Minerals, Wealth and Progress - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 4

supplemented by the introduction of simple tools such as picks, shovels, pans, and sluice
boxes. Early mining occurred close to human settlements, and the scale was minute com-
pared to today's mining operations.
Because they were small and concentrated on rich and easily extractable deposits, early
mining activities tended to have little impact on the environment.
That has changed with the introduction of new technologies over the past two centuries.
The invention of dynamite in 1867, for example, was essential to the large-scale mining of
today. Hartman (1987, 1992) summarizes some of the most significant developments that
have influenced the mining industry and civilization ( Table 1.1 ), but no single chronicle of
mining history can be complete. Another good reference, '60 Centuries of Copper' ( www.
copper.org ) provides insight into the history of copper. Along with gold, copper is one of
the most important early metals, possibly the first metal used by humans. Another excellent

The introduction of new
technologies in the past century
has changed the nature of mining.
The invention of dynamite in
1867 enabled the advent of
large-scale mining as practised
today.

TABLE 1.1
How Mining Evolved in Human History

Date Event

450,000 B.C. First mining (at surface), by Paleolithic man for stone implements

40,000 Surface mining progresses underground, in Swaziland, Africa

30,000 Fired clay pots used in Czechoslovakia

18,000 Possible use of gold and copper in native form

5000 Fire setting, used by Egyptians to break rock

4000 Early use of fabricated metals; start of Bronze Age

3400 First recorded mining, of turquoise by Egyptians in Sinai

3000 Probable fi rst smelting, of copper with coal by Chinese; fi rst use of iron implements by Egyptians

2000 Earliest known gold artifacts in the New World, in Peru

1000 Steel used by Greeks

A.D. 100 Thriving Roman mining industry

122 Coal used by Romans in Great Britain

800 Charlemagne, the fi rst European King, revives mining, contributing to the end of the Dark Ages

1185 Edict by Bishop of Trent gives rights to miners

1550 First use of lift pump, at Joachimstal, Czechoslovakia

1556 First mining technical work, De Re Metallica , published in Germany by Georgius Agricola, translated into English in 1912 by

Herbert Hoover, the mining engineer who later became President of the United States of America

1600 Mining commences in North America, Era of invasion of South America by Spain and Portugal in search of gold

1627 Explosives fi rst used in European mines, in Hungary (possible prior use in China)

(Continued)