Editing Ore (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of mining}}
Metallurgy began with the direct working of native metals such as gold, lead and copper.<ref name="Rostoker-1975">{{Cite journal |last=Rostoker |first=William |date=1975 |title=Some Experiments in Prehistoric Copper Smelting |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/paleo.1975.4209 |journal=Paléorient |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=311–315 |doi=10.3406/paleo.1975.4209 |issn=0153-9345}}</ref> Placer deposits, for example, would have been the first source of native gold.<ref name="Rapp-2009" /> The first exploited ores were copper oxides such as malachite and azurite, over 7000 years ago at [[Çatalhöyük]] .<ref name="Penhallurick-2008">{{Cite book |last=Penhallurick |first=R. D. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/705331805 |title=Tin in antiquity : its mining and trade throughout the ancient world with particular reference to Cornwall |date=2008 |publisher=Maney for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining |others=Minerals, and Mining Institute of Materials |isbn=978-1-907747-78-6 |edition=Pbk. |location=Hanover Walk, Leeds |oclc=705331805}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Radivojević |first1=Miljana |last2=Rehren |first2=Thilo |last3=Pernicka |first3=Ernst |last4=Šljivar |first4=Dušan |last5=Brauns |first5=Michael |last6=Borić |first6=Dušan |date=2010 |title=On the origins of extractive metallurgy: new evidence from Europe |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440310001986 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=37 |issue=11 |pages=2775–2787 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.012|bibcode=2010JArSc..37.2775R }}</ref><ref name="H.-1975">{{Cite book |last=H. |first=Coghlan, H. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/610533025 |title=Notes on the prehistoric metallurgy of copper and bronze in the Old World : examination of specimens from the Pitt rivers Museum and Bronze castings in ancient moulds, by E. voce. |date=1975 |publisher=University Press |oclc=610533025}}</ref> These were the easiest to work, with relatively limited mining and basic requirements for smelting.<ref name="Rostoker-1975" /><ref name="H.-1975" /> It is believed they were once much more abundant on the surface than today.<ref name="H.-1975" /> After this, copper sulphides would have been turned to as oxide resources depleted and the [[Bronze Age]] progressed.<ref name="Rostoker-1975" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Amzallag |first=Nissim |date=2009 |title=From Metallurgy to Bronze Age Civilizations: The Synthetic Theory |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20627616 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=113 |issue=4 |pages=497–519 |doi=10.3764/aja.113.4.497 |jstor=20627616 |s2cid=49574580 |issn=0002-9114}}</ref> Lead production from [[galena]] smelting may have been occurring at this time as well.<ref name="Rapp-2009" />

The smelting of arsenic-copper sulphides would have produced the first bronze alloys.<ref name="Penhallurick-2008" /> The majority of bronze creation however required tin, and thus the exploitation of cassiterite, the main tin source, began.<ref name="Penhallurick-2008" /> Some 3000 years ago, the smelting of iron ores began in [[Mesopotamia]]. Iron oxide is quite abundant on the surface and forms from a variety of processes.<ref name="Rapp-2009" />

Until the 18th century gold, copper, lead, iron, silver, tin, arsenic and mercury were the only metals mined and used.<ref name="Rapp-2009" /> In recent decades, Rare Earth Elements have been increasingly exploited for various high-tech applications.<ref name="Mariano-2012">{{Cite journal |last1=Mariano |first1=A. N. |last2=Mariano |first2=A. |date=2012-10-01 |title=Rare Earth Mining and Exploration in North America |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/elements/article/8/5/369-376/137950 |journal=Elements |language=en |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=369–376 |doi=10.2113/gselements.8.5.369 |bibcode=2012Eleme...8..369M |issn=1811-5209}}</ref> This has led to an ever-growing search for REE ore and novel ways of extracting said elements.<ref name="Mariano-2012" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chakhmouradian |first1=A. R. |last2=Wall |first2=F. |date=2012-10-01 |title=Rare Earth Elements: Minerals, Mines, Magnets (and More) |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/elements/article/8/5/333-340/137928 |journal=Elements |language=en |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=333–340 |doi=10.2113/gselements.8.5.333 |bibcode=2012Eleme...8..333C |issn=1811-5209}}</ref>