Editing Mining (section)

===Ancient Greece and Rome===
{{Further|Mining in Roman Britain}}
[[File:Dolaucothimap4.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Ancient Roman development of the [[Dolaucothi Gold Mines]], Wales]]
Mining in Europe has a very long history. Examples include the silver mines of [[Laurium]], which helped support the Greek [[City-state|city state]] of [[Athens]]. Although they had over 20,000 [[slaves]] working them, their technology was essentially identical to their [[Bronze Age]] predecessors.<ref>{{cite web|title = Mining greece ancient mines|url = http://www.miningreece.com/mining-greece/mining-history/ancient-mines/|website = www.miningreece.com|access-date = 2015-06-11|date = 2014-12-10|archive-date = 2015-06-12|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150612161354/http://www.miningreece.com/mining-greece/mining-history/ancient-mines/|url-status = live}}</ref> At other mines, such as on the island of [[Thasos|Thassos]], marble was quarried by the [[Paros|Parians]] after they arrived in the 7th century BC.<ref>{{cite web|title = Mining Greece Ancient Quarries in Thassos|url = http://www.miningreece.com/mining-greece/ancient-quarries-in-thassos/|website = www.miningreece.com|access-date = 2015-06-11|date = 2014-12-10|archive-date = 2015-06-12|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150612161350/http://www.miningreece.com/mining-greece/ancient-quarries-in-thassos/|url-status = live}}</ref> The marble was shipped away and was later found by [[archaeologists]] to have been used in buildings including the tomb of Amphipolis. [[Philip II of Macedon]], the father of [[Alexander the Great]], captured the gold mines of Mount Pangeo in 357 BC to fund his military campaigns.<ref>{{cite web|title = Mining Greece the Goldmines of Alexander the Great|url = http://www.miningreece.com/mining-greece/mining-history/the-goldmines-of-alexander-the-great/|website = www.miningreece.com|access-date = 2015-06-11|date = 2014-12-10}}</ref> He also captured gold mines in [[Eastern Macedonia and Thrace|Thrace]] for minting coinage, eventually producing 26 [[ton]]s per year.

However, it was the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] who developed large-scale mining methods, especially the use of large volumes of water brought to the minehead by numerous [[aqueduct (watercourse)|aqueducts]]. The water was used for a variety of purposes, including removing overburden and rock debris, called [[hydraulic mining]], as well as washing [[comminution|comminuted]], or crushed, ores and driving simple machinery.

The Romans used hydraulic mining methods on a large scale to prospect for the [[vein (geology)|veins]] of ore, especially using a now-obsolete form of mining known as [[hushing]]. They built numerous [[aqueduct (watercourse)|aqueducts]] to supply water to the minehead, where the water was stored in large [[reservoirs]] and tanks. When a full tank was opened, the flood of water [[sluice]]d away the [[overburden]] to expose the [[bedrock]] underneath and any gold-bearing veins. The rock was then worked by [[fire-setting]] to heat the rock, which would be quenched with a stream of water. The resulting [[thermal shock]] cracked the rock, enabling it to be removed by further streams of water from the overhead tanks. The Roman miners used similar methods to work [[cassiterite]] deposits in [[Cornwall]] and [[lead]] ore in the [[Pennines]].

Sluicing methods were developed by the Romans in [[Spain]] in 25 AD to exploit large [[alluvial]] gold deposits, the largest site being at [[Las Medulas]], where seven long aqueducts tapped local rivers and sluiced the deposits. The Romans also exploited the silver present in the [[Galena|argentiferous galena]] in the [[mines of Cartagena]] (''[[Cartago Nova]]''), [[Linares, Jaén|Linares]] (''Castulo''), [[Plasenzuela]] and [[Azuaga]], among many others.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Minerales y Minas de España. Vol. II. Sulfuros y sulfosales|last=Calvo|first=Miguel|publisher=Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Alava|year=2003|isbn=84-7821-543-3|location=Vitoria, Spain|pages=205–335}}</ref> [[Spain]] was one of the most important mining regions, but all regions of the [[Roman Empire]] were exploited. In [[Great Britain]] the natives had mined minerals for [[millennia]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2169254.ece |title=The Independent, 20 Jan. 2007: ''The end of a Celtic tradition: the last gold miner in Wales'' |publisher=News.independent.co.uk |date=2007-01-20 |access-date=2013-06-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706035317/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2169254.ece |archive-date=July 6, 2008 }}</ref> but after the [[Roman conquest of Britain|Roman conquest]], the scale of the operations increased dramatically, as the Romans needed [[Britannia]]'s resources, especially [[gold]], [[silver]], [[tin]], and [[lead]].

Roman techniques were not limited to surface mining. They followed the ore veins underground once opencast mining was no longer feasible. At [[Dolaucothi]] they [[stoping|stoped]] out the veins and drove [[adit]]s through bare rock to drain the stopes. The same adits were also used to ventilate the workings, especially important when [[fire-setting]] was used. At other parts of the site, they penetrated the [[water table]] and dewatered the mines using several kinds of machines, especially [[reverse overshot water-wheel]]s. These were used extensively in the [[copper]] mines at [[Rio Tinto (river)|Rio Tinto]] in Spain, where one sequence comprised 16 such wheels arranged in pairs, and lifting water about {{convert|24|m|ft}}. They were worked as treadmills with miners standing on the top slats. Many examples of such devices have been found in old Roman mines and some examples are now preserved in the [[British Museum]] and the [[National Museum of Wales]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://romans-in-britain.org.uk/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720073131/http://www.romans-in-britain.org.uk/raw_mining.htm|url-status=dead|title=Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting & Domain Names from Heart Internet|archive-date=July 20, 2010|website=romans-in-britain.org.uk}}</ref>