MINING
In Jb. 28:1-11 describes in a graphic way the extraction of gold, silver, iron, copper and precious stones. The Egyptians exploited minerals from a very early period.
Under the IV Dynasty they discovered copper in the Wadi Maghãrah, in the Sinai, and began extraction and smelting work, which continued for many years.
The Egyptians also exploited the turquoise deposits of Serabit el-Khadem, in the Sinai Peninsula, around 80 km from the traditional Mount Sinai.
Criminals, prisoners of war and slaves, often chained, worked under the whip of the foremen. The mines had large holes and deep shafts.
The vaults of the mine galleries will be supported by columns carved in stone and with acacia wood frames. The gold and silver mines of Spain are mentioned in 1 Macc. 8:3.
In Deut. 8:9 Canaan is described as a country where the stones are iron and whose mountains yield copper.
The Israelites knew the technique of drilling wells and galleries (e.g., they drilled the tunnel from the Fountain of the Virgin to the Pool of Siloam).
In Ezion-geber, a naval base under the reign of Solomon and also under Jehoshaphat, it was, in the reign of the former, a center for smelting, forging and transforming semi-finished or finished products from the minerals extracted from the iron and copper mines of the Arabah.