Hydraulic Mining

This paper examines the relationship between the design and use of mechanical technology, patronage and investment, and economic return, using three main case studies: water-lifting devices, the water-powered grain mill, and the diverse uses of water-power in mining. Water-power was used on a wide scale and in diversified forms at an early date (by the first century A.D.), and the use of mechanical technology to perform economically critical work had an important impact on economic performance and the potential for per capita growth, especially in the latter centuries B.C. and the first two centuries A.D. Conversely, in the third century A.D. the cessation of the employment of hydraulic mining techniques enabling large-scale extraction of gold and other metals may have had an adverse impact on the economy as a whole. Growth and progress do not necessarily follow a linear pattern of advance; technologies are lost as well as adopted.

espectacularidad y valor histórico de los restos de la mina romana de Las Médulas han merecido su declaración en 1997 como Patrimonio de la Humanidad. La capacidad demostrada por las técnicas de ingeniería minera romana para acometer a gran escala los trabajos de explotación de este extenso yacimiento aurífero constituye un importante hito en la historia de la minería mundial que presenta, aún al día de hoy, importantes cuestiones por esclarecer. El volumen de materiales removidos en la explotación de Las Médulas, del orden de varios cientos de millones de metros cúbicos, no fue superado hasta el siglo XIX tras la introducción de la maquinaria de vapor en el trabajo de las minas, con la salvedad de que los ingenieros romanos, dieciocho siglos antes, fueron ya capaces de realizar movimientos de tierras de gran envergadura sólo con la conjunción de la fuerza del agua, el conocimiento práctico y una organización adecuada para gestionar su utilización.

Abstract: From the evidence located in the municipality of Truchas of a Roman mining channel, it has been possible to establish its continuity along 43 km of route, from the town of Corporales to the surroundings of Lake Truchillas. This finding is treated as an extension of the C-4 Roman channel of Las Médulas, until now unknown. According to the cartography carried out from the evidence of the terrain, this supply channel collected the waters of the Río del Lago, near Truchillas, to lead them to Alto de Peña Aguda, where they met with those coming from the river Eria, carried by a short stretch of only 3.7 km, already known, which had its origin in the neighbor quarter of Pedrosa at Corporales. In total, the C-4 canal now extends from the 81 km of route currently known at 122 km. The new open section also constitutes a new Roman transfer between river basins, of which there are three more in the area, all of them related to Roman gold mining.

This study examines the development of a conceptual model of sediment processes in the upper Yuba River watershed; and we hypothesize how components of the conceptual model may be spatially distributed using a geographical information system (GIS). The conceptual model illustrates key processes controlling sediment dynamics in the upper Yuba River watershed and was tested and revised using field measurements, aerial photography, and low elevation videography. Field reconnaissance included mass wasting and channel storage inventories, assessment of annual channel change in upland tributaries, and evaluation of the relative importance of sediment sources and transport processes. Hillslope erosion rates throughout the study area are relatively low when compared to more rapidly eroding landscapes such as the Pacific Northwest and notable hillslope sediment sources include highly erodible andesitic mudflows, serpentinized ultramafics, and unvegetated hydraulic mine pits. Mass wasting dominates surface erosion on the hillslopes; however, erosion of stored channel sediment is the primary contributor to annual sediment yield. We used GIS to spatially distribute the components of the conceptual model and created hillslope erosion potential and channel storage models. The GIS models exemplify the conceptual model in that landscapes with low potential evapotranspiration, sparse vegetation, steep slopes, erodible geology and soils, and high road densities display the greatest hillslope erosion potential and channel storage increases with increasing stream order. In-channel storage in upland tributaries impacted by hydraulic mining is an exception. Reworking of stored hydraulic mining sediment in low-order tributaries continues to elevate upper Yuba River sediment yields. Finally, we propose that spatially distributing the components of a conceptual model in a GIS framework provides a guide for developing more detailed sediment budgets or numerical models making it an inexpensive way to develop a roadmap for understanding sediment dynamics at a watershed scale. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A comprehensive study of the Las Murias-Los Tallares Roman gold mine (Castrocontrigo, León-Spain) was conducted using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology and photointerpretation. The analysis of the mine structure show two main phases of ascending mining works and that the gold recovered by the Romans was at least 510 kg. Although LIDAR technology proves to be very valuable and essential to analyzing Roman hydraulic mining structures, there are some aspects that are still hardly decisive given the interpretation difficulties.

Abstract: As a result of the systematic prospecting work carried out in the surroundings of Las Médulas-Sierra del Teleno, unknow evidence of Roman hydraulic gold mining has been located in El Morredero, at an altitude of 1800 m above sea level, in the surroundings of the ski resort of the same name. These are hydraulic mining works that begin on the right bank of the Cabrito stream, a tributary of the Duerna river, and extend downstream along a narrow strip of 1.7 km long. The hydraulic system of this farm has tree main accumulation reservoirs which were fed by two short distance canals that collected snow melt, the only available source of water, given the high altitude of the land. Continuing along the Cabrito stream you will find other small evidence of Roman gold mining extending along the left bank up to 3 km.

Main objective of the executed researches was justification of the location of entry
providing its maintenance in a bearing pressure zone. Researches were carried out for
conditions of the Prokopyevsk and Kiselevsky field of the Kuznetsk coal basin
(Russia). Researches were conducted by a finite element method. When performing
researches the provision entry relative of a regional part of the massif and property of
coal changed. As a result of researches influence of strength of coal and the location
of entry on the stress and strain state of the massif is established and the conclusion is
drawn on need of increase in height of a slice up to 10 m. Recommendations of
increase in height of each subsequent slice at mining of soft coals are also made. The
novelty of work consists in establishment of dependences of the stress and strain state
of the massif on height of the mining slice.

This paper contributes to a growing body of literature on the historical geographies of extraction. It develops a critique of industrial heritage through an account of North Bloomfield California, a settlement within the boundaries of Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, and home to what was, in the years leading up to 1884, the largest and richest hydraulic gold mine in the world. I use archived fragments from two people who lived and worked in North Bloomfield to undercut the grand narratives of environmental conquest that still tend to undergird industrial heritage rubrics. The places given over to commemorate key moments in the development of our industrial society provide crucial orientation for contemporary environmental decision making. I demonstrate how a more intimate and nuanced approach to the industrial past through ancillary stories that foreground everyday encounters with nature can be used to challenge the soothing plotlines of technological genius, dignified suffering, social progress and enlightened restraint that so often frame public histories of extraction.

Main objective of the executed researches was justification of the location of entry
providing its maintenance in a bearing pressure zone. Researches were carried out for
conditions of the Prokopyevsk and Kiselevsky field of the Kuznetsk coal basin
(Russia). Researches were conducted by a finite element method. When performing
researches the provision entry relative of a regional part of the massif and property of
coal changed. As a result of researches influence of strength of coal and the location
of entry on the stress and strain state of the massif is established and the conclusion is
drawn on need of increase in height of a slice up to 10 m. Recommendations of
increase in height of each subsequent slice at mining of soft coals are also made. The
novelty of work consists in establishment of dependences of the stress and strain state
of the massif on height of the mining slice.

This ppt covers the  environmental impact of hydraulic mining, from the Sacramento area to the Bay, paying particular attention to the Sawyer Decision of 1884. Attention is also paid to mining law as well as laws pertaining to water. At the end some current mining waste cases are considered.