Mendip Hills In some areas the limestone and the dolomitic conglomerate have been mineralised with lead and zinc ores. From the time of Roman Britain until 1908, the hills were an important source of lead. These areas were the centre of a major mining industry in the past and this is reflected in areas of contaminated rough ground known locally as "gruffy". The word "gruffy" is thought to derive from the grooves that were formed where the lead ore was extracted from veins near the surface. Other commodities obtained included calamine (zinc ore), manganese, iron, copper and baryte. The eastern area reaches
Metallic fiber also produces metallic yarns; the city Dongyang contains more than 100 factories, though some of these are home based production sites rather than conventional factories. Two of the more popular factories are Salu Metallic Yarn and Aoqi Textile. The most popular company in Europe is the company Wagner-Tech-Textile GmbH with the brand name Rexess, this company is probably the last company which is able to produce metallic yarn in EU. They have still machinery for production of supported and unsupported metallic yarn. The Lurex Company has manufactured metallic fibers in Europe for over fifty years. They produce a wide variety