page_title: Silver mining
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Silver mining / History
caption_attribution_description: Early Athenian Coin, an "owl"
context_page_description: Silver mining is the resource extraction of silver by mining.
  Silver is found in a native form very rarely as nuggets, but more usually combined with sulfur, arsenic, antimony, or chlorine and in various ores such as argentite, chlorargyrite, and galena. As silver is often found in conjunction with these or alloyed with other metals such as gold, it usually must be further extracted through amalgamation or electrolysis.
  Silver mining has been undertaken since early times. As silver is a precious metal often used for coins, its mining has historically often been lucrative. As with other precious metals such as gold or platinum, newly discovered deposits of silver ore have sparked silver rushes of miners seeking their fortunes. In recent centuries, large deposits were discovered and mined in the Americas, influencing the growth and development of Mexico, Andean countries such as Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, as well as Canada and the United States.
context_section_description: Silver has been known since ancient times. Silver is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and slag heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate that silver was being separated from lead as early as the 4th millennium BC. The silver mines at Laurium were very rich and helped provide a currency for the economy of Ancient Athens. It involved mining the ore in underground galleries, washing the ores and smelting it to produce the metal. Elaborate washing tables still exist at the site using rain water held in cisterns and collected during the winter months.
  Extraction of silver from lead ore was widespread in Roman Britain as a result of Roman mining very soon after the conquest of the first century AD.
  From the mid-15th century silver began to be extracted from copper ores in massive quantities using the liquation process creating a boost to the mining and metallurgy industries of Central Europe.
caption: Early silver Athenian coin, 5th century BCE. British Museum.
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