ABSTRACT
Theoretical and, especially practical problems generated by the sampling of materials containing precious metals have been given enormous attention by many specialists for a long time. It is not by chance that D. W. Brunton, 1–3 whose contribution constitutes the best precursor to Pierre Gy’s theory of sampling, was working in a gold mine in Colorado at the end of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, solutions to the sampling of precious metals in general are still unsatisfactory: sometimes propositions are too theoretical and useless for the engineer, and sometimes they are too simplistic and based on empirical observations without solid foundations.
