MINERALS

MINERALS

For many centuries, men have been digging into the ground in an effort to wrest treasure from the bosom of old Mother Earth. In fact, mining may very well have been one of the first of all human industries, following closely upon the heels of hunting and fishing. For the flint from which early men chipped their axes, spears, and arrow heads the flint which furnished men with fire, tools and weapons for thousands of years all had to be mined. At first, these mines were merely open pits which contained outcroppings of flint easy to get at. As the centuries passed and men continued to dig for the precious flint, these pits became sizable workings.

By the time the earliest civilizations were well established the Egyptian along the River Nile and the Babylonian in the valley formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers mining was big business. Indeed, it was so profitable that mine owners were among the richest men of antiquity. Many of the mines were so very rich that jealous kings and priests took them away from their lawful owners and prospered on their ill-gotten wealth.