Tin sources and trade in ancient times shapes cast in closed molds of the Bronze Age. Arsenical bronze objects appear first in the Middle East where arsenic is commonly found in association with copper ore, but the health risks were quickly realized and the quest for sources of the much less hazardous tin ores began early in the Bronze Age . This created the demand for rare tin metal and formed a trade network that linked the distant sources of tin to the markets of Bronze Age cultures. Cassiterite (SnO), oxidized tin, most likely was the original source of tin in ancient times. Other forms of tin
Sundown Tin and Copper Mine have been mined after 1923. There is no reference to copper after this date either. The tin mine area consists of the open cut, with a grided shaft in its floor, and a collapsed adit at the base of its work face. Above the open cut is the main shaft, located on a bench cut into the hillside, with a mullock tip, tripod steel poppet head and older timber shaft- head staging, over a three-compartment shaft. The concrete pad supporting one of the poppet legs is inscribed with the names "T Fredrick, S. Lynn, F. Meehan, GRM Kane". Adjacent to