The caste system has evidently been more flexible, in terms of appropriate work for Brahmins, than one might expect. Records from the classical and medieval periods in India mention men of the Brahmin class performing work other than carrying out priestly duties or teaching about religion.
Spanish conquerors discovered that South America was home to rich veins of silver and silver ore, and they mined that wealth enthusiastically; according to the Silver Institute, an industry trade group, 85 percent of the silver produced worldwide came from Bolivia, Peru and Mexico between 1500 and 1800.
It is, though, an ore of zinc and copper when found in mines where there exists workable deposits of these elements. NOTEWORTHY LOCALITIES. Aurichalcite has been found in Chessy, France; Laurium, Greece; the Leadhills of Scotland; and in England in Matlock, Derbyshire and Caldbeck Fells (Cumbria). Other European occurrences are Campiglia Marittima, Livorno Province, Tuscany, Italy; and the Rohdenhaus Quarry, Wolfrath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.