Editing Mining (section)

===Medieval Europe===
{{main|Mining and metallurgy in medieval Europe}}
[[File:Georgius Agricola.jpg|thumb|upright|Agricola, author of ''[[De Re Metallica]]'']]
[[File:Gallery medieval silver mine Germany southern Black Forest 12th century.jpg|thumb|upright|Gallery, 12th to 13th century, Germany]]
Mining as an industry underwent dramatic changes in [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]]. The mining industry in the early [[Middle Ages]] was mainly focused on the extraction of [[copper]] and [[iron]]. Other [[precious metal]]s were also used, mainly for gilding or coinage. Initially, many metals were obtained through [[open-pit mining]], and [[ore]] was primarily extracted from shallow depths, rather than through deep mine shafts. Around the [[14th century]], the growing use of [[weapons]], [[armour]], [[stirrup]]s, and [[horseshoe]]s greatly increased the demand for iron. Medieval [[knights]], for example, were often laden with up to {{convert|100|lb}} of plate or [[Chain mail|chain link armour]] in addition to [[sword]]s, [[lances]] and other weapons.<ref>A culture of Improvement. Robert Friedel. MIT Press. 2007. p. 81</ref> The overwhelming dependency on iron for military purposes spurred iron production and extraction processes.

The silver crisis of 1465 occurred when all mines had reached depths at which the shafts could no longer be pumped dry with the available technology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115CH7.html |title=Chapter 7: Medieval Silver and Gold |publisher=Mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu |access-date=2013-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130714062613/http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~GEL115/115ch7.html |archive-date=2013-07-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although an increased use of [[banknote]]s, credit and [[copper]] [[coins]] during this period did decrease the value of, and dependence on, [[precious metals]], [[gold]] and [[silver]] still remained vital to the story of medieval mining.

Due to differences in the social structure of society, the increasing extraction of mineral deposits spread from [[central Europe]] to England in the mid-sixteenth century. On the continent, mineral deposits belonged to the crown, and this regalian right was stoutly maintained. But in England, royal mining rights were restricted to [[gold]] and [[silver]] (of which England had virtually no deposits) by a judicial decision of 1568 and a law in 1688. [[England]] had [[iron]], [[zinc]], [[copper]], [[lead]], and [[tin]] ores. [[Landlords]] who owned the base metals and coal under their estates then had a strong inducement to extract these metals or to lease the deposits and collect royalties from mine operators. English, [[Germany|German]], and [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[Capital (economics)|capital]] combined to finance extraction and [[refining]]. Hundreds of German [[technicians]] and skilled workers were brought over; in 1642 a colony of 4,000 foreigners was mining and smelting copper at [[Keswick, Cumbria|Keswick]] in the northwestern mountains.<ref>Heaton Herbert (1948) ''Economic History of Europe.'' A Harper International Edition. Fifth printing. February 1968. p. 316</ref>

Use of water power in the form of [[water mill]]s was extensive. The water mills were employed in crushing ore, raising ore from shafts, and ventilating galleries by powering giant [[bellows]]. [[gun powder|Black powder]] was first used in mining in [[Banská Štiavnica|Selmecbánya]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]] (now [[Banská Štiavnica]], Slovakia) in 1627.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1007/s00334-007-0096-8|title = Analysis of the fuel wood used in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age copper mining sites of the Schwaz and Brixlegg area (Tyrol, Austria)| journal=Vegetation History and Archaeobotany| volume=17| issue=2| pages=211–21|year = 2008|last1 = Heiss|first1 = Andreas G.| last2=Oeggl| first2=Klaus| bibcode=2008VegHA..17..211H | citeseerx=10.1.1.156.1683|s2cid = 15636432}}</ref> Black powder allowed blasting of rock and earth to loosen and reveal ore veins. Blasting was much faster than [[fire-setting]] and allowed the mining of previously impenetrable metals and ores.<ref>The use of Firesetting in the Granite Quarries of South India Paul T. Craddock The Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society, Vol. 13 Number 1. 1996</ref> In 1762, one of the world's first mining academies was established in the same town there.

The widespread adoption of agricultural innovations such as the iron [[plowshare]], as well as the growing use of metal as a building material, was also a driving force in the tremendous growth of the iron industry during this period. Inventions like the [[arrastra]] were often used by the Spanish to pulverize ore after being mined. This device was powered by animals and used the same principles used for grain [[threshing]].<ref>"The Spanish Tradition in Gold and Silver Mining." Otis E. Young ''[[Arizona and the West]]'', Vol. 7, No. 4 (Winter, 1965), pp. 299–314 (''Journal of the Southwest'') {{JSTOR|40167137}}.</ref>

Much of the knowledge of medieval mining techniques comes from books such as [[Biringuccio]]'s ''[[De la pirotechnia]]'' and probably most importantly from [[Georg Agricola]]'s ''[[De re metallica]]'' (1556). These books detail many different mining methods used in German and Saxon mines. A prime issue in medieval mines, which [[Georgius Agricola|Agricola]] explains in detail, was the removal of water from mining shafts. As miners dug deeper to access new veins, flooding became a very real obstacle. The mining industry became dramatically more efficient and prosperous with the invention of mechanically- and animal-driven pumps.