Onyx Marble and Travertine

The leasing or tribute system has been an important factor in the development of our metal-mining industry, particularly in the gold and silver mines of the Western States. It has received its widest application in the early history of many camps and in the last stages of many mines. The system is especially adapted to mining hwere the ores occur in narrow veins or are erratically distributed in small bunches or porckets so that selective mining, hand sorting, screening, or hand cobbing is required to produce shipping or milling-grade ore. The leasing system is also applicable to the development of prospects where the owners are unable or unwilling to assume the risks of searching for ore.