Tin sources and trade in ancient times Bantu culture of Zimbabwe are known to have actively mined, smelted and traded tin between the 11th and 15th centuries AD . Tin deposits exist in many parts of South America, with minor deposits in southern Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and northwestern Argentina, and major deposits of exploitable cassiterite in northern Bolivia. These deposits were exploited as early as 1000 AD in the manufacture of tin bronze by Andean cultures, including the later Inca Empire, which considered tin bronze the "imperial alloy". In North America, the only known exploitable source of tin during ancient times is located in the Zacatecas tin
Sundown Tin and Copper Mine Sundown Tin and Copper Mining Company (N.L.) which erected a 10-head battery driven by a suction-gas plant, and built two fines dams. No work had been done for some time on the tin portion, but some had been going on for copper. In 1915 a calciner was erected, together with "another" Wilfley concentrating table and a Berdan crushing pan, and a new shaft was sunk on the tin deposit. The new tin shaft had poppet legs erected over it in 1916, and a 16 hp Tangye winding engine and vertical boiler were installed. That year 69.5 tons of tin and