the.com/silver mining
digging up moonlight so we can put it in coins, wires, and wedding trays.
means the extraction of silver ore from the earth, usually alongside lead, zinc, or copper, then refined into pure metal.
from from old english seolfor, but the industry traces to laurion in ancient greece and potosi in bolivia, whose cerro rico literally funded the spanish empire.
potosi outputonce minted nearly half the world's silver coins
byproduct statusmost silver today is mined as a byproduct, not the main ore
toxic legacymercury amalgamation poisoned rivers for centuries