1
MINE200 - Midterm 1 - Mining Industry Questions
with Correct Answers | Updated (100% Correct
Answers)
The first evidence of mining dates back to? Answer: 42,000 before present
In Ngwenya, there was mining for hematite.
When did mining become significant (roughly)? Answer: 10,000 to 7,000 years
ago
List roughly the historical time scale relevant to mining and what is special about
them. Answer: Stone Age
Bronze Age = smelting, coupellation.
Iron Age = bloomery and blast furnaces.
Middle Ages = liquation (partial melting).
Age of Discovery
Describe roughly the importance of mining in South America's colonisation by
the Conquistadors. Answer: 1492 = Columbus "finds" Haiti.
The Conquistadors used forced labour to dig for gold. There was no real mining
technology.
What is Potosi? Answer: The biggest mining boom in history happened in Potosi
(Bolivia) from silver ore.
© 2026 All rights reserved
,2
The Spanish owned the mines and Indigenous people owned smelters.
Led to the Mita system = Peru's forced labour system. 1/7 of eligible male had to
work at Potosi for poor salaries and work conditions.
What is privateering? Answer: When privately owned and crewed vessels were
authorized by a government during a wartime to attack and capture enemy
vessels, men, cargo, etc; it diverted manpower from the main war effort.
What are the important mining innovations from the European in the 1500s +?
Answer: Mercury amalgamation, blasting the rock, smelting with coal, pumping
water.
Describe roughly the importance of mining in North America's colonisation by
the French, English, and Dutch. Answer: 1534 - 1543: New France settlement by
Jacques Cartier.
The rise of the settlers in the Americas was slow in the 1600s and 1700s. As they
moved towards the west of the continent, there were multiple clashes and
bloodsheds with local tribes.
Example: Jamestown massacre (Powhatan attack in 1607).
Mining led to the California Gold Rush (1849), the Great Diamond Hoax (1872),
and BC's Gold Rush.
What were the rules of the California Gold Rush? What mining methods were
used by the 49ers? Answer: No government regulations, the code was:
-A man can only claim such ground as he could work himself.
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, 3
-He must continue to work it or risk it being claimed by another.
Mining methods: placer mining (stream bed), hydraulic mining, underground
mining through plastic and pumping, dredging.
Important to know that the Gold Rush led to California's genocide of Indigenous
peoples.
How did BC protect itself from Gold Rush after seeing what happened in
California? Answer: The land was claimed for the English crown, which gave the
authorities control American miners.
1859: to mine, one must receive a Free Miner's Certificate (FMC).
BC mining led to many conflict between settlers and Indigenous peoples.
Example: Fraser Canyon War, Chilcotin War (recent apology by federal
government)
Were First Nations mining before the arrival of Europeans? Answer: Yes,
weapons 15,000 years old have been discovered in North America.
The Tahltan First Nation has been mining 11,000 years before European contact.
Name some important minerals that are mined in Canada. Answer: Coal, iron
ore, gypsum, copper, gold, phosphate, asbestos, diamonds.
List the mining lifecycle. Answer: Prospecting and exploration
Feasibility and planning
© 2026 All rights reserved
MINE200 - Midterm 1 - Mining Industry Questions
with Correct Answers | Updated (100% Correct
Answers)
The first evidence of mining dates back to? Answer: 42,000 before present
In Ngwenya, there was mining for hematite.
When did mining become significant (roughly)? Answer: 10,000 to 7,000 years
ago
List roughly the historical time scale relevant to mining and what is special about
them. Answer: Stone Age
Bronze Age = smelting, coupellation.
Iron Age = bloomery and blast furnaces.
Middle Ages = liquation (partial melting).
Age of Discovery
Describe roughly the importance of mining in South America's colonisation by
the Conquistadors. Answer: 1492 = Columbus "finds" Haiti.
The Conquistadors used forced labour to dig for gold. There was no real mining
technology.
What is Potosi? Answer: The biggest mining boom in history happened in Potosi
(Bolivia) from silver ore.
© 2026 All rights reserved
,2
The Spanish owned the mines and Indigenous people owned smelters.
Led to the Mita system = Peru's forced labour system. 1/7 of eligible male had to
work at Potosi for poor salaries and work conditions.
What is privateering? Answer: When privately owned and crewed vessels were
authorized by a government during a wartime to attack and capture enemy
vessels, men, cargo, etc; it diverted manpower from the main war effort.
What are the important mining innovations from the European in the 1500s +?
Answer: Mercury amalgamation, blasting the rock, smelting with coal, pumping
water.
Describe roughly the importance of mining in North America's colonisation by
the French, English, and Dutch. Answer: 1534 - 1543: New France settlement by
Jacques Cartier.
The rise of the settlers in the Americas was slow in the 1600s and 1700s. As they
moved towards the west of the continent, there were multiple clashes and
bloodsheds with local tribes.
Example: Jamestown massacre (Powhatan attack in 1607).
Mining led to the California Gold Rush (1849), the Great Diamond Hoax (1872),
and BC's Gold Rush.
What were the rules of the California Gold Rush? What mining methods were
used by the 49ers? Answer: No government regulations, the code was:
-A man can only claim such ground as he could work himself.
© 2026 All rights reserved
, 3
-He must continue to work it or risk it being claimed by another.
Mining methods: placer mining (stream bed), hydraulic mining, underground
mining through plastic and pumping, dredging.
Important to know that the Gold Rush led to California's genocide of Indigenous
peoples.
How did BC protect itself from Gold Rush after seeing what happened in
California? Answer: The land was claimed for the English crown, which gave the
authorities control American miners.
1859: to mine, one must receive a Free Miner's Certificate (FMC).
BC mining led to many conflict between settlers and Indigenous peoples.
Example: Fraser Canyon War, Chilcotin War (recent apology by federal
government)
Were First Nations mining before the arrival of Europeans? Answer: Yes,
weapons 15,000 years old have been discovered in North America.
The Tahltan First Nation has been mining 11,000 years before European contact.
Name some important minerals that are mined in Canada. Answer: Coal, iron
ore, gypsum, copper, gold, phosphate, asbestos, diamonds.
List the mining lifecycle. Answer: Prospecting and exploration
Feasibility and planning
© 2026 All rights reserved
