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Mining for Gold



According to a Barrick Gold publication in which they looked at production values for several different mines, anywhere from 2 to 90 tons of rock was excavated for every ounce of gold produced. Some mines had better production efficiency than others, but if we just take an average there, we are looking at over 45 tons of rock dug out for a single ounce of the shiny stuff. That means out of everything harvested, less than one ten-thousandths of a percent was actually what they were targeting. Over 99.9999% of what they mined was worthless. Yet, all over the world, billions of dollars are spent each year in the mining and exploration of gold. Why? Because the payoff is worth it and sometimes you have to dig through a lot of junk to find the gold.

These companies understand the numbers and realize the only way to find more gold is to dig through more useless rock. The more gravel, dirt and stone they excavate, the closer they are to the next ounce of precious metal. As individuals though, we miss this. We want to hit gold every time. If we have a few shovels full of dirt and rocks and no treasure, we want to quit and dig somewhere else. Or we complain our shovel is too small. Or give up all together.

A miner accepts the fact huge amounts of rubble come with every tiny bit of gold. We need to take this lesson and apply it to life. We must be okay with digging through tons of failure for every ounce of success because that precious nugget far outweighs what we dug through to get it. We must realize the only way to come up with a great idea is to wade through mounds of bad ones. This picture doesn’t work as well anymore with the implementation of computers, but remember seeing renditions of a writer or poet sitting at a desk with a mountain of crumpled up papers in the corner and a small manuscript in her hand? All those discarded attempts were the rocks and rubble she had to excavate to produce the gold she now holds.

Every advancement, new concept or breakthrough lies within layers of dirt and dross. Most attempts will not strike gold, but you must believe every shovel full of rocks brings you just a little bit closer to success. The more dirt you move, the more gold you’ll find. So just keep digging.

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