History/Lessons

Lessons from mining history

Booms and busts, resource nationalism, the long road from discovery to production, price shocks, disasters and social licence: what the record shows, for people who invest in or run mining companies. History, not advice.

Offices of the Gold Fields company in Johannesburg, 1896Lesson 01 · 1859-2025Booms and busts: what mining history showsMining has always moved in waves. A find draws people and money, a town springs up, and then the ore runs out or the price falls. This lesson looks at the pattern across a century and a half, using cases from Nevada to the Pilbara. It is history, not a forecast or advice.Electrical prospecting for ore on Billiton in 1920Lesson 02 · 1922-2027From discovery to production: the long road to a mineA discovery is not a mine. History shows gaps of a year to more than sixty years between the first find and the first ore. This lesson sets out the timelines of famous deposits and the reasons some moved fast and others waited. It is history, not a forecast or advice.Copper mine at Kolwezi in Shaba provinceLesson 03 · 1623-2025Resource nationalism: what the record showsGovernments have always wanted a share of what lies under their land. The forms have changed, from crown mines to nationalisation to export bans, but the question has not. This lesson sorts the history into five forms and looks at what happened in each case. It is history, not a forecast or advice.Workers moving earth at a tin mine at Pangkalpinang, BangkaLesson 04 · 1893-2025Price shocks and the supply responseMetal prices have jumped and crashed many times, sometimes because of a war, sometimes because of a law, sometimes because of a cartel that ran out of money. This lesson looks at what happened to mine output after each shock, using production records. It is history, not a forecast or advice.Satellite view of the Brumadinho tailings dam collapse, Brazil, 2019Lesson 05 · 1842-2020Social licence: when a mine loses trustA mine needs more than a legal permit. It needs the acceptance of its workers, its neighbours and the wider public, often called a social licence to operate. This lesson looks at cases where that acceptance was lost, what it cost, and what changed afterwards. It is history, not a forecast or advice.Diamond diggings at Kimberley, 1888Lesson 06 · 1485-2008The deposits that made fortunes, and who kept themMining history is full of fortunes, but the person who found the ore was rarely the one who ended up richest. This lesson sorts the famous fortunes by how they were made: finding, buying, combining, supplying, lending and collecting royalties. It is history, not a forecast or advice.Falun mine buildingsLesson 07 · 1623-2009Lucky breaks: the finds that almost did not happenMany of the world's great mines were found by people who were not looking for them, or by people who nearly gave up. This lesson collects the lucky breaks in our records, and the near misses, and asks what they have in common. It is history, not a forecast or advice.San Francisco around 1880, the city built by the gold rushLesson 08 · 1848-2025The gold rush and the lithium rush comparedThe lithium boom has often been called a new gold rush. This lesson tests the comparison against the records of the great gold rushes, from California in 1848 to Kalgoorlie in 1893. Some things match closely. Others are very different. It is history, not a forecast or advice.

Educational history drawn from public sources. Nothing here is investment advice, and no company or security is rated.

Pictures on this page: South Africa: a crowd of people gathered outside The Goldfields offices in Johannesburg. 1896., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Elektrisk malmletning. Undersökningar på Billiton, 1920., Okänd / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kopermijn te Kolwezi in de provincie Shaba (Katanka), Mieremet, Rob / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); NASA's ASTER Shows Brazilian City After Dam Disaster, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Falu gruva, Lundberg, Bengt A / Europeana (CC0 1.0); San Francisco, California: the Golden Gate bay area. Photograph, ca. 1880., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0).