What is the history of silver mining?

I don't when was silver first discovered, because it took place very very long ago. Silver findings from the Aegean Sea islands suggest that silver was used more than 6000 years ago. So I guess it didn't take long for humans to appreciate the beauty (and usefulness) of this precious metal.

Moving on the later times, the ancient Greeks mined for silver in the Laurium mines and in other underground locations. Silver was already used to produce coins during this epoch. Later on the Romans developed more advanced silver mining methods and equipment. In the 15th century, miners began using Liquation to extract silver from copper, which allowed mining much larger quantities of silver than before.

The discovery of America gave the Europeans more land they could use for prospecting precious metals. In the middle of the 16 century big quantities of silver were found in Potosi, Bolivia and in Zacatecas, Mexico. The Spanish Empire took advantage of these new discoveries and silver became an important product of trade and a valuable commodity.

In more modern times silver mining became more developed in western North America, which is still present in the states of Nevada, Colorado, California and Canadian's Ontario and British Columbia. Significant "silver rushes" took place in these regions. Nowadays the two leading countries in silver production are Peru and Mexico. The global annual silver production is about 670 million troy oz.

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In North America, silver was mined by the Spanish mostly in the areas of Texas, New Mexico and California. New Hampshire, Tennessee and Virginia also produces silver after 1830. Nevada became a silver mining paradise after interesting discoveries in Nevada's Comstock Lode reported. The Bonanza mine in this area became a very resourceful location for silver and gold.

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