1. On the Hazards of Mining
Giancarlo Racanelli

2. ½ of world’s salmon
Footprint of 37-57km2
Calculated threats
Dam failure
Truck accident
Pipeline failure

3. Mining in the Ancient world
Electrum (Strabo )
When this is boiled down--it is a mixture of silver and gold
flexible and stone-like
use of chaff to separate it

4. “Up to this time no gold, silver, copper, or iron of such quality has been discovered anywhere in the world (Strabo )”
Abandoned mines in Attica due to lack of profits

5. Strabon of Amaseia 64 BC- 24 AD Geographer Broad descriptions of sites
Rome, Alexandria, Nusa, Athens
17 book work on the Oikomene
Broad descriptions of sites
Topographical, botanical, zoological

6. Methods Pliny the Elder (Natural History 33.66-78)
Placer Deposits (talutium)
Shaft mines (channel or trench)
Archimedes Screw (Diodorus- History )
Hollowed mountains (arrugia)
Multiple support arches
Problem of flint
Quarries
Dredging

7. Gold mining ants of India
animals no smaller than foxes that dig in the ground in winter and pile it up at the mouths- Strabo
Tanuki
Pika
Fennec Fox
Himalayan Marmot
Asian mole shrew

8. Hazards Rock falls Overworking Suffocation Poisonous fumes
“more than 200 workmen are continually used up by disease and death” (Strabo )
Suffocation
Fire setting in mines (Theophrastus -concerning fire 70)
Poisonous fumes
Pliny (natural history 31.49): Burning lamps to test for Sulphur or alum fumes
Ventilation through digging additional shafts/ linen cloths

9. Ecological impacts: Habitat loss Bioaccumulation -biomagnification
“silver furnaces are built high, so that the smoke from the ore is removed high into the air, for it is heavy and deadly”
-Strabo
Ecological impacts:
Habitat loss
Bioaccumulation
-biomagnification
Pollution
Erosion
Acid rain

10. References Diodorus- History 3.12-13.1 Strabo 3.2.8-10
Pliny the Elder -Natural History
Natural History 31.49
Theophrastus -concerning fire 70
“Sulfur Dioxide Basics.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 16 Aug. 2016,
“What is Acid Rain?” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 1 Mar. 2017,