Bronze is an alloy - the resulting of combining large quantities of copper (today, typically 88 percent) with a smaller amount of tin. As a consequence. early miners sought both copper and tin. This required significant labor both in excavations and the milling of ore - as well as the trade to collect both metals.

Mining occurred both in surface gathering and with underground excavation. Cornwall, an early source of tin, had a tradition of "streamers" - miners who worked in river beds to find surface deposits of tin ore, but they also dug underground for the essential metal: copper was more plentiful than tin, so tin reserves in Afghanistan, Cornwall, and elsewhere were particularly prized during the Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1200 BCE).

Underground mines were treacherous. They often lacked proper supports and cave-ins were common. Miners, tools, and debris/ore were usually hoisted by a winch and transport to and from a mine could be a dangerous undertaking.

After retrieving ore - metal bearing rock, the ore, needed to be crushed and then treated in various ways - usually involving heat. Molten copper and tin were then combined in the proper proportions to produce bronze.