Alloy was used by the Inuit people. Native copper, however, was found worldwide, along with silver, gold, and platinum, which were also used to make tools, jewelry, and other objects since Neolithic times. Copper was the hardest of these metals, and the most widely distributed. It became one of the most important metals to the ancients. Eventually, humans learned to smelt metals such as copper and tin from ore, and, around 2500 BC, began alloying the two metals to form bronze, which was much harder than its ingredients. Tin was rare, however, being found mostly in Great Britain. In the Middle
Sundown Tin and Copper Mine to calcine the tin concentrates and drive of arsenic and sulphur. In 1917 a Merton calciner was erected and flues for arsenic recovery constructed. It is likely that these replaced the old reverberatory furnace and calciner. Arsenic became and important product of the mines, the demand escalating during the prickly pear infestation. New shafts were sunk at both the tin and copper mines. The lack of water reduced output in 1918, only 23 tons of tin and 12.5 tons of copper concentrates being produced, but the new shafts were continued, the three compartment copper shaft having poppet legs and ore