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The article explores on the history of the mining town of Altamont in Mariposa County, California. It highlights the discovery of gold in the mountain goldfields during the Gold Rush of the residents in the state. It also notes that the miners were of Mexican descent due to ethnic prejudice in the mining industry.

This article considers the career and life of Jessie White Mario. Her journalism and writing offer a unique perspective on the tumultuous period of Italian history, during the Risorgimento, yet are often overlooked. Her later work highlighting the terrible plight of workers in Sicilian sulphur mines was fundamental in raising awareness of their situation. Yet, it too is largely unknown in the country of her birth. Motivated by the love of a country that was not her own, defiant of the strictures and expectations placed upon her, because of her gender, White Mario is a figure that should be celebrated and remembered, not consigned to future neglect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Georg Agricola's De Re Metallica (1556) is an impressive work about mining arts and sciences, still used as a reference work to understand the mining world of his time and to analyze the relationships between scholars and practitioners. This essay begins by studying how Agricola presents the underground surveying, also known as geometria subterranea. How does the author's mathematics relate to contemporary geometry or to actual surveying practices? Second, the essay contrasts his scholarly approach with sixteenth-century administrative and technical documents, as well as mining sermons. Comparing the practical geometry contained in the De Re Metallica with different kinds of sources helps to question the relationships between the arts and natural and exact sciences in the practical settings of early modern Europe. Finally, it argues for a distinction between the inquiry on the historical progress of mathematics in civil life and philosophical questions about the rise of new sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article presents information on the history of the Southwestern United States and Mexico during the pre-Hispanic era, outlining the trading infrastructure, mining, and warfare in the region up to the 16th century. Archaeological evidence is cited to describe the histories of each element of Mesoamerican civilization before Western colonization, outlining the existence of established trade routes, the extent of mining and agricultural systems, and investigation into patterns of warfare between rival indigenous societies.

The comparative analysis of artifact assemblages is simultaneously enticing and daunting. New research questions can potentially be addressed but a number of limiting factors can hinder the process. The first section of this paper will examine these limitations; the remainder of the paper proposes a model for conducting comparative research via archaeological biography, data mining, and tracing material and quality-of-life trajectories. The model was developed for the Gold Rush Lives project, which seeks to trace how everyday people faired in gold-rush era cities in Victoria, Australia. Drawing from the comparison of two households in Little Lon, Melbourne, the paper will make the case for comparing material trajectories rather than data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of History Studies (13094688) is the property of History Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the trends in natural resource use from early human history, focusing on mineral and fossil fuel resources. Topics covered include how societies define a natural resource, history of mineral and fossil usage, and sustainable options for reducing per capita natural resource consumption.

The term “Comstock capitalism” describes new commercial, legal, and scientific conditions emergent in the silver mining industry of the early 1860s in western Nevada. On the Comstock, the first joint-stock mining companies in the American West were incorporated, and stockholders, “the speculative interest,” underwrote exceptional investments in large labor forces, powerful machines, cutting-edge engineering, and, most importantly, incessant litigation. In high-stakes court cases over mining rights, men of science, as expert witnesses, played central roles in the takeover of silver mining by big, well-financed companies. The development of Comstock capitalism essentially rested on the consolidation of scientific theory. Where once there had been numerous silver veins, geologists found a new object of nature—an immense single deposit called the Comstock Lode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining heritage refers to a complex of both tangible and intangible features and values whose formation was associated with the development of mining activities in the given region. After mining activities are completed, original industrial and related subsidiary structures either fall into dereliction or are subject to conversion. One of frequent modes of transformation of objects is their presentation as heritage and utilization for the needs of tourism. The way of its interpretation and presentation to the public plays a very important role in mining heritage preservation, since it may be attributed not only historical and architectural values, but may also reflect political or ideological background of the period in which it was formed. The paper discusses the definition of mining heritage and the questions concerning its origin, recognition, protection, management and interpretation in the case of the Jáchymovsko area, part of the cross-border mountainous region in Czech-German borderland which is being proposed to be included into the UNESCO heritage list. The Jáchymovsko area is distinguished by the fact that it combines a 500-year-old history of mineral extraction and therefore local mining heritage is very diverse. Thus, different types of local mining heritage and its conversion for other purposes (e.g., tourism) are analysed, ways of local mining heritage identification, management and interpretation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades financial relationships between conservation and extraction have become conspicuously close. Both sectors unabashedly publicized these business deals as a form of greening extraction and marketizing conservation. This essay uses a case study in Perú to propose a tentative theory of how this seemingly incompatible but very profitable union unfolds on the ground. The development of fictitious commodities in nature for each sector is examined and the labor theory of value is combined with the labor of persuasive work to expose a fundamental shared need in both sectors: in Perú's contemporary political and economic context extractive and conservation actors increasingly must persuade landowners-usually indigenous communities-to allow for specific forms of capital to flow through their territory. In some cases this need to secure the 'social license' is shared across sectors and the labor to secure the license can be undertaken together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lípez Altiplano is an arid and cold highland desert, where population density was always low and there was no urbanization. Pre-Hispanic, the regional distribution of the population was related to the environment: the majority was concentrated where quinoa agriculture was possible. Following the Spanish conquest, however, mining activity allowed an unprecedented demographic development in those highlands. In this study, I analyze the consequences of mining activities on demography and socio-economic activities in Lípez, before, during and after the apogee of its most important colonial mine, San Antonio del Nuevo Mundo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the reuse, or reclamation, of land and landscapes formerly used in surface mining in rural southeastern Kansas from the late 1960s through the early 21st century, including through referencing the history of mining in the region from the 1860s through the 1970s. The environmental degradation caused by Kansas coal mining is discussed. The revegetation of former mining land in Kansas is also discussed.

Metal ore extraction in historical times has left a legacy of severe contamination in aquatic ecosystems around the world. In the UK, nationwide surveys of present-day pollution discharged from abandoned mines are ongoing but few assessments of the magnitude of contamination and impacts that arose during historical metal mining have been made. We report one of the first multi-centennial records of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) fluxes into a lake (Brotherswater, northwest England) from point-sources in its catchment (Hartsop Hall Mine and Hogget Gill processing plant) and calculate basin-scale inventories of those metals. The pre-mining baseline for metal contamination has been established using sediment cores spanning the past 1500 years and contemporary material obtained through sediment trapping. These data enabled the impact of 250 years of local, small-scale mining (1696-1942) to be quantified and an assessment of the trajectory towards system recovery to be made. The geochemical stratigraphy displayed in twelve sediment cores show strong correspondence to the documented history of metal mining and processing in the catchment. The initial onset in 1696 was detected, peak Pb concentrations (>10,000 µg g) and flux (39.4 g m year) corresponded to the most intensive mining episode (1863-1871) and twentieth century technological enhancements were reflected as a more muted sedimentary imprint. After careful evaluation, we used these markers to augment a Bayesian age-depth model of the independent geochronology obtained using radioisotope dating (C, Pb, Cs and Am). Total inventories of Pb, Zn and Cu for the lake basin during the period of active mining were 15,415, 5897 and 363 kg, respectively. The post-mining trajectories for Pb and Zn project a return to pre-mining levels within 54-128 years for Pb and 75-187 years for Zn, although future remobilisation of metal-enriched catchment soils and floodplain sediments could perturb this recovery. We present a transferable paleolimnological approach that highlights flux-based assessments are vital to accurately establish the baseline, impact and trajectory of mining-derived contamination for a lake catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the transformative nature of 'artisanal frontier mining' in view of sub-Saharan Africa's mining history. Artisanal gold production has generated livelihood earnings for millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet we must go beyond a study of artisanal mining as an individual livelihood choice and consider the sector's internal dynamics. In this sense, the concept of 'labour transformation' is helpful. It refers to a process in which individuals' skill acquisition, economic exchange, psychological reorientation, and social positioning evolve towards a shared occupational identity and collective professional norms, leaving considerable scope for self-governance amongst artisanal miners. This process is captured in the notion of the 'frontier', which in our case refers to occupational rather than geographic locational change. However, the frontier is necessarily of limited temporal duration given the existence of gold as a non-renewable resource, the depth of the gold supply sinking beyond the exploratory and extractive reach of artisanal miners, and the expanding interests of foreign mining corporations and the state. Our argument is illustrated through a comparison of the artisanal mining experiences of two neighbouring countries, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), whose artisanal labour patterns are remarkably similar to each other despite their very different national political contexts and the DRC's recent experience of conflict mineral production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses women in coal mining industry in Great Britain. Topics discussed include coal mines in Great Britain, open cast coal mining and history of mining. Other topics which includes portrayal of working class life in film and television and economic roles for women are also discussed.

The article offers information on several congresses on history to be held in the U.S. in 2016 including the 2016 Annual Conference Environmental History and It's Publics, Mining History Association's annual meeting, and Exploring Western Horizons 56th Annual Conference.

This article explores British, Australian and New Zealand phosphate mining histories in Oceania, with a particular focus on the impact of mining on Banaba, also called Ocean Island, in Kiribati, the former Gilbert Islands Colony. The Ocean Island case provides insight into the nature of Australia's imperial relationship with the Pacific Islands, putting into context, for example, its current relationship with Nauru as a host for refugee detention centres. Both islands were mined for phosphate by the British Phosphate Commissioners which operated out of centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and London. Islands such as Banaba, once critical for Australian agriculture, are absent in Australian public memory but the effects of Banaba's environmental and social ruining endure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the history and mineralogy of the manganese mine in Keweenaw County, Michigan. The mine is one of the two manganese oxide deposits in the Keweenaw Peninsula which is situated in a densely forested area. The mine is believed to have been discovered by Dr. Douglass Houghton, the first state geologist of Michigan.

Copyright of Archaeologia Historica is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copper making in the Swansea district began in the 1690s and continued down to the 1920s. This unusually lengthy industrial history divides into two distinct periods on either side of 1830. Before 1830 Swansea's smelters were supplied with ores from within the Hibemo-British Isles; after 1830 Swansea's supply chains went global, stretching to Australasia, Latin America, southern Africa and the Caribbean. It was a moment of precocious globalization. This brief article sets out a chronology for Swansea copper's global phase and reviews the main mining zones from which ore was drawn. The outward flow of British capital and industrial migrants, largely Cornish and Welsh, is also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre la historia de las reales mineros en Nueva España, una región colonial español que consistió en partes de América Central actual. El autor comenta sobre la popularidad de las minas entre la gente novohispana a causa de la posibilidad de ganar una fortuna. También se considera la toma de la tierra de los grupos indígenas con el fin de establecer centros de minera.

El artículo discurre sobre la historia de la minería desde el periodo conocido como la prehistoria. El autor provee una lista de las fechas más importantes en el desarrollo del la minería, incluyendo los primeros rastros de la minería subterránea en África en 40,000 a.C., el descubrimiento del primer diamante grande en Sudáfrica en 1866 y la prohibición de mujeres en la profesión minería en Japón en 1933.

The Sarepta, oder Bergpostill (1562) by Johann Mathesius is a book of sermons on mining and mineral subjects in which the composition and generation of metals in ore veins are discussed in terms of the sulfur-mercurius theory. Gur was an embodiment of mercurius or of sulfur and mercurius. Sulfur was evident in the sulfurous odor of the mines, in the supposed effects of subterranean heat, and in the deposition of mineral sulfur during the roasting of the ores. The toxic smoke given off during smelting was considered to be an additional manifestation of mercurius. Mathesius's sermons offer a glimpse of the ways miners' understanding of ores overlapped with alchemists' theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colonial mines of Huancavelica in central Peru boasted unique status, as the sole significant colonial American source of mercury, the main catalyst in the production of silver. This importance notwithstanding, Huancavelica remains relatively little known, in part because its historiography lies widely dispersed among journals and edited collections. This article seeks to facilitate further research by reviewing all significant existing work on the mines (more than eighty publications in total). In doing so, it provides a new guide to the history of Huancavelica, designed primarily to highlight major areas still requiring the attention of scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview on the mineralogy and history of the Saint Louis Mine in Houghton County, Michigan. In 1844, the U.S. War Department instituted a land office in Copper Harbor that released leased land permits to individuals to mine copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula and the Isle Royale. In 1898, the assets of the Saint Louis Copper Co. was acquired by the Calumet and Hecla Mining Co. which initiated a diamond drilling program in 1910.

The article reports on the mining industry, the identification of its environmental impact and regulation in Australia. It offers information on the history of mining and the development of a commodities and resource base. It examines the dumping of mine waste in water resources that led to acid mine drainage, pollution and sedimentation problems at Mount Lyell and Rum Jungle. It discusses the documentation of mine waste to improve monitoring and rehabilitation in the industry.

As the industrialization process in Western European countries took off in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they largely turned to Asia and Africa for raw materials and other resources, as well as for markets of their manufactures. Various entrepreneurial diasporas, including the Indians, Lebanese and Chinese, were at the forefront to exploit these burgeoning economic possibilities, particularly in gathering local mineral and agricultural commodities and marketing European goods in the Afro-Asian regions. The Chinese activities in Southeast Asia stood out: they not only presided over the commercial realm but also organized mining production and cash crop agriculture in ways largely autonomous of the colonial regimes and Western entrepreneurs. How can we explain the dominance of the Chinese migrants and sojourners in the Southeast Asian economy from the 1850s to the 1930s? This paper repudiates the existing literature, which largely credits their economic presence to conscious immigration policies of the colonial authorities, and instead highlights the effects of a confluence of developments in the early modern period (ca. 1450–1800), including the sidelining of South Asians, West Asians, and regional trading communities in favor of the Chinese. A particular focus is the roles played by symbolic capital and mechanisms of advanced credit and spiral marketing, and how these gave the Chinese a comparative advantage over other trading groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Opera Corcontica is the property of Sprava Krkonosskeho Narodniho Parku and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the history of mining in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany in relation to the life of philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in light of its relevance to the history of earth sciences. Topics included a controversy regarding Leibniz's effort to drain the hardrock mines in Clausthal-Zellerfeld using windmills, the importance of fieldwork and local history for research in mining history, and the role of the history of mining in the discipline of history of science as a growing interest.

A bibliography on the history of mining is presented which includes the book "Southeastern Arizona Mining Towns," by William Ascarza, the doctoral dissertation "Coming to the Surface: The Environment, Health, and Culture in Butte, Montana," by Stacie Lynn Barry, and the article "Gas Detection Through the Ages," by Jeremy Davalle.

In February-March 2005 we made a reconnaissance survey of ancient mines on the northern edge of the Dasht-e Kavir desert of Iran. This survey was part of a larger landscape survey of the Shahroud Region, to assess the potential of the area concerning ancient mines and related sites. Totally, we surveyed 270 mines and 41 slag sites, which are concentrated in areas of Torud, Reshm, Kouh Zar, Zardabie and Raze va Shesh. The surveyed mines include copper, lead, zinc, iron, gold, and turquoise deposits, some of them located as high as 2300 m above sea level. According to mining techniques and surface finds, it seems that most of the surveyed mines belong to the historical and Islamic periods, but there are indications that suggest a prehistoric date for some of the mines in Kouh-e Baba Ahmad, north of Reshm village, and Chah Messi near Torud village. Among the surveyed mining area, Reshm has surprisingly remained untouched, with several evidences of different types of mining activities, including miner residences, areas for crushing ores and smelting installations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, the author uses an interdisciplinary approach to discuss the early twentieth-century mining site he explored in 1992 in the Black Rock Desert region of Nevada, focusing especially on the area near the geographic feature known as Silver Camel in Humboldt County. He considers how archaeological excavations in arid regions differ from those in forested areas, notes that the site contained artifacts less than 100 years old adjacent to artifacts thousands of years old, and explores the relationship between history and archaeology.

A bibliography is presented on the subject of the history of mining including the books "The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama," by Ethel Armes, "Southwestern New Mexico Mining Towns," by Jane Bardal, and "Gold in Kirkland Lake," by Michael Barnes.

The article discusses the use of mules in coal mining in the U.S. prior to World War II. It describes what the author identifies as the typical environment for mine mules, including stabling mules in the mines, which the author states changed their eyesight in order to adapt to the small amount of light to which they were exposed. The author states that feed and straw were brought to the mules in coal cars, the mules were stabled behind steel doors to prevent rodents from infesting their food. The article describes the relationship between the mining mules, their drivers, and other mineworkers. The author also discusses how mules adapted following retirement from the mines and how the development of steam locomotive and electricity gradually replaced mules.

The Upper Burnett district of southeast Queensland, Australia is a landscape of working class resilience in the face of natural and institutional oppression. The Upper Burnett was the site of numerous small goldmining towns throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Physically, most of these towns now survive only as archaeological remnants, yet both the tangible heritage elements and the intangible forms of labour heritage, such as stories in the landscape and of movement between places, contribute to the shared and continued attachment of the Burnett community to its mining history. Historical archaeological, sociological and landscape studies, including long-term projects working with descendents of the mining families, have provided detailed insight into the palimpsest of meanings applied to the social landscape of the working class inhabitants. Oral history, documentary and archaeological research have been conducted on the townships of Paradise, Mount Shamrock, Monal and Cania. The cultural landscape of these towns can be seen as a complex heritage of working class pastimes, networks of labour through kin and fictive kin relationships, strategic movement across the region and the interaction between communities. Although the local museums tend to memorialise the physical heritage of the goldmining through collecting and displaying the impressive material culture (such as stampers, berdan pans, mine wheels, etc.), it is the stories, meanings, diaries, and the continued attachments to these places today that play the larger role in the remembering of the working class past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]