The most remarkable feature of this town is its quicksilver mines. These mines are very well known in the nearby regions and are extremely valuable even to people living far away. The quicksilver produced here has many uses, particularly in the making of mirrors, medicines, and other industries where mercury is needed.
The Mine Entrance and Water Management
The entrance to these mines is not located high on a hill but rather inside the town itself. Because of this, the mines often have problems with water entering from the surface. To manage this, the miners have built many excellent machines and devices to remove water, similar to what is used in other deep mines. The deepest part of the mine is between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty fathoms below the entrance, making it a very extensive and challenging site to work in Tours Turkey.
Types of Quicksilver
There are two main types of quicksilver found in the Idria mines: virgin quicksilver and plain quicksilver.
Virgin quicksilver is natural mercury that appears in the earth or ore without needing fire. It can sometimes be seen clearly, falling in small drops inside the mine or even streaming out in larger amounts. For example, about seven years ago, a stream of virgin quicksilver appeared from the earth. At first, it was as thin as a thread, then it became thicker like a pack thread, but it stopped flowing after three or four days.
Another form of virgin quicksilver is separated from ore using water. The ore is first sifted through a sieve and then passed along a long trough with very small holes at one end. This method allows the quicksilver to be collected without fire. In this way, there are effectively two types of virgin mercury: one that appears naturally and can be collected easily, and another that requires some effort for extraction and separation, though still less than heating it in a fire.
Plain quicksilver, on the other hand, is not immediately visible. It must be extracted by heating the ore in a fire. This type is obtained from cinnabar, a natural mercury ore dug from the mine. The ore is usually dark with red streaks and contains a hard belt of stone. This hard stone is first broken into coarse pieces and worked to see if any virgin quicksilver can be separated. What remains is then heated in iron furnaces to draw out the mercury. Often, fifty furnaces are used at the same time in one fire to process the ore efficiently The Sea the Lake and the Rivers.
The quicksilver mines of Idria are an impressive and valuable part of the town. They demonstrate both natural richness and human skill in extracting and processing mercury. Through careful management of water, separation techniques, and the use of furnaces, miners are able to collect both virgin and plain quicksilver, making these mines important not just locally but also for distant regions that rely on this precious metal.
