structural:scholar_edition
History

Metallurgy began with the direct working of native metals such as gold, lead and copper. Placer deposits, for example, would have been the first source of native gold. The first exploited ores were copper oxides such as malachite and azurite, over 7000 years ago at Çatalhöyük. These were the easiest to work, with relatively limited mining and basic requirements for smelting. It is believed they were once much more abundant on the surface than today. After this, copper sulphides would have been turned to as oxide resources depleted and the Bronze Age progressed. Lead production from galena smelting may have been occurring at this time as well.

The smelting of arsenic-copper sulphides would have produced the first bronze alloys. The majority of bronze creation however required tin, and thus the exploitation of cassiterite, the main tin source, began. 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.

Until the 18th century gold, copper, lead, iron, silver, tin, arsenic and mercury were the only metals mined and used. In recent decades, Rare Earth Elements have been increasingly exploited for various high-tech applications. This has led to an ever-growing search for REE ore and novel ways of extracting said elements.