The tribute method of mining has been used through out the world. Tributers generally work in gangs, and had a limited portion of a lode set them, called a tribute pitch, beyond which they are not permitted to work, and for which they receive a certain portion of the ore, or so much per pound, as agreed upon, on the value of what they raise.
Tributers at the Boulder Central GM Dec 1911
A system of payment in which groups of miners bid against each other for contracts to work sections of the mine for a percentage of the value of the ore raised from that area.
Tributers Burbanks Birthday Gift GM 1906
Between 1918 and 1932 gold mining companies in Boulder Western Australia increasingly used the tribute system of mining. The companies replaced some waged or contract labour with tributers who contracted with the companies for a sub lease of a portion of the mine. From this tributers could extract ore for sale to a company or the leaseholder. The royalty was on an agreed sum based on a a scale of charges for services and stores the company would provide.
It was the tribute system which allowed mines to continue to operate during the depression between the wars with a declining gold price.
Tributers Champion GM 1906
Tribute groups could be as small as one man and could be as big as 10-15. The groups were usually men of mixed descent and on the Western Australian Goldfields it was common to have several nationalities all working together. The men may have made an arrangement with the mine to supply their own, candles, air and explosives to make their share of the ore higher.
Ref:-
Tributers and Gold Mining in Boulder 1918 – 1932 by Patrick Bertola
Wiktionary.com
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