1-152-585 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Washing ore to extract gold, 1683. Water is fed into a sieve (2) containing ore. The muddy solution is then fed along wooden collecting troughs, often lined with dark woollen cloth. The gold is separated out on the way. From a 1683 English edition of Lazarus Ercker's Beschreibung allerfurnemisten mineralischen Ertzt of 1580.