He had minor legal, travel, product research, and permit fee expenses.
Mathewson notified all Southern California landfill contractors and city/county offices involved in landfill administration that his bentonite was accepted and available for landfill sealing against seepage. Twenty-one separate sales contracts were awarded between 1991 and 2000 for a total of 20,000 tons of bentonite. Surface mining and processing at the rate of up to 100 tons per day with large equipment meant that the mine operated for an average of only about 20 days each year for the life of the operation. As sales and mine operations were based solely on demand and landfill activity, there was no production during 1996 and 1997. A listing of the production times and tonnages shows how versatile the operator had to be in order to accommodate his buyers if he wanted to stay in business.
Technical Evidence Of Values
Where you do have your hand on the wheel is in obtaining technical evidence of values. You're the driver. There are two major groups of technical evidence. One is hard rock; the other is placer. Each has a bunch of sub-groups like geology, geophysics, reserves, hydrology, climate, assays, and metallurgy. Let's look at hard rock first. In an underground or surface hard rock mine the most important single factor is the assay. What is the rock worth per ton? Suppose it's a gold property. Now comes the biggest problem in the small mine business. Almost half the independent assayer's in one part of the country are magicians -- half-assayers. If you don't believe this, and are the least bit suspicious, send a sample in from your backyard or the playground sand box.
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