The ancient Greek silvermine of Laurion near Athens was described by one observer as "a Hell on earth" for the slaves who worked it.  By the sixth century BCE, the mine's surface seams were depleted, so tunnels were dug with bronze picks to locate new ones.  After years of digging, they finally reached a rich layer of high grade silver-lead ore and set up a large-scale ore processing operation near the mine entrance to extract the valuable silver on the spot.  In the fifth century BCE, the Athenians used the wealth gained from the Laurion mine to finance the building of the naval vessels they used to win the war against the Persians.  But by the third century BCE, the Laurion mines were spent.

The renowned Athenian natural philosopher, Aristotle (384-322 BCE) wrote down his views on the nature of stones:

• minerals, like living organisms, grow underground
• marble taken from quarries will gradually be replaced
• crystals, like salt, grow
• stalagmites and stalactites increase in size over time
• some stones exhibit embedded plant-like patterns

• less precious metals mature into purer metals
• silver turns to gold, e.g.
• ores are mixtures of metals in various stages of development

• heat and solar rays cause exhalations in earth's interior which act to produce new metals and minerals

 

The Romans derived considerable wealth from their success in locating productive mines in Southern Spain, North Africa, the British Isles, and the Middle East.  They developed sophisticated methods of mining, including the construction of large underground galleries supported with wooden beams, lit with oil lamps, and ventilated with specially dug air shafts.

In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), described three types of mining in common use by the first century CE:

• "placer" -- mining of metal found above ground usually in river beds
• no digging
• extraction methods rely on panning or filtering water flow
• metal often in its natural state, requiring no additional processing

• "shaft" -- mining of metal found underground
• vertical shaft is dug to level of metal or ore location
• gallery is created at bottom of shaft as rock is removed
• extraction methods include use of fire to aid picks and hammers
• metal more often found as ore, requiring some metallurgical processing to extract the desired metal

• "deep vein" -- mining of metal found underground
• horizontal tunnels are dug to follow horizontal veins
• complex network of shafts and tunnels connecting many galleries

Pliny viewed placer mining as the only proper method of gaining access to precious metals.  He argued that the Earth naturally yields its resources in quantities with which humans should be satisfied.  According to Pliny, digging into the Earth to gain more wealth is simply greedy.  Like any good parent, Nature will punish those who take too much.  As proof of this, Pliny cited the untold deaths from choking underground vapors, landslides, floods, and cave-ins.

After the Fall of Rome:

• loss of technical knowledge and organizational skill

• coinage virtually disappeared
• salaries paid in land
• rise of subsistence farming
• institution of a feudal economic, social, and political system

Ninth century:

• rule of Charlemagne
• revival of interest in metals and mining in Northern Europe

"Little Ice Age" marked by:

• colder, longer winters
• cooler summers
• increased glaciation
• high rainfall

• caused a series of disastrous harvests throughout Europe
• crippled cultivation of cereals and grapes in north
• washed away topsoil
• killed seedlings
• gave advantage to weeds

• hindered the production of salt by evaporation
• made meat preservation difficult

• created ice floes
• blocked northern sea traffic

Famine years:  1272, 1277, 1283, 1292, and 1311

Wars [e.g., Hundred Years War (1337-1453)] and civil disorders caused destruction of crops, of houses, and of life in general

The Black Death, a deadly bubonic plague epidemic, caused dramatic population loss.

• by 1351, an estimated 24 million people had died
• by 1400, subsequent outbreaks claimed another 20 million victims
• over all, Europe lost a third to a half of its population

The Black Death (1347-1352)

Landowners opened their estates to prospectors who had become adept at looking for minerals.  Some of these prospectors were former serfs.  A prospector staking a claim could sell the minerals he found after paying a royalty to the landowner.  Mine owners became financiers and creditors of the royal courts of Europe.

In 1516, one of the greatest silver strikes in history was made near the town of Joachimstal.  At its peak of operation, this mine generated 300 million ounces (roughly 10,000 tons!) of silver per year.  Much of the mined silver was exported and silver became the principal coinage of Europe.  The coins were called "joachimstalers", which was soon shortened to "'thalers" from which the modern word "dollar" is derived.