The amalgamation of gold ores

The amalgamation of gold ores as described by Agricola in De Re Metallica, which was published in 1556, is essentially the same as modern practice.
The only changes are in the machinery employed and the sources of power to grind, mix, and separate.
The use of water wheels and of goats in a squirrel cage to provide power to wooden machines are just not too common any more. However, although the chemical and physical processes are more clearly understood by more recent authors, the actual "hands on" instructions are remarkably similar and De Re Metallica can still be used as a reference.

Amalgamation is one of the oldest methods of extracting gold from its ores. According to Herbert Hoover, in a footnote to his translation of Georgius Agricola's De Re Metallica, the amalgamation of gold possibly dates from Roman times.
The extraction of silver by amalgamation is generally attributed to the Spanish in Latin America in the late sixteenth century even though Biringuccio describes the fundamental principals of the "patio process" about a half a century earlier.