Copper Mining

Tematyka problemów telekomunikacji w górnictwie podziemnym rozumiana jako: nadawanie, przesyłanie oraz odbiór informacji jakiejkolwiek natury (głosu, znaków, sygnałów, obrazów czy dźwięków) drogą przewodową, radiową czy optyczną jest poruszana na sesjach największej konferencji środowiska górniczego w Polsce: Szkole Eksploatacji Podziemnej już od kilkunastu lat.

Początkowo były to referaty poświęcone głównie zagadnieniom telekomunikacyjnych systemów bezpieczeństwa pracujących w
kopalniach, w tym w szczególności systemom łączności i alarmowania załogi, gazometrii, łączności radiowej, sejsmometrii i lokalizacji zasypanych górników. W miarę rozwoju systemów telekomunikacyjnych i wprowadzania do kopalń coraz to nowszych technologii telekomunikacyjnych pojawiały się referaty dotyczące iskrobezpiecznych systemów łączności ogólnozakładowej, łączności stosowanej w czasie prowadzenia akcji ratowniczych, systemów łączności dyspozytorskiej
i radiowej, szczególnie z wykorzystaniem kabla promieniującego.

Tak ważna problematyka sprawiła, że od kilku lat jedna z Sesji Szkoły Eksploatacji Podziemnej, organizowana wspólnie z pracownikami Zespołu Atestacji Katedry Elektryfikacji i Automatyzacji Górnictwa Politechniki Śląskiej, jest poświęcona systemom telekomunikacyjnym eksploatowanym w kopalniach, w tym w szczególności systemom monitorowania procesów technologicznych.

Tematyka ta jest szczególnie aktualna w kontekście tworzenia dyspozytorni energomechanicznych, czyli stanowisk obserwacyjnych podstawowych maszyn i urządzeń górniczych eksploatowanych w kopalniach. Początkowym ograniczeniem w rozwoju tych systemów był słaby rozwój kopalnianych systemów teletransmisyjnych. Technika światłowodowa w wykonaniu przeciwwybuchowym bezpiecznym optycznie (najczęściej z cechą „op is”) oraz pokonanie problemów
technicznych związanych z naprawią włókien światłowodowych w wyrobiskach podziemnych umożliwiły również szybki rozwój i tego rodzaju usług telekomunikacyjnych.
Stoimy przed specyficznymi problemami (ograniczeniami) jakie stwarza środowisko techniczne podziemi kopalń. Do najważniejszych należy zaliczyć:
- konieczność stosowania urządzeń elektrycznych (telekomunikacyjnych) budowy przeciwwybuchowej, a w kopalniach niemetanowych o stopniu ochrony obudowy min IP54,
- nietypowa struktura wyrobisk objawiająca się małymi (kilkumetrowe) wy-
miarami porzecznymi, w stosunku do ich bardzo dużych (kilometrowych)
wymiarów podłużnych,
- duże nagromadzenie (w ograniczonych przestrzeniach) sieci i urządzeń elektroenergetycznych o bardzo dużych mocach,
- ograniczona ciągłość (pewność) zasilania urządzeń telekomunikacyjnych z sieci elektroenergetycznych, powodowana między innymi nieplanowanymi włączeniami, wywołanymi najczęściej zadziałaniem zabezpieczeń elektroenergetycznych czy metanometrycznych.

Zainteresowanie tą problematyką w czasie obrad każdej Szkoły Eksploatacji Podziemnej jest ogromne, o czym świadczy ilości referatów nadsyłanych na tą sesję i ożywione dyskusje prowadzone w czasie ich prezentowania. To spowodowało, że zagadnieniom monitoringu w procesie eksploatacji złóż jest poświęcona druga już publikacja Szkoły Eksploatacji Podziemnej. W publikacji tej zebrano przede wszystkim referaty poruszające zagadnienia monitoringu technologicznego w kopalniach podziemnych.
Zebrane referaty stanowią podsumowanie jednej z najważniejszych sesji Szkoły Eksploatacji Podziemnej, pt.: Monitoring, sterowanie i wizualizacja procesów podziemnej eksploatacji złóż z lat 2011-2014, które od kilku lat z satysfakcją organizujemy.

Wierzymy, że ta sesja podobnie jak niniejsza MONOGRAFIA będzie cieszyła się tak dużym zainteresowaniem, jak dotychczas również i w przyszłości..

Copper (Cu), chemical element, soft, tough, malleable, and reddish-brown metal of Group 11 or IB of the periodic table with high electrical and thermal conductivity. The metal copper form an fcc crystal lattice found the free metallic state in the environment. The native copper was fairly abundant in nature and the extraction could be easily from its ores. The metal and its alloy like bronze (copper + tin) are used in history for mankind from the Bronze age (3500 BCE) in Neolithic and Mesopotamia civilization. Copper is present in hemocyanin of blood of cuttlefish helps for the formation of hemoglobin (an oxygen carrier) in the animal body, also present in plants like green peas. Archaeological discovered the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (3500 BC) famous for the mines of copper. The name copper derived from the Latin name Cuprum via Cyprium with chemical symbol Cu, atomic number 29, atomic weight 63.546, meting point 1084.6 °C, boiling point 2560 °C, density 8.95 gm cm and valence shell electron configuration of the atom [Ar] 3d 4s. The physical and chemical properties of high melting and density coinage or noble metals (copper, silver, gold family) are very similar in chemistry.-3, 10 1

In this paper, the actual state of the computer science and the role it has to play in managing manufacturing processes in mines were presented. The reasons for and the rationale behind the low advancement of the implementation of the information solutions were discussed. The Business Intelligence (Bl) issues were discussed in greater detail, the growing interest in Bl systems was discussed and the examples of the BI systems implementation were presented.

Three copper mines were worked between 1856 and 1892 near Belderrig in north County Mayo. First to be worked was Geevraun mine, followed by Lachtmurragha Mine and Srahlaghy Mine. Cornishman Martin Boundy was associated with all three workings. There has been some prospecting in the area since the mines closed.

High sulphidation gold systems are a unique and increasingly important type of mineral deposit.  These systems are formed within a vertical continuum from shallow epithermal environments to the upper portions of porphyry Cu-Au deposits.  This paper presents information on some of the largest and most important high sulphidation (HS) gold districts in the world.  This deposit type has become the dominant model for many international mineral exploration programs.  While the three largest HS districts in the world are located in Latin America (Yanacocha in Peru, Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic, and Pascua/Lama/Veladero in Chile/Argentina), these types of gold systems have been found in virtually every Cretaceous/Tertiary volcanic terrain that also hosts productive porphyry Cu-Au mineralization.  The post-Yanacocha high sulphidation gold discoveries at Pierina, Veladero/Pascua/Lama, Alto Chicama, Lagunas Norte, Alturas, El Sauzal, Santa Rosa (Puno) and Cerro Aruntani suggest that a focused exploration program targeting the geologic and alteration characteristics indicative of high sulphidation gold systems will meet with success.  The numerous geologists who worked on the development and advancement of the high sulphidation geologic model at the Yanacocha gold district deserve significant credit in defining and disseminating that knowledge to the industry.

Porphyry copper deposits result from the complex interactions and feedbacks of many processes. Owing to the complexity, a succinct definition that includes the essential attributes of this deposit class is elusive. Consequently, this descriptive model uses a working definition of a porphyry copper deposit. A porphyry copper deposit is
1. One wherein copper-bearing sulfides are localized in a network of fracture-controlled stockwork veinlets and as disseminated grains in the adjacent altered rock matrix;
2. Alteration and ore mineralization at 1-4 km depth are genetically related to magma reservoirs emplaced into the shallow crust (6-8+ km), predominantly intermediate to silicic in composition, in magmatic arcs above subduction zones;
3. Intrusive rock complexes that are emplaced immediately before porphyry deposit formation and that host the deposits are predominantly in the form of upright vertical cylindrical stocks and/or complexes of dikes;
4. Zones of phyllic-argillic and marginal propylitic alteration overlapping and surrounding a potassic alteration assemblage; and,
5. Copper may also be introduced during overprinting phyllic-argillic alteration events.

Copper was first commercially mined in Australia at Kapunda, South Australia, in 1844, followed by the finds at Burra in 1845. Smelting of copper ore commenced at Callington in SA in 1848 at a works set up by the Thomas family, smeltermen who had learned their trade in Wales and then worked in Chile. The experience gained in mining and smelting the South Australian copper, and the skills imported for that task, became the basis for much of the copper mining activities in the rest of Australia, including Queensland, throughout the remainder of the 19th century.

Copper mining and smelting commenced in Queensland in 1863, and over the next two decades a number of copper mining ventures were established there (see Map 1).


What makes the early Queensland copper mines especially interesting is that a surprising amount of evidence, particularly of the smelters, survives on the ground. The history and the surviving evidence of copper mining sites in Central Queensland constitutes a major resource in the study of this early phase of Australian mining. The sites described below were recorded and assessed as part of a survey of heritage mining places in southern and central Queensland.

Copper was first commercially mined in Australia at Kapunda, South Australia, in 1844, followed by the finds at Burra in 1845. Smelting of copper ore commenced at Callington in SA in 1848 at a works set up by the Thomas family, smeltermen who had learned their trade in Wales and then worked in Chile. The experience gained in mining and smelting the South Australian copper, and the skills imported for that task, became the basis for much of the copper mining activities in the rest of Australia, including Queensland, throughout the remainder of the 19th century.

Copper mining and smelting commenced in Queensland in 1863, and over the next two decades a number of copper mining ventures were established there.What makes the early Queensland copper mines especially interesting is that a surprising amount of evidence, particularly of the smelters, survives on the ground. The history and the surviving evidence of copper mining sites in Central Queensland constitutes a major resource in the study of this early phase of Australian mining. The sites described below were recorded and assessed as part of a survey of heritage mining places in southern and central Queensland.The paper outlines the history and description of the copper mines studied, then presents a brief overview of copper technology of the period in Queensland based on this information, discussing features that warrant further archaeological research.

The miner's house "im Blindis" in East Tyrol, in operation from the 16th to the 18th centuries, yielded 1560 textile fragments. The majority of these textiles were either knitted and plain woven or twill woven fabrics belonging to miner's apparel, bags or blankets. Textiles like these can also be found at contemporary mining sites in Austria. Some narrow tablet-woven bands of undetermined use and a broad tablet-woven band, probably used as carrying strap, do not have comparisons to date.

Urnfield period copper production at the fringe of the Eastern Alps. First results about nutrition and subsistence in the mining settlement of Prigglitz-Gasteil (Lower Austria)

Abstract: At Prigglitz-Gasteil (Lower Austria) an extensive mining settlement of the Urnfield period is located, where copper ore was mined, beneficiated and further processed. Since 2010 new excavations have been conducted at this site. Until now two terrain terraces with remains of timber constructions and metallurgical features have been investigated. Alongside copper production and processing, surprisingly many other activities can be evidenced in a limited area: the fabrication of miners’ tools from red deer antler, the sewing of cloths and the making of bone beads. Two thirds of the meat consumed by the miners consisted of pork which is shown to be typical for Eastern Alpine mining sites. A detailed analysis of the pig bones reveals remarkable analogies with a special butchering and meat processing technique which is only known from the prehistoric salt mine of Hallstatt where it is related with the production of salted ham. For the first time, similarities concerning food supply of salt and copper mining sites during the Urnfield period become apparent.

This work introduces a study of mining and metallurgy in the Guadalentín River valley (Murcia) in the 3rd-millennium cal BCE. This is the millennium that separates the first metallurgical manifestations in the region from the establishment of El Argar as a State. The study takes two separate contexts as a starting point: the natural resources and the main settlements with evidence of ore smelting.
An extensive survey has been undertaken which focused on the copper ore deposits of the whole of the Guadalentín valley, in an area of 110 km in a SW-NE axis and 50 km in a N-S axis. In the course of these surveys three mines with evidence of prehistoric mining have been identified: Cerro Minado (Huércal-Overa, Almería), Filón Consuelo (Cartagena, Murcia) and Balsicas (Mazarrón, Murcia). The analysis of their archaeological evidence and the respective comparison with the Late Prehistoric archaeometallurgical record of the Guadalentín valley allows us to propose dating all of them to the Copper Age.
In parallel, the main settlements of the Copper Age and beginnings of the Bronze Age have also been examined. Thanks to this, we have been able to obtain a wide range of materials tied to the smelting of ores that allow for a hitherto unseen approach to Late Prehistoric mining and metallurgy.
A first scientific probing was performed through the chemical study of 160 ores, both from copper mines and settlements. It has been a preference for the use of pFRX and on ground samples in order to learn the composition of both the copper ore and the associated gangue. Thanks to this method we have been able to characterise the resources of the Guadalentín valley geo-chemically. As a result, we have put forward a proposal concerning the Copper Age supply strategies. It has also made possible differentiating the mines with potential prehistoric use from those likely to have been dismissed.
The study of the metallurgical debris had the goal of defining how ores were used during smelting. Analytical work was performed on 40 copper smelting and melting debris –slags, slagged ceramics and crucibles - through PIXE, DRX, optical microscopic and SEM analysis.
The results have led me to define a complex and highly shifting situation whose main pivot was the intentional production of arsenical copper. From the very first centuries of its development, this arsenical copper metallurgy reveals an advanced knowledge of the properties of the ores and their distribution in the territory. The exploitation of ores and the production of copper shifted progressively along with the productive relations between men and women during the 3rd millennium cal BCE. Thus, the advent of the Bell Beaker phenomenon meant a first major transformation of the mining and metallurgical strategies. The climax of the larger process was the establishing of El Argar as a political entity in the whole of south-eastern Iberia at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE. This made the procurement of copper a State prerogative, resulting in the disappearance of mining and extractive metallurgy from the Guadalentín valley.

The program and the contents of the workshop “Archaeometallurgy in Sardinia : from the Origins to the early
Iron Age” were reported and discussed in Instrumentum nr. 21, June 2005.
We are now also publishing the proceedings in the journal Instrumentum.
The workshop was held on the 10th and 11th of September 2004 in Cagliari and Iglesias and was organized by
The Università degli Studi di Cagliari, the Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia, the Associazione per l'Università del
Sulcis Iglesiente.The members of the Organizing Committee were Prof. M.Cavallini, University “La Sapienza” Roma,
Prof. G.L. Garagnani, University of Ferrara, A. Giumlia-Mair,AGM Archeoanalisi, Merano (BZ), O. Lecis, at the time
President of AIM, F. Lo Schiavo, at the time CNR Rome, Prof.W. Nicodemi, University (Politecnico) of Milan, and
President of AIM, Prof. U. Sanna and Prof. R.Valera, both University of Cagliari.
Aim of the workshop was to launch a multi-authored study dealing with all aspects of prehistoric metallurgy on
Sardinia : the volume ArchaeoMetallurgy in Sardinia, from the origin to the beginning of Early Iron Age, 2005, F. Lo Schiavo,
A.Giumlia-Mair, U.Sanna & R.Valera (eds) has now appeared in the Collection “Monographies Instrumentum” (dir.
by M.Feugère) as vol. 30.
An Italian version to be printed in Cagliari is also planned.
At the workshop several studies on different aspects of European metallurgy in relation with Sardinia were presented and
are now collected here in short form in the review Instrumentum.The papers which are missing in this number will appear in

Peter Trebsche/Günther Weixelberger, A mining subsidence event around 920 BC in the Late Bronze Age copper mine of Prigglitz-Gasteil (Lower Austria). (Ein Bergschaden um 920 v. Chr. im spätbronzezeitlichen Kupferbergbau von Prigglitz-Gasteil [Niederösterreich]). Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 52/1, 2022, 41–64.

With the help of core drilling, it was possible in 2017 to find evidence of an open-pit copper ore mine in the area of the Urnfield period mining settlement of Prigglitz-Gasteil at the edge of the Eastern Alps. The open pit extended for at least 48 m in a north-south direction and reached a depth of more than 32 m below the present ground surface. The copper ore mine, located at the foot of the Gahns mountain, was already partially filled with tailings when a massive subsidence event occurred and a mighty landslide buried the open pit. This event took place around 920 BC, as shown by the analysis of a series of radiocarbon dates measured on pit timbers and other organic remains. After the subsidence event, copper mining continued without apparent interruption, but the spatial structure of the mining settlement changed.

Mit Hilfe von Kernbohrungen gelang es im Jahr 2017, Hinweise auf einen Kupfererz-Tagebau im Bereich der urnenfelderzeitlichen Bergbausiedlung von Prigglitz-Gasteil am Rand der Ostalpen zu finden. Der Tagebau erstreckte sich über mindestens 48 m in Nord-Süd-Richtung und erreichte eine Tiefe von mehr als 32 m unter der heutigen Geländeoberfläche. Die Kupfererzgrube am Fuß des Berges Gahns war bereits teilweise mit Haldenmaterial verfüllt, als eine Massenbewegung stattfand und eine mächtige Gleitscholle den Tagebau verschüttete. Dieses Ereignis fand um ca. 920 v. Chr. statt, wie die Auswertung einer Serie von Radiokarbondaten zeigt, die an Grubenhölzern und weiteren organischen Resten gemessen wurden. Nach dem Bergschaden wurde die Kupfergewinnung ohne erkennbare Unterbrechung weitergeführt, allerdings änderte sich die räumliche Struktur der Bergbausiedlung.

The Old Copper Complex and its hefty, utilitarian, copper artifacts have been a focus of North American archaeological research for almost a century. The Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) holds the largest collection of Old Copper Complex material culture, including a copper crescent with unique provenience. Previous research has indicated that Archaic exportation of Old Copper Complex copper tools extended as far south as St. Louis, however the MPM crescent was unearthed near Chattanooga, Tennessee. While Archaic trade routes crisscrossed North America, the presence of Old Copper Complex material culture is extremely rare to the archaeological record of Tennessee. Burials at Old Copper Complex and Late Archaic Tennessee sites have included copper from the Lake Superior area and marine shell from the Gulf Coast, which indicates that these social groups were involved in similar trade routes and may have had direct or down-the-line political and trade relationships.

The presence of this rare trade good in the Late Archaic archaeological record of Tennessee is indicative of a changing social environment. Once becoming involved with extensive trade routes and the exotic goods they bring, this Tennessean egalitarian society began to take on a transegalitarian structure. During this transitional period between an egalitarian and ranked social models, aggrandizers would have used exotic goods such as the copper crescent to gain influence within the community.  The existence of the Old Copper Complex crescent and other exotic trade goods in Archaic Tennessee sites point to the increasing importance on wealth goods in this changing social environment.

The Cliff Mine, an archaeological site situated on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, is the location of the first successful attempt to mine native copper in North America. Under the management of the Pittsburgh & Boston Mining Company from
1845-1879, two-third of the Cliff’s mineral output was in the form of mass copper, some pieces of which weighed over 5 tons when removed from the ground. The unique nature of mass copper and the Cliff Mine’s handling of it make it one of the best examples of early mining processes in the Keweenaw District. Mass copper only constituted 2% of the entire product of the Lake Superior copper districts, and the story of early mining on the
Peninsula is generally overshadowed by later, longer running mines such as the Calumet & Helca and Quincy Mining Companies. Operating into the mid-twentieth century, the size and duration of these later mines would come to define the region, though they would not have been possible without the Cliff’s early success. Research on the Cliff Mine has previously focused on social and popular history, neglecting the structural remains. However, these remains are physical clues to the technical processes that defined early mining on the Keweenaw. Through archaeological investigations, these processes and their associated networks were documented as part of the 2010 Michigan Technological Archaeology Field School’s curriculum. The project will create a visual representation of these processes utilizing Geographic Information Systems software. This map will be a useful aid in future research, community engagement and possible future interpretive planning.

This article discusses one of the ways in which the Inkas used
local production factors and created territoriality to extract
mining resources in Northern Chile. Based on the extensive
archeological information available for the upper Salado river
basin (ii Region of Antofagasta), the authors argue that, to a
large degree, the Inka occupation of that basin constituted an
agricultural-mining system that took the form of a cluster of
mining, agricultural and livestock production centers around
Turi, a local settlement from which agents of the Inka Empire
administrated the zone.

El objetivo de este artículo es discutir una de las formas en
que los inkas utilizaron los factores locales de producción y
crearon territorialidad para explotar recursos mineros en el
norte de Chile. Sobre la base de la amplia información arqueológica
existente en la cuenca alta del río Salado (ii Región
de Antofagasta), se sostiene que, en gran parte, la ocupación
inkaica de dicha cuenca conformó un sistema agrominero.
Este sistema tomó la forma de una aglomeración de faenas
mineras, agrícolas y ganaderas en torno a Turi, poblado local
desde donde los agentes estatales habrían administrado la zona.

La evidencia industrial indica que durante el transporte de relaves, en específico al ser sometidos a cizalle, éstos disminuyen sus valores reológicos (viscosidad y tensión de fluencia). Para estudiar este fenómeno se cizallaron muestras de relaves de distintas faenas mineras, utilizando dos tipos de sensores para la generación del cizalle controlado (paletas y helicoidal) y midiendo sus parámetros reológicos antes y después de cizalle con reómetro rotacional Haake RS6000. Para el desarrollo experimental se consideraron distintas velocidades de cizalle, concentraciones pulpas entre 70% y 74%, y muestras con y sin floculante, midiendo la variación en los valores de tensión de fluencia con un sensor de paletas (método vane). Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir una metodología de medición que logra cizallar y mantener la mezcla homogénea durante todo el período del ensayo (mayor a 15 minutos), es decir evita la sedimentación durante la medición. Se estima que se logra cizallar el 100% de la muestra, permitiendo un eventual trasvasije para la utilización de cualquier método de medición reológico, sin importar la porción de muestra a analizar. Dentro de los sensores evaluados el sensor de cinta helicoidal cumplió de mejor manera los requisitos planteados en el estudio.

Comparative study of the mining policies in the eleven western, or public land, states. Qualitative factors are evaluated using cluster analysis, and clusters are analyzed for similarities and differences. Results are compared to the Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies. It was found that the variation in mining policy in the west can provide evidence for regulatory capture of state governments by the mining industry.

Porphyry copper deposits—the primary source of the world’s
copper—are a consequence of the degassing of intrusion complexes
in magmatic arcs associated with ancient subduction
zones1,2. They are characterized by copper and iron sulphides,
commonly found with anhydrite (CaSO4), over scales of several
kilometres through intensely altered and fractured rocks1. The
magmatic source of the metals is broadly understood, but the
processes that transport and deposit the metals at themegaton
scale are unclear. The hydrogen sulphide necessary for metal
deposition is commonly assumed to form by a reaction between
sulphur dioxide and water, but this reaction is inecient3 and
cannot explain the formation of economic-grade deposits. Here
we use high-temperature laboratory experiments to show that
a very rapid chemisorption reaction occurs between sulphur
dioxide gas, a principal component of magmatic gas mixtures,
and calcic feldspar, an abundant mineral in the arc crust.
The chemisorption reaction generates the mineral anhydrite
and hydrogen sulphide gas, and triggers deposition of metal
sulphides. We use thermodynamic calculations to show that
as magmatic gas cools and expands the concentration of hydrogen
sulphide gas increases exponentially to drive ecient
deposition of metal sulphides and consequent formation of
economic-grade porphyry copper deposits.

¿Qué extraen y qué producen los extractivismos? El presente artículo intenta responder a esta pregunta analizando críticamente, la relación entre cuerpos, trabajo y minería principalmente bajo el modelo neoliberal chileno, en la mina estatal de cobre a tajo abierto más grande del planeta: Chuquicamata. Considero una aproximación biopolítica para entender dicha relación a partir del concepto “cuerpos de cobre”, que
indaga cómo las subjetividades mineras se articulan en y desde las esferas más íntimas de quienes producen el ‘salario de Chile’. Además, inspirada en desarrollos de la ecología política, conecto esta biopolítica con la idea de “modos de apropiación”. Así, intentando enriquecer debates sobre extractivismos en América Latina a través de la consideración de la perspectiva dócil, pero también, potencialmente liberadora, de los trabajadores implicados, propongo que los cuerpos de cobre –en tanto fuerzas productivas– son una pieza fundamental para comprender el modo extractivista cuprífero de apropiación.
https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jlca.12545

My presentation at the EAA congress in Maastricht 2017 was an experiment to squeeze the abundance of insights, thoughts, and questions, which came to me during the evaluation of the copper axe blade of Zug-Riedmatt, into only twenty minutes. There was not enough space to publish all these ideas in the official paper about the research (Gross/Schaeren/Villa 2017), but I did not want to loose them. I had to find a short form and I decided to stage it as a theatrical, fictional narrative.

The contents of this play or draft will probably never be published in a scientific journal; however, I would like to share and discuss them in the research community. And perhaps, some new ideas or approaches will grow out of the presentation and our collaboration.

I also ask for your help to ameliorate the bibliography. I’m not a specialist in metallurgies and there was no time for serious literature research into this extensive field of research. Together we could probably manage to create something helpful out of it. I beg your pardon, if I did not quote your works on relevant topics. It is only because I did not know them; therefore, if I missed you: Let me know! Furthermore, the distribution map of copper ore outcrops and anthropomorphic stelae on pp 8 is only a very rough draft. If you have anything to add, correct or ameliorate, please let me know.  Together, we could create better and permanently updated distribution maps and publish it here in the name of a team of involved authors.

What is your opinion about this form of presentation? It is intended as a plea for a more open archaeology: more open for play, passion, fiction, fantasy, freedom of thoughts and possible interpretations. Archaeology without concern about the malice of established research and without fear of making a fool of oneself. I hope this presentation will be midwife to the emergence of more artistic and free forms of discourse in archaeology.

This presentation intends to be an alternate narrative to the prevailing bloodless narrative of power and prestige, elites, warriors and heroes. It belongs as much to the world of magic as to our mundane world. I am quite sure that the relevance of magic and miracle is much underestimated in archaeology. Especially the bonds between magic and miners, founders and smiths seem to have been very strong since the emergence of early metals. These groups of people seem to be more relevant bearers of cultural innovation than some political elites above or beside them. In my opinion, Mircea Eliade’s theories published in ‘The Forge and the Crucible’ are more the product of his questionable ideological and political worldview than a starting point for a serious scientific debate. However, the evidence he referred to should be studied and entangled; the respective historical contexts should be reconsidered. We need to break open free from our evolutionistic occidental tunnel view and adopt a broader view on different traditions of early metallurgical societies in the Western Hemisphere, Asia and Africa (e.g. Hopewell tradition). What do you think?

I have to confess, I have never thought the official death investigation of the Iceman’s to be convincing. It is at least as fictional and not at all more probable than him having been a human sacrifice. If we together collect other suspicions, arguments and counter-arguments, we might be able to find and identify more likely interpretations.

Another point I would like to raise is that the ways in which the Iceman is exposed, exploited economically and abused by archaeologists and the press is voyeuristic, obscene and disrespectful. Chances are that this human being was intended to become a demon or a god in another realm, not part of a freak or peep show. The example of Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchj-Project shows a more respectful way to treat a frozen person, which I believe would be good to adopt (https://issuu.com/royalbcmuseum/docs/kdt_highlights). We must start thinking more about ethic values in archaeology of sacred places and bodies.

Further themes for discussion are proposed in the play’s epilogue in the handout. One of them opens new fields of research, quite unfamiliar for me. I believe that in order to unravel the complex interdependencies of technologies, landscapes and resources, trade and ritual routes, magic rituals, systems of thoughts, myths, linguistics and genetics, a broad transdisciplinary dialogue is urgently needed:
• Members of these groups involved in metallurgy, their knowledge, rituals, and material objects spread quickly over a vast space – first by boat from the Black Sea over the Mediterranean Sea then over the Alps. In large parts, this process started already in the second half of the 4th millennium - much earlier than had been assumed so far.
• Shared myths about smiths and miners may provide information about early copper metallurgy, Chalcolithic thought systems and magic rituals. The correlation between mystery-cults of the Daimones and Cybele on Lemnos and other Aegean islands on one side and remains of Helmut Rix’s common “Proto-Tyrsenic” languages in the regions of the later Etrurian, Rhaetian, Camunian language communities and on Lemnos on the other side could indicate an old connection between the southwest-Pontic metallurgy and “Etruria”, which might have started as early as in the second half of the fourth millennium BC
I’m looking forward to a vivid discussion.
Best wishes,

Eda Gross 17 October 2017

International Symposium of Archaeometry - Los Angeles - Mai 2014

This communication concerns the third millennium BC copper metallurgy from the Pyrénées to the Western Alps. It focuses specifically on the Late Neolithic and Bell Beaker period by studying collection from various archaeological sites.
This research uses a representative data set characterized by elemental and lead isotope analyses.

Budowa zakładu górniczego zaliczana jest do projektów o wysokim stopniu ryzyka inwestycyjnego. Nie tylko dlatego, że czas od momentu wykonania pierwszego otworu poszukiwawczego do rozpoczęcia działalności operacyjnej inwestycji wynosi około kilkunastu lat ale również dlatego, że wymaga długoterminowego zabezpieczenia warunków finansowania działalności z akceptacją dużego ryzyka docelowej wielkości posiadanych zasobów geologicznych i eksploatacyjnych (mesured i proven według klasyfikacji JORC), które w' ciągu tak długiego okresu mogą ulec diametralnym zmianom. Wiąże się to bezpośrednio z koniecznością poszukiwań nowych rozwiązań w obszarze zarządzania produkcją, które muszą wykazywać szczególnie dużą elastycznością w procesach planistycznych i odpowiednio szybko reagować na zachowania rynku.
Procesy planistyczne w ostatnich kilku latach stały się wyzwaniem interdyscyplinarnym łączącym zagadnienia geologii, górnictwa i ekonomii. Powiązanie tych obszernych zagadnień przysparza przedsiębiorstwom branży wydobywczej wiele problemów. Ten kierunek działania jest jednak niezbędny, jeżeli chcą one być konkurencyjne na obecnym rynku surowców mineralnych, dotyczy to zarówno nowych, ale także realizowanych projektów górniczych.
Efektywna predykcja parametrów produkcji górniczej ma szczególne znaczenie w procesie optymalizacji czasoprzestrzennego sczerpywania zasobów w dostosowaniu do pożądanych parametrów handlowych produktu. Harmonogram produkcji obejmuje wszystkie produkcyjne cykle życia projektu górniczego, tzw. Life of Mine od rozpoczęcia prospekcji i rozpoznania złoża, aż do procesu likwidacji zakładu. Warunkiem wykonania właściwej prognozy parametrów produkcyjnych, zarówno ilościowej, jak i jakościowej, jest poprawnie przygotowany model geologiczny oraz zlokalizowanie wyrobisk górniczych w przestrzeni 3D. Nowoczesne narzędzia IT dają możliwość uzyskania ciągłej informacji, np. odnośnie do grubości pokładu czy wartości parametru jakościowego w wybranym punkcie wyrobiska. Jednak do obliczeń parametrów produkcyjnych wymagane jest uśrednienie tych wartości w arbitralnie wybranych przestrzeniach zależnych od wymaganego poziomu szczegółowości
W przypadku tradycyjnych metod harmonogramowania produkcji, wartości te uśredniane są w przestrzeniach o znacznych wymiarach, co prowadzi do dużych rozbieżności między planowaną a realizowaną produkcją. Oczywiście istnieje możliwości ograniczanie tych przestrzeni, ale jest to proces czasochłonny, dlatego z reguły nie jest stosowany. Rozwiązania informatyczne dedykowane dla przemysłu wydobywczego dają również możliwość budowania trwałych zależności pomiędzy zadaniami produkcyjnymi. Dzięki temu zmiana terminu wykonania zadania skutkuje przesunięciem w czasie grupy innych zadań z nim powiązanych. Ta funkcjonalność znacznie skraca czas modyfikacji harmonogramu, jak również niemal od razu po wprowadzeniu odbiorów wskazuje aktualny harmonogram. Ma to bezpośrednie przełożenie na skrócenie czas uzyskania informacji odnośnie do produkcji przez osoby kierownictwa.
Obecnie stosowane metody harmonogramowania produkcji typu one by one nie dają możliwości uzyskania w prosty sposób trwałych zależności pomiędzy zadaniami. Ich wykonanie wymuszałoby na projektancie tworzenie dodatkowych skomplikowanych formuł, skryptów bądź aplikacji, co skutkowałoby wydłużeniem czasu przygotowywania harmonogramów. Obecnie, ze względu na brak stosowania trwałych zależności między zadaniami, czas modyfikacji bądź aktualizacji harmonogramów produkcji jest niezadowalająco długi.
Początki narzędzi IT dla sektora górniczego sięgają lat 70. XX wieku. Rozwój technologii informacyjnej w ostatnich kilkudziesięciu latach spowodował, że obecnie oferowane produkty znacznie różnią się od pierwszych rozwiązań. Obecnie na rynku istnieje kilkanaście marek oferujących produkty wspierające procesy modelowania geologicznego i planowania produkcji.
Autorzy artykułu, w ramach swojej pracy badawczej, analizowali możliwości zastosowania rozwiązań informatycznych przy budowie długoterminowych planów produkcyjnych stanowiących filar strategii każdej, nowoczesnej, patrzącej w przyszłość spółki górniczej.

In the Balearic Islands, there used to be a big imbalance between archaeometric studies of cupriferous minerals and studies of copper-based archaeological finds, with the former being almost overlooked. Our team had already started to gather and analyse copper mineral samples in Mallorca. These analyses have been substantially extended, thanks to a research grant from the IME (Minorca Research Institute). We present data relating to analyses of copper minerals that we were able to gather during prospecting activities in Minorca. For this purpose, Scanning Electron Microscopy with RX-EDS equipment was used, determining the elements that accompany the copper in order to characterize the different mineralizations as closely as possible. At the same time, a series of archaeological findings are also presented that open up new fields of research in the study of how copper was used in prehistoric Minorca.

Using a core periphery approach to technological diffusion, this paper examines the social, cultural, and environmental factors in which local innovation and invention take place. Though not strictly adhering to a world-systems analysis approach, this paper accepts that the relationship between traditions of industrial practice developed in core areas and in peripheral, emerging locales is the central concern from which innovation and invention can be best understood. Technological innovation is rarely an act of inspiration, commonly imagined as a light bulb suddenly turning on, but instead is a product of tried-and-true methods adapting to a continuing series of new challenges. This is why we call the action of carrying out a technical process practice rather than proficiency. Through the activity of practice, adaptations (or innovations) can be tested, modified, and implemented successfully. The nature of that relationship, that is, the strength or weakness of core traditional practice impacting emerging peripheries, should be integral in the formation of new and innovative practice.
The spread of Cornish copper mining technology during the mid-nineteenth century is an excellent context within which questions regarding a core periphery’s relationship impacts innovation can be asked. Beginning in the eighteenth century and continuing into the 1860s, Cornwall led the world in copper production. Economic depression in Britain along with the discovery of new copper deposits in other parts of the world eventually spelled the end of Cornish copper mining dominance (Hyde 1998). Two of the new discovered deposits were first developed (to differing degrees) by Cornish technical and mechanical assistance, allowing for core Cornish practice—removed from its geographic borders—to continue within peripheral locations. These two locations: the Copper Country of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and the Little Cornwall of South Australia, became successful mining districts yet each followed a different path with regard to its dependence on Cornish expertise.
Illustrating these differing paths requires asking questions about aspects of social organization, capital formation and dispersal, environmental constraints, flow of material goods, and machinery. The answers to these questions provide contextualized, rather than inferred, understandings of practice based equally on technology and those who think about, use, and react to that technology.

K transferu inovácií v stredoeurópskom hutníctve: Bartolomej Ľudovít Hechengartner (1702–1773) a zhutňovanie medi na Spiši v prvej polovici 18. storočia [Zum Innovationstransfer im mitteleuropäischen Hüttenwesen: Bartholomäus Ludwig Hechengartner (1702–1773) und die Kupferverhüttung in der Zips in der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts], in: Montánna história / Die Montangeschichte : Ročenka o dejinách baníctva a hutníctva / Jahrbuch für Geschichte des Berg- und Hüttenwesens 7 (2014), S. 162–199.

En el 2009, junto a varios colaboradores, escribí el manual " Protegiendo a su comunidad en contra de empresas mineras y otras industrias extractivas ". El objetivo fue informar a las comunidades de los principales problemas y amenazas que se presentan cuando empresas extractivas se interesan en explorar o explotar recursos naturales en territorios comunitarios. El otro objetivo fue compartir algunas estrategias que las comunidades podrían adoptar para protegerse de los peores impactos de dichas industrias. Una importante parte de la obra se basó en la experiencia de lucha en contra de varias empresas mineras transnacionales en el Valle de Intag, Ecuador, en la cual yo he participado activamente desde 1995. Consciente de que la mayoría de personas que viven en el campo (donde se libran la mayoría de estas luchas) no tienen tiempo para leer largos textos, me motivé a escribir el presente resumen de lo que considero es la información más elemental sobre el tema. Por suerte, hoy en día existen varios otros manuales donde Usted y su comunidad pueden-y deben-profundizar sus conocimientos para proteger a su comunidad (ver la lista al final). CÓMO EVITAR LA PRESENCIA DE EMPRESAS EN SU COMUNIDAD. Si Usted esta leyendo el presente documento se entiende que Usted y su comunidad tienen dudas sobre los supuestos beneficios que la actividad extractivista traerá a su comunidad, o se oponen abiertamente, y quieren buscar formas de frenar su avance. (Nota: cuando me refiero a al extractivismo, me refiero principalmente a las industrias minera y petrolera) El primer paso es hacer todo lo posible para evitar que las empresas ingresen a su comunidad. Infórmese Si Usted sospecha que el gobierno esta interesado en impulsar algún proyecto extractivo en su región, lo más importante es estar informado sobre dichos planes. Cómo hacerlo?  Revisando las páginas web del equivalente a los Ministerios de Minería y/o Petróleo (si no tiene acceso a la tecnología pídale a algún familiar o amigo en centros urbanos).  Solicitando información de parte de funcionarios gubernamentales sobre procesos de entrega u otorgamiento de concesiones (podría ser a través de asambleístas, legisladores o algún otro funcionario del gobierno nacional o local).  Si de un día para el otro aparecen en su comunidad algunas personas realizando encuestas sobre la realidad socio-económica, posiblemente sea el gobierno el interesado en entregar su territorio a empresas extractivas, o ya lo ha hecho. Este tipo de información le ayuda mucho a las empresas. Averigue bien la finalidad de las encuestas, y evite que entrevisten a las familias individualmente. Haga todo lo posible para que primero la comunidad acepte ser entrevistada y que conozca y apruebe las preguntas, y comprométanle a los encuestadores a compartir el resultado de la misma con la comunidad. Si se entera que el gobierno está planificando entregar sus territorios a empresas extractivistas, alerte rapidamente a su comunidad y comunidades aledañas, al igual que a grupos vulnerables que pueden ser afectados-como ganaderos, agricultores, operadores de turismo, etc. Al mismo tiempo, busque asistencia jurídica de parte de organizaciones no gubernamentales para analizar si se puede frenar el proceso. En la mayoría de países, las concesiones les otorgan ciertos derechos a las empresas que entran en conflictos con derechos colectivos.

The paper outlines the evolution of production monitoring systems used in the Polish mining industry, focusing in particular on control systems. A concept to put together a mine production management decision-aid system utilizing IT Solutions and production monitoring is discussed. The solution consists in integrating within a Production Reporting Center, proposed by the authors, series of data supplied from a monitored area and technological process visualization.