At 08:47 17/01/05 +0000, Rob Ixer wrote:
>And yet there is very little silver in any of the mineralogy!
Yet there is good archaeological evidence for silver extraction in the
Roman occupation period and the occasional reference in the late medieval.
The lack of modern mineralogical evidence for high silver values in areas
where there is archaeological / documentary evidence for medieval or
earlier silver extraction, areas like Mendip and the Northern Pennines, is
a problem. It does suggest that the early miners were working a shallow
enriched zone, leaving no evidence for the modern geologist. There is
perhaps one exception. Documentary / numismatic evidence does suggest
silver extraction in the Derbyshire Peak District; for which the discovery
in the 18th century of a shallow silver-rich deposit in the Balls Eye Mine
provides good geological evidence in an area where the normal silver range
is only 2-4 ozs per ton (Green et al., The Geology of ... North Derbyshire,
1887, citing Short, Mineral Waters, 1734).
Peter
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Dr Peter Claughton,
Blaenpant Morfil, nr. Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. +44 (0)1437 532578; Fax. +44 (0)1437 532921; Mobile +44 (0)7831 427599
Hon. University Fellow
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies (Centre for South
Western Historical Studies)
University of Exeter
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Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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