Silver by Fire, Silver by Mercury : a Chemical History of Silver Refining in New Spain and Mexico, 16th to 19th Centuries.
Material type:
TextSeries: European Expansion and Indigenous Response SeriesPublisher: Boston : BRILL, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Edition: 1st edDescription: 1 online resource (468 pages)Content type: - text
- computer
- online resource
- 9789004343832
- TN760 .G84 2017
Intro -- Contents -- General Series Editor's Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Illustrations -- Figures -- Colour Plates -- Tables -- Guide to the Text -- Chemical Symbols -- Units of Measure -- Equivalence of Units of Measure -- Monetary Units -- Translations -- Illustrations and Drawings -- Cover Illustration -- Photographs -- Other -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. The Genesis and Nature of Silver Ores -- Why Spain? -- To Have and Have Not -- Old World Silver Ores -- New World Silver Ores -- Silver Sulphide and Silver Chloride -- Argentiferous Galena -- A Red Herring -- The Other Chemical Keys -- The Immoveable Object and the Unstoppable Force -- The Table is Set -- Chapter 2. The Dry Refining Process: Smelting of Silver Ores -- Deceitful Mercury -- Smelting of Silver Ores: The Human Context -- The Chemistry of Smelting and the Nature of the Ore -- The Architecture of Smelting in New Spain -- The Infrastructure of Smelting in New Spain -- Plata de fuego (Silver by Fire) -- Chapter 3. The Dry Refining Process: Its Impact on the Environment -- Lead: The Nature of Its Consumption -- Lead: The Directionality of Its Loss -- Lead: Its Source -- Charcoal and the Scale of Depletion of Woodland -- The Local Environmental Impact of Smelting -- A Straightforward Decision -- Chapter 4. The Wet Refining Process: The Chemistry of the patio Process -- Plus ça change -- The Alchemy of Mercury -- The Gold Connection -- The Complex Mechanism of a Mercury-Based Refining Process -- The correspondencia: The Key to the Fate of Mercury -- The Loss of Calomel -- The Stages in the Use of Mercury to Refine Gold and Silver Ores -- The Twists in the Trail -- Mercury-Based Refining of Silver Ores: The Human Factor -- Plata de azogue (Silver by Mercury) -- Chapter 5. The Physical Infrastructure of the patio Process.
The patio Process -- Milling the Ore -- The patio Reactor -- Planillas -- The azoguería, or Mercury Room -- Desazogaderas or capellinas and the Recycling of Mercury -- The Architecture of the patio Process -- The Environmental Impact Vectors of the patio Process -- A Unique Industrial Effort -- Chapter 6. The Hacienda Santa María de Regla -- The Nineteenth Century -- The Adventurers in the Mines of Real del Monte -- The Hacienda de Regla -- Main Process Areas -- Main Gate and Storage of Incoming Ore -- Stamp Mills, Chilean Mills and arrastres -- The patio Reactor -- Furnace Area A: Covered storage, hornos castellanos and capellinas -- Furnace Area B: English Blast Furnaces -- Final Comments on the Architectural Layout of Regla -- The Mass Balance of the Silver Refining Processes at Regla, 1872 to 1888 -- Chapter 7. The patio Process and Smelting at Regla -- The Keys to an Efficient patio Process at Regla -- Coordinated Milling and Supply to the patio Reactor -- An Intelligent and Interactive Application of the patio Process Recipe -- Long Term Planning of Inventory -- Optimal Use of the patio Reactor Area -- Low Use of Fuel in the patio Process -- The Challenges of the Smelting Process at Regla -- An Unpredictable Supply of Ore -- Low Lead Content in the Ores -- However, a Very Efficient Fuel Consumption -- The Efficiency of Extracting Silver at Regla -- The Labour Force at Regla -- The Mass Balance for the patio Process at Regla -- The Mass Balance for Smelting at Regla -- The Environmental Loss Vectors in the Period 1872 to 1888 -- a. The Stream Flowing Past the South and Eastern Perimeter Walls of Regla -- b. The Soil within the Perimeter Walls of Regla -- c. Airborne Emissions and Deposition of Airborne Particles in and around Regla -- d. Loss of Woodland -- A Snapshot of a Refining hacienda.
Chapter 8. The Economies of Refining Silver -- Roads to Riches -- Refining Costs in New Spain, as Reported -- The Refining Costs at Regla -- The Macroeconomic Context in the Nineteenth Century -- The Variable Costs of the patio Process at Regla, 1872-1888 -- The Variable Costs of Smelting at Regla, 1875-1886 -- Refining Cost as a Function of Silver Content -- A Window to the Past: Extrapolating the Results from Regla -- The False Positives of the patio Process -- Apples and Pears -- 'Ganando indulgencias con escapulario ajeno' -- The Succour to Refiners -- Barrel Process -- Silver in the Context of Other Commodity Trades -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 9. The Environmental Impact of Silver Refining: A Shift of Paradigm -- The Base Line -- An Estimate of the Breakdown of Silver Production by Refining Process by Caja -- Caja of Zacatecas -- Caja of Guanajuato -- Caja of México -- Caja of Durango -- Caja of San Luis Potosí -- Caja of Guadalajara -- Caja of Pachuca -- Caja of Sombrerete -- Caja of Bolaños -- Caja of Rosario -- Caja of Zimapán -- Caja of Chihuahua -- Aggregate Totals for New Spain -- Aggregate Totals for Mexico, 1820 to 1900 -- Environmental Impact Vectors, Sixteenth to Nineteenth Century -- The Environmental Impact on New Spain and 19c Mexico: The Modern Legacy -- A Change of Paradigm -- What Did They Know and When Did They Know It? -- Was Mercury the Indispensable Key to Silver in the New World? -- Epilogue -- Appendix A. The Accounting Books of Regla -- 1. Sección: Explotación y Beneficio, Serie: Informes de Haciendas de Beneficio, Subserie: Informes Mensuales Hacienda de Regla Vol. 225, Exp. 3: 29 Jun 1872-27 Oct 1888 -- 2. Sección: Negociaciones, Serie: Haciendas de Beneficio, Subserie: Hacienda de Regla I, Vol. 22: 1875-1878.
3. Sección: Contabilidad de la Dirección, Serie: Producción y Gastos, Subserie: Estados Comparativos, 1853-1855, 1859-1865, 1869-1873 -- 4. Sección: Ymporte de la Memoria de la Mina, Serie Informes de Minas I, Vol. 13 -- Appendix B. Sensitivity Matrix for Refining Costs -- Appendix C. Estimates of Silver Production by Caja and Refining Process, Including Balance of Mercury Consumption and Physical Losses -- Caja of Zacatecas (Table C-I) -- Caja of Guanajuato (Table C-II) -- Caja of México (Table C-III) -- Caja of Durango (Table C-IV) -- Caja of San Luis Potosí (Table C-V) -- Caja of Guadalajara (Table C-VI) -- Caja of Sombrerete (Table C-VIII) -- Caja of Bolaños (Table C-IX) -- Caja of Rosario (Table C-X) -- Caja of Chihuahua (Table C-XII) -- Glossary of Technical Terms in Spanish -- Archival Sources -- Archivo General de la Nación, Ciudad de México (AGN) -- Archivo Histórico de la Compañía de Minas del Real del Monte y Pachuca (AHCRMyP) -- Archivo Histórico del Estado de Zacatecas (AHEZ) -- Archivo Histórico de San Luis Potosí (AHSLP) -- Archivo Histórico de la Universidad de Guanajuato (AHUG) -- Mapoteca Manuel Orozco y Berra, Ciudad de México (MMOB) -- British Library, London, U.K. (BL) -- Bibliography -- Index.
In Silver by Fire, Silver by Mercury Saul Guerrero presents a chemical history of the refining of silver ores in New Spain and Mexico, 16c to 19c, with a quantitative analysis of its industrial practice, and its environmental impact.
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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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