ABSTRACT
Fo r much of the nineteenth century metal mining was regarded as one of the most unpredictable and speculative forms of investment on the capital market. The mines were attended with great uncertainty even when most expertly and honestly pursued. Immense profits could be returned for a trivial outlay or vast fortunes could be sunk without trace. Attracting gamblers, speculators, and the unwary they became a centre for fraudulent company promotion and share manipulation. In this atmosphere many brokers avoided dealings in mine shares and most mining companies were excluded from the Stock Exchange. Dealings in mine shares outside the Exchange were chaotic, inconvenient, and open to all forms of exploitation. From the mid-nineteenth century the more respectable mine share dealers tried several times to establish their own separate and permanent place of business where they could introduce regulations to enforce honest and trustworthy dealing. Evidence relating to these attempts to form a separate Mining Exchange is scarce. This account attempts to bring together all that remains, drawing particularly heavily on the weekly reports of the Mining Journal.
