At 12:05 12/04/2008, M J Shaw wrote:
>I think that I remember a discussion in the list some time back
>about the possibility that some lead ores found near the surface
>could have or had a higher silver content than is now believed to
>have been the case. If my memory is correct does anyone know if
>there have been any developments with this research.
Discussion on the north Pennine ores was mentioned in an earlier
message. Unfortunately, because the exact source of the
silver-bearing ores in the north Pennines is not known with any
certainty and we, the historians, are working on very limited
statistical evidence, it has not been possible to come to any real
accommodation with the geologists as to the processes affecting the
lead based ores in that area but, to my mind, weathering must have
resulted in enhanced silver values. There is certainly good
documentary evidence for that process at Bere Ferrers in south-west
Devon where run of the mine ores in the early fourteenth century
yielded a far greater proportion of silver than that worked in depth
in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Peter
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Dr Peter Claughton,
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