A. Box B. Perforated box C. Trough D. Cross boards E. Pool F. Launder G. Shovel H. Rake

FAMOUS WOODCUT ILLUSTRATION -OF THE FIRST RAILWAY (Shows small wagons containing ore on wooden rails)

Rare woodcut from De Re Metallica printed in 1560, which was the the most famous study on all aspects of mining and metallurgy, and one of the first technological books of modern times.

The metalliferous material is sometimes found not very deep beneath the surface of the earth, but sometimes so deep that it is necessary to drive tunnels and sink shafts. It is transported to the washing-box in wheelbarrows, and when the washers are about to begin they lay a small launder, through which there flows on to the iron plate so much water as is necessary for this washing. Next, a boy throws the metalliferous material on to the iron plate with an iron shovel and breaks the small lumps, stirring them this way and that with the same implement. Then the water and sand penetrating the holes of the plate, fall into the box, while all the coarse gravel remains on the plate, and this he throws into a wheelbarrow with the same shovel. Meantime, a younger boy continually stirs the sand under the plate with a wooden scrubber nearly as wide as the box, and drives it to the upper end of the box; the lighter material, as well as a small amount of tin-stone, is carried by the water down into the underlying trough. The boys carry on this labour without intermission until they have filled four wheelbarrows with the coarse and worthless residues, which they carry off and throw away, or three wheelbarrows if the material is rich in black tin. Then the foreman has the plank removed which was in front of the iron plate, and on which the boy stood. The sand, mixed with the tin-stone, is frequently pushed backward and forward with a scrubber, and the same sand, because it is lighter, takes the upper place, and is removed as soon as it appears; that which takes the lower place is turned over with a spade, in order that any that is light can flow away; when all the tin-stone is heaped together, he shovels it out of the box and carries it away. While the foreman does this, one boy with an iron hoe stirs the sand mixed with fine tin-stone, which has run out of the box and has settled in the trough and pushes it back to the uppermost part of the trough, and this material, since it contains a very great amount of tin-stone, is thrown on to the plate and washed again. The material which has settled in the lowest part of the trough is taken out separately and piled in a heap, and is washed on the ordinary strake; that which has settled in the pool is washed on the canvas strake. In the summer-time this fruitful labour is repeated more often, in fact ten or eleven times. The tin-stone which the foreman removes from the box, is afterward washed in a jigging sieve, and lastly in a tub, where at length all the sand is separated out. Finally, any material in which are mixed particles of other metals, can be washed by all these methods, whether it has been disintegrated from veins or stringers, or whether it originated from venae dilatatae, or from streams and rivers.

BOOK VIII – Describes how metals are extracted.