Tolkien: The Lord of The Mines – Or A Comparative Study Between Mining During the Third Age of Middle‐Earth by Dwarves and Mining During Our Age by Men (or Big‐People)

Abstract

J.R.R. Tolkien described an entire Age of history in his main opus, The Lord of the Rings. In doing so, he told miners a lot about their past, much before any written record was kept or handed down. At a time when many people are wondering about the future of the mining industry, the possible depletion of natural resources and the modern concept of “sustainable development”, it is interesting to analyse the evolution of the mining industry, not just within the last half of the century, but over the last two Ages. Maybe there will be some surprises, but maybe also some reassurances that although many changes and new ways of thinking have occurred over the Ages, mining activities have continued and survived even through the changes of the miners race from the race of Dwarves to the race of Men.

Glossary

Big People: name given by the Hobbits and Dwarves to Men

Fourth Age: current age of the world. It started at the very end of the last tale of “The Lord of the Rings”, when Arwen, the Elven Star of her People, vanishes from the world, thus definitely ending the abode of Elves in Middle Earth and the Age of the Elves.

Middle Earth: As the Fourth Age has its “world”, the “Third Age” had its Middle Earth. It is difficult to locate it now, though some regions, such as “the County” for example, seem to have survived in many respects in our actual Scotland.1

Miners: when not preceded by a qualification, this term designates Dwarves in the Third‐Age as well as the Big‐People of the Fourth‐Age of Middle‐Earth.

Moria‐silver or Mithril or True‐Silver: “its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is beyond price (…). It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass, and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim.”2

Third Age: the Age previous to this Age. The acts and glory of the Third‐Age are told in the tales “Bilbo” and in “The Lord of the Rings”.

INTRODUCTION

Tolkien published in 1954 a fairly comprehensive account of the Third Age of the World, and especially an account of Middle Earth,3 which provides us not only with a unique analysis of that pre‐recorded time in World history, but more specifically with a privileged insight into the ancient mining world. A possible explanation for the interest taken by Tolkien in the mining world may be traced to his birth and early childhood spent in Bloemfontein, South Africa, at the heart of a very active mining region.4

In this unparalleled revelation, which takes us back to the Elven Age, the miners' race is about the Dwarves5 who mined iron, gold, precious stones and mithril.

Interestingly enough, Tolkien who wished to create a British mythology6 (and relate the events of the First Age to the Third Age of the World),7 rejoined, as chance would have it, several other mythologies, among whom northern mythologies, where dwarves were supposed to be miners. Would it be fair to propose that such an admirable and original a writer as Tolkien had committed plagiarism, and was satisfied, after creating many legends and races of his own, to mimic other tales? Why this persistence of the Dwarf race in the mining world's legends throughout the countries and the ages? Is it this very redundancy that proves that Tolkien simply wanted to confirm one fact: that Dwarves were indeed the mining race in a previous Age of the World?

This is one main and obvious difference (the dwarves) between mining during the Third Age and mining during the Fourth Age. However, many essential issues in the mining world have remained the same throughout history (sustainable development, for example while other issues change and develop with new techniques, or the creation of National states.

It is these similarities and differences that will be presented below.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT8

The Modernness of Third Age Issues

Definition: sustainable development is defined as the new approach to development, with a view that environmental policies and development strategies are integrated “to ensure that [development] meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”9

Sustainable development often involves the issue of environmental protection. In the present mining industry (worldwide) those concepts sound new, dating from the second half of the twentieth century of the Fourth Age. Yet even though the formalization of the concept is quite recent, the care of the miner for higher values than simply short‐term profit exploitation was already present in the Third Age of the World.

Though there may have been an eclipse between the Third and the Fourth Ages, it was indeed present in the minds of the Dwarves before coming into the forefront of the kingdom of Men (or Big People). Note the dwarf Gimli's reaction when teased by his elven friend Legolas who did not want to reveal the location of beautiful caves to the other dwarves for fear that they would spoil them by greedily exploiting them:

No dwarf could be unmoved by such loveliness. None of Durin's race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the springtime for firewood? We could tend these glades of flowering tones, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap – a small chip of rock and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day – so we could work, and as the years went by, we should open up new ways, and display for chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the rock. 10

This is a good summary of sustainable development in that it represents goals higher than those to be fulfilled in the lifespan of a man (or a Dwarf). Gimli does not suggest intensive mining, rather he suggests the most appropriate way to use these caves is simply to respect their beauty.

The Fourth Age: Re‐inventing Sustainable Development

After a long time in the Men's hands, the mines were again seen as immediate profit and people did not take care for their future. This, in spite of the alarm being raised by researchers, that predicted for example, the end of the industry era for the end of the 19^th and beginning of the 20^th century, when coal reserves would be completely depleted. Since then, of course, other sources of energy have replaced coal and coal reserves have tremendously increased thanks to technological improvements. Nonetheless, researchers are yet again predicting a tragedy 20 years from now, because of the entire depletion of the worlds' oil reserves.

It can be said that although modern Men as well as the Dwarves have a common concern for the good of future generations, Men look toward this issue from a purely practical standpoint (roughly, fear of depletion) while Dwarves had a higher ideal (beauty) in mind.

Here, Lady's Galadriel words seem appropriate “Hear all ye Elves. Let none say again that Dwarves are grasping and ungracious”11 and well wonder at our own (human) philosophical concern which has all to do with a fear of lacking in the future and little with a quest for beauty.

PROPERTY RIGHTS OVER THE MINERAL RESOURCES: FROM NATURAL TO NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

During Tolkien's Third Age, it seems that the question of property rights of the surface was hardly mentioned in relation to mining activities.

The very fact to possess a mine made of Baïlin the “King under the mountain”. Thus we can say that, at the time, property over subsoil was not a consequence of property over the surface, but rather the opposite. Sovereignty over natural resources proceeded from direct de facto ownership of the subsoil rather than from the government of a country at large.

Certainly in the Third Age it seemed a question of “finders keepers” – even though Thorin ‘inherited’ the Lonely Mountain from his father Thrain and mining Kingdoms may have been dynastic. Its worth noting that Terry Pratchett, in his ‘Discworld’ series clearly models his dwarves on Tolkien, even when they emigrate to the town of Ankh Morpork.12 “Every Dwarf dreams of going home one day and starting up a little mine” says one.13 Pratchett14 suggests that the term ‘King’ should more properly be interpreted to mean ‘Senior Mining Engineer’.

The property issues of the surface and of the minerals underground probably became distinct during the Fourth Age in the countries where Men believed in the Common good. Therefore the laws of Men and the Dwarves' legal system came closer together around the fact that ownership of sub‐soil – de facto by the Dwarves and de jure by the State – and the sovereignty concept of the king under the mountain for the Dwarves and of the Government for Men – are linked.

However, the concept then came for National Sovereignty over Natural Resources. “A first series of United Nations resolutions in the 1950s and 1960s established the right of the newly‐independent countries to control freely exploitation of their natural resources.”15 With a few exceptions in the Anglo‐Saxon world, the right of ownership on the surface still induces right of ownership of the subsoil (similar to the Third Age of the world) However, the mining world has seen a significant evolution on this issue where now it is most common to give to the State (mostly through its Constitution, Civil Code or Mining Code) the property rights over the natural resources in the ground regardless of who owns the surface.

MINING METHODS

The Mining method encompasses the essence of the mine. Indeed, an underground miner (be he an engineer or a basic employee) will feel much love for their underground mine and much spite for its open‐cast counterpart while the same is conversely true.

Underground Mining

Mines were exploited by the Dwarves through underground mining methods.16 The most famous one was the “Moria” (or Kheled Zâram) which was developed in gigantic proportions by the Dwarves to exploit the mithril.17 It became quite a realm under the mountain (Caradrhas) with a Lord (see above the paragraph on sovereignty) and immense rooms. It is impossible, when reading such a description not to make parallels with some of the South African mines which are now hedging the astonishing depth of 4,000 metres.18 As much as there are differences between opencast and underground mining, there are differences between deep underground mining and very deep underground mining. Only those who reach over 3,000 metres are true heirs of the Dwarves and in continuity with Third Age traditions.

Opencast Mining 19

Open‐cast pits are simply not mentioned (maybe they were rare, or that most deposits were just too deep underground) in Tolkien's tales. We may think it is only a Fourth‐Age invention, but no proof exists, to my knowledge to demonstrate this point.

Small‐scale Mining

Much mining activities go on in the Fourth Age of the world on a small‐scale basis (for example the gold activities in southern Niger, and of the small but deep holes in the Burmese hills to let down ruby‐seekers). They may not account for much in the total of the ore officially or legally mined, but many a miner make a living out of this ant‐like, painstaking, dangerous job. Special rules have even been established in most of the mining codes throughout the world, dealing especially with the issue of small‐scale mining.

In the Third Age, Dwarves understood mining activities to be essentially a collective, medium‐ to large‐scale activity. Some Dwarves could leave the group to go and dig somewhere else (see Baïlin's example and its prodigious success in the development of the Moria mithril mine) but they always remained in a team.

The Fourth Age offers a wider panel of mining scale, from the individual solitary activity to the very large‐scale mines.

MINING CODE

No Dwarf mining code was ever reported to have existed in the Third Age. This is essentially due to, in the author's opinion, a combination of several factors:

•	First, races were quite specialized, and nobody tried to intervene in the Dwarves' activity. Hence, there was no competition.
•	Secondly, Dwarves obeyed a Lord, who personalized the law in himself and thus had no use for legal documents to sustain his will.
•	Finally, it may be argued that mining codes only became useful with the introduction of the concepts of State sovereignty, ownership rights of the ground and under‐ground; and the whole mining taxation system, which were all unknown during the Third Age of the World.

In the early Fourth Age, in Britain there were some quite detailed mining laws in place as early as the 13^th century for specific metal mining areas. The aim of these20 was to regulate the industry and secure revenues for the Crown (State). Of course, the Fourth Age of the World offers an ideal ground for the development of a mining code. Most mining codes date from the second half of the 20^th century, with half of them re‐written and re‐developed to their current complex and comprehensive forms in the 1980s.21

Today, mining codes are the main vehicle for a State to declare its mining policy whereas in the Third age of the world, the vicinity of the Lord of the Mine on mining operations was enough to regulate the ongoing activities.

SECURITY OF TENURE: FROM DARK FORCES TO STATE DISCRETIONARY POWER

The fact that during the Third Age, the property of mineral resources in the underground was not assigned to a “national state” or some other far away entity had many consequences:

•	There seemed to be an argument with regard to who owned the mine in the Third Age. The mine owner was the discoverer. In theory, this is security of tenure at its best, as the discovery of a deposit induces automatically its exploitation by the original explorer. The State therefore cannot interfere with some sort of discretionary power, to decide by whom the mine is going to be exploited.
•	Exploration at the time was a much less important part of the mineral‐related business than now. In fact, we have little information about the way Dwarves came to the knowledge of deposits in the first place. Some were certainly discovered by chance, while others may have been discovered through their own skills.
•	There was no State discretionary power at the time to retake a mine, or competitors to want the mine instead of Dwarves (and Dwarves between themselves did not quarrel), but there was also no real security of tenure in the Third Age of the World. Perhaps the best example is that of the mithril mine, Moria. After being exploited by Dwarves for several hundreds of years, the Orcs took over the Mine. Even worse, a “Balrog” was rewakened in its depths.

“The Dwarves (…) delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane.” 22

“We long have feared that under Caradhras a terror slept. But, had I known that the Dwarves had stirred up this evil in Moria again, I would have forbidden you to pass the northern borders.” 23

So, although security of tenure was in theory guaranteed by many of the above factors for the Dwarves they were, in reality, in no better position then modern miners. Modern mining companies have mining codes, mining agreements demanding due diligence on the stability of the country in which they want to invest; and yet, they may be dispossessed from a mine either at the discretion of the Sate or by what in our Fourth Age World is more similar to the Orcs and Balrog.

TAXATION: FROM NONE TO TOO MUCH?

Arguably, it is mainly from the fact that, during the Third Age, no State prevails itself from the ownership of underground natural resources that proceeds another essential characteristic of mining activities: in those times, they were not subject to taxation.

There is nothing mentioned about royalties or tolls for the ore taken out of the mine. The minerals directly and entirely profited those who mined it and there was not, during the Third Age heavy state machinery to pay for, or public services to finance. Now, in the Fourth Age of the World, taxes are almost at the forefront of mining business. Though taxes were few and simple at the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, taxes related to mining activities have increased in number, complexity, and probably in overall burden (though individually often decreasing over time).24

Therefore, on this issue, it can be safely stated that the Men's (or Big People's) mining world is much more tax‐friendly then the Dwarves mining world was. Is this regretable?

As stated above, taxation came as part of an entire system and cannot be considered singularly, but in relation to other issues and are, arguably, a necessary evil.

THE MINE: MODERN TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOP ANCIENT CONCEPTS

Access to the Mine

i) Magic gate vs. badge or guard

The constant trend between the Third Age and present day mining world is the precautions taken by the miners to protect their territory (mining area) against any external danger or intrusion. It would seem, from Tolkien, that each large mine was more than simply a workplace. They were underground settlements, ‘the great city of the dwarrowdelf’. So the dwarves didn't need badges or passwords for access – they were home already. Outsiders such as the ‘elven smiths’ who ‘worked’ the mithril signs on the gateway to Moria and forged the Nine Rings of Power presumably had to use the password.

Thus, during the Third Age, the Gates of Moria were not only locked, but well hidden. So well hidden were they, in fact that one could not distinguish them from their surroundings. However, once discovered, the password to open the Gates was written on them. It was enough for one to declare himself “friend” (Mellon, in the elvish language) to have the Gate open and to have access to Moria's mine.25

However, such a trusting system and simple password was already by the end of the Third Age judged to be “too simple for a learned lore‐master in these suspicious days”.26 With mistrust increasing with the arrival of the Kingdom of Men, magical gates and easy password were replaced by badges. One could no longer walk straight into a mine (that is, a large‐scale mine, operated by a serious mining company) without authorization, guides and badges to let one through. Guards are usually posted at the gates and ask for our modern equivalent of password (letter of invitation, authorization, badges, etc.) to let the visitor through.

Thus, throughout the Ages, the mine remained a closed world, with restricted access; though its official access has been enlarged from the Third Age “friends only” approach to give a wider welcome to “visitors, journalists and laymen”.

ii) Path under the earth vs. incline/decline

Though we know in detail only one mine in the Third Age (Moria's Mine), the way to get in was through a path. The modern world has invented another (quicker) system to go to great depths; the lift. It would be simplistic to assume that the Dwarves did not possess the technology to construct lifts.

There could be two reasons for this absence of a quicker way to go down deep in the mine. The first reason is linked to the fact that exploration methods in the Third Age could not locate a potentially exploitable mineral deposit far below the surface. Thus, the miners simply started at the surface, digging progressively deeper and deeper into the ground. The second reason may be linked to the fact that Dwarves not only did not have access to modern technology but also were not living in a world where “time is money”. They therefore had the time to walk down the mine, rather than slide down a hole by means of a rope. Furthermore, Dwarves were at home inside the mine and it sounds obvious that they could spend days, weeks or months beneath the surface, therefore rendering any speed of descent quite useless.

iii) Structure of the mines

In the Third Age of the World, Moria is described as a complex network of stairs, steep roads going up or down, abysses, with holes to be jumped over, and huge cracks into which the visitor was always in danger of falling. Nothing was said about retaining walls. However, the Dwarves were clever with their hands, not only in stone management, but also in axe wielding. Seeing the significant dimensions of Moria and of the ensuing tunnel digging work, we can safely guess that dwarves felled timber to construct the proper supporting works.

Today, there still are stairs in some mines, steep roads going up and down, and holes, but it seems as if safety has immensely improved in the most modern mines (though still an important and unresolved issue in numerous others).

iv) Ore

1.	Dwarves and Men had some mining pursuits in common. Though one could imagine that the difference of culture and the rise of industrialization may have widened the gap between the original miners and Men, it is so only for marginal minerals. Dwarves and Men still have in common the exploitation of gold, precious stones and iron ore. Moria was indeed the greatest of the Third Age mines before dwarf greed awoke the Balrog, but there were many, smaller, operations. Some of these are mentioned by Tolkien in ‘The Hobbit’. For example the Lonely Mountain was a gold and gems mine and thus was coveted and seized by Smaug the dragon. When the mine is recaptured, after the battle of the five armies and the death of Thorin, it is Dain ‘of the Iron Hills’ who becomes King under the Mountain, so it is reasonable to assume there were also iron mines somewhere else (it took Dain some days forced march to reach the Lonely Mountain).
2.	Of course, coal, oil and gas were not exploited during the Third Age of the World, as no industrialization demanded those natural resources be exploited.
3.	Mithril vs. uranium: there was one mineral which was very special to Dwarf miners in the Third Age – the mithril. Because of its beauty, inalterability, easiness to bend and yet resistance, it was more expensive even then gold itself.27 The mineral which is very special to Men miners in the Fourth Age is probably uranium, as it has its own very special qualities.

Mining is (not always) About Minerals

Already in the Third Age, the actual differences between the miners (dwarves) who exploited the mines and the Smiths (dwarves or elves) who used the ore was not always so clear.28 The more modern the process, the further one moves from an automated comprehensive mining and production industry. Both kinds of situations are true nowadays, from the all‐comprehensive mining and using to the “mining only” activity where the miners sell the product of the mine as it is extracted or refined.

OF DWARVES AND MEN (OR BIG‐PEOPLE)

Introduction to a Secret World

It is often said that miners are attached to the mine in the same way as sailors are to the sea. It used to be so in the Third Age of the World and it still is in the Fourth. Miners form a very close‐knit community. They are ready to stand by each other and to cast out any stranger trying to step inside their world.

Dwarves and Mining Men: Strange Similarities

It seems strange when one realizes that throughout as the Ages of the World have changed, the major characteristics of the mining race remain. Dwarves and men, both are:

v) Simple, like to argue, faithful in friendship and given word, proud, stubborn, artist

vi) Recognized the world over for their craftsmanship

Indeed, Third Age mining continued into the early Fourth Age. For example, a look at the illustrations to the great De Re Metallica (16thC)29 shows lots of rather small people climbing up ladders out of relatively small but deep pits. They have long beards, wear pointed hats and look just like ...? Dwarves.

One difference may be noted, however: while Dwarves were “a race apart (…) They are a tough, thrawn race for the most part, secretive, laborious, retentive of the memory of injuries (and of benefits), lovers of stone, of gems, of things that take shape under the hands of the craftsmen rather than things that live by their own life.”30

Today, miners are now keen to enlarge or share their experience by meeting people from other mines, countries and races.

The lack of feminine influence is striking in both the Third and the Fourth Age of the World. Only one‐third of the dwarf race was female, which itself would be a good explanation for their scarcity (or absence) in the mining world.

Women were/are also more numerous than apparent. In the early Fourth Age they worked in small family operated mines. They worked underground in the European coal mines till the late 19^th century and continued to do so in Belgium until the early 20thC.31 Women worked at surface in the British coal and metal mines until the early 20thC;32 and of course there are hundreds of women working in small‐scale mines in Asia and Latin America today. Skilled underground women miners working in large mines are indeed rare today.33 There are some in the USA and one in South Africa.34 There was some discussion about women going underground at Lihir in PNG but the (male) management claimed the women would prefer to be office workers.

In the Third Age? There is little or no evidence but who knows? Pratchett claims that as the Dwarves all look alike it is impossible to tell the genders apart ‘which makes dwarf courtship an incredibly tactful matter’, but according to him all dwarves are miners.

In the Fourth Age, the human race reaches roughly an equilibrium between men and women. However, working practices have not changed and mining remain mainly a male business. We know for sure that, in some countries, women are allowed to work in the mines35 (this is not common practice, though). It is never mentioned whether this was the case or not for the Dwarves. Their secretiveness will leave this question unanswered for ever.

Public Opinion or the Perception of the Mine through Foreign Eyes

vii) Miners' opinion

As stated above, miners are very attached to the mines, and one cannot find either in the Third or, in the modern mines, in the Fourth Age of the World, a miner who would criticize the working environment. However, one can find lots and lots over the past 200 years, especially those who joined Trades Unions, also in the reports of the Mines Inspectors. There are also numerous folk songs36 about mine accidents and disasters (such as ‘Gresford Disaster’), highly critical of the working environment. But what is not criticized is the fact of being a miner. Indeed one of the strangest things during the major British coal miners' strike of the 1980s was a statement by one miner who, when asked why he was striking, said “I want to ensure there's an industry so I can hand on my job to my son” The sense of being particular, special and unique is a phenomenon that has survived the centuries from the Third Age to today. Even when they emigrated (as the Cornish miners did, all over the world) they remained miners.

vii) Public opinion

However, public opinion is also largely united against seeing any beauty in the mines of the Third or Fourth Age. “Caves”37 Legolas would call them, thus echoing not only Third Age public opinion, but predicting the Fourth Age's. However, the same Legolas came back transfixed from a trip to those “caves”, “he was silent, and would say only that Gimli alone could find fit words to speak of them. And never before has a Dwarf claimed a victory over an Elf in a contest of words”.38 So, we may feel confident that if the public at large was to visit mines, they might change their mind about them as radically as Legolas did, just one Age of the World ago.

CONCLUSIONS

Although one may readily see that mining activities during the various Ages of the World have evolved, there appears to be no discernible gap due either to improvement in exploring or mining techniques or to changes in the miners' race.

However, the legal and political environment has changed gradually, without being able to really highlight any radical changes except the one dealing with national sovereignty over natural resources. This has become a modern principle in most countries whereby the ownership of the natural resources in the ground is by the State, while in the Fourth Age of the World, the ownership of the surface implied the ownership of the minerals in the ground (as it is still the case in some Anglo‐Saxon countries).

The similarity between the miners of the Third Age and of the Fourth Age with regard to their characters and preoccupation with interest for ores with specific properties is striking. The same enthusiasm and passion which animated the Dwarves during the Third Age in their quest for deposit, animates the miners today. Far above the superficial and racial distinction between Dwarves and Big People, exists actually a miner race with its unique characteristics remaining relatively constant throughout the times. Does the mine create the miners?

However, after reaching the height of its development during the Fourth Age of Middle‐Earth, the mining world may reasonably look apprehensively to its future. Arguably, the Kingdom of Men seems to be coming to an end. The question now is which ancient race (Elf, Dwarf, Ent, Orc, Hobbit or even Balrog) or which new race will rise to power during the Fifth Age? And will this race live up to the mining tradition established by the Dwarves and furthered by Men?

“To that the Elves know not the answer.” 39

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author gratefully acknowledges Dr Gill Burke's most precious cooperation in the finalizing of this article. Dr Gill Burke is a Consultant Minerals Economist living in Australia. She works mainly for the Raw Materials Group, Stockholm, Sweden.

Notes

Dr Danièle Barberis is a Natural Resources Lawyer specializing in mineral law and policy. She deals with issues related to the assessment of investment climate, analysis of legal frameworks, drafting of mining contracts and joint venture agreements, negotiating with governments, and due diligence related to mine activities or mine closure. She is currently working as a corporate lawyer for one of the world's largest uranium producers, the French Compagnie Générale des Matières Nucléaires (COGEMA) in countries such as Madagascar, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Gabon, Niger, Canada and the USA. Dr Barberis is also a consultant on mineral sector reform and mineral law and policy formulation.

Her bibliography includes Negotiating Mining Agreements: Past, Present and Future Trends, a book published by Kluwer Law International (1998) and Negotiating Mining Agreements: when is it worth it?, an article published by Minerals & Energy, Vol. 16, No. 3 (2001).

The opinions expressed in this paper are the sole responsibility of the author and do not reflect the views of COGEMA or any other institutions.

1. This, however, is debatable. Indeed, according to another opinion, the other name of “the County” being “the Shire”, reflects the terrain – well farmed, well watered, long‐cultivated, describe by Tolkien. This description looks more like middle England – Gloucester, Hereford, the Cotswolds, or like the Dordogne area of rural France. Scotland, even the lowlands, is far too bleak for Hobbits. As Fangorn suggested, the Shire would suit Entwives not Ents. Scotland is much more Entish.

2. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Rings, Harper Collins Publisher, p. 309.

3. Ibidem.

4. Carpenter, H (2002) JRR Tolkien: a Biography, Ed. George Allen Unwin.

5. One of the Valar's 15 subordinate beings, Aulë, created dwarves, whom he called Khazâd. It is quite noticeable that Aulë is specially gifted (together with Melkor) in the knowledge of substances and crafts. Therefore, dwarves are naturally attracted to substances, to the depths of the earth and to crafts. (see Tolkien's Cosomogony“ by Professor Ralph C. Wood, in Telling the Truth, www.leaderu.com/humanities/wood‐cosmogony.html, 13 July 2002).

6. Inspired from Nordic mythology.

7. See also Wagner's Tetralogy in which, interestingly enough, the awful Dwarf Mime is a miner.

8. Report of the World Commission of Environment and Development (the Bruntland Report) creates the term “sustainable development”.

9. The World Commission on Environment and Development (1998), Our Common Future (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p. 54.

10. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Ring, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 535.

11. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Rings, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 366.

12. ‘You didn't often see proper dwarf halls these days. Most dwarves were off earning big money in the cities down in the lowlands where it was much easier to be a dwarf – for one thing you didn't have to spend most of your time underground hitting your thumb with a hammer and worrying about fluctuations in the international metal markets.’ Terry Pratchett ‘Witches Abroad’ (London, 1995 edn), p. 51.

13. Pratchett ‘The Fifth Elephant’ (London, 1999), p. 169.

14. Pratchett ‘Witches Abroad op cit. p. 50.

15. Barberis D. (1998) Negotiating Mining Agreement: Past, Present and Future Trends, Kluwer Law, p. 77.

16. As for in situ leaching (ISL) it was unknown. This can be simply due to the fact that this technique is used exclusively in uranium mining, and that, in the Third Age of the world, no uranium mining was taking place.

17. “Deep is the abyss that is spanned by Durin's bridge and none has measured it.” Tolkien JRR ( 2001 ) The Lord of the Rings, p. 490.

18. See for example, the article “Beyond 4,000”, Johannesburg Mining Conference 1999.

19. A third way of developing a mine is in situ leaching or ISL used essentially for uranium mining. It is quite a modern technique (dating back from the 20th century of the Fourth Age) which is consistent with the modernity of uranium mining activities.

20. Lewis GR. ‘The Stannaries: a study of the Medieval Tin Miners of Cornwall and Devon’. First published 1908. Reprinted by Bradford Barton, Truro, Cornwall 1965. See also John Hatcher ‘English Tin Production and Trade Before 1550’. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1973.

21. Barberis D. (1998) Negotiating Mining Agreement: Past, Present and Future Trends, Kluwer Publisber, p. 16.

22. Tolkien, JRR. (2001) The Lord of the Ring, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 309.

23. Ibidem, p. 347.

24. Barberis D, (1998) Negotiating Mining Agreement: Past, Present and Future Trends, Kluwer Publisber, Chapter 5.

25. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Ring, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 300.

26. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Ring, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 300.

27. A good way of grasping the value of mithril is given by the comparison between the “mail of mithril” (which must have been quite small, as it fitted dwarves and hobbits) with the “entire value of The County” which the mail of mithril is supposed to supersede.

28. For example, the Rings of Power were forged by Sauron using the skill of the elven‐smith.

29. Georgius Agricola ‘De Re Metallica’. Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover, 1913. Facsimile reproduction, Dover Publications (New York), 1950.

30. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Ring, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 1106.

31. Evelyn Kroker and Werner Kroker (Eds) ‘Frauen und Bergbau: Zeugnisse aus 5 Jahrhunderten’. Deutschen Bergbau‐Museums Bochum (Bochum, 1989). See in particular illustrations on p. 20 and pp. 72–73.

32. Angela V John. ‘By the Sweat of their Brow: Women workers at Victorian Coal Mines’ (Croom Helm, London, 1980) and Gill Burke ‘The Decline of the Independent Bal Maiden: the impact of change in the Cornish Mining Industry’ in Angela V John (Ed.) Unequal Opportunities: Women's Employment in England 1800–1918 (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1986), pp. 179 –207.

33. Gill Burke ‘Pit Women and Others: Women Miners here and there, then and now’ in Kuntala Lahiri Dutt (Ed.) ‘Pit Women and Others: Women Miners in Asia’ forthcoming Ashgate, 2006.

34. ‘Here we are equal to the men’. Article on Women in the South African Mines by Sarah Dugui, The Guardian Weekly, March 6–12, 2003, p. 21. (The article mentions that 34 women work underground but only one is a fully qualified miner. There are 3000 men underground).

35. We think for example, of some South American countries and in the USA where women working in underground mines are much appreciate as being more careful and safety aware than their male counterpart.

36. ‘Oh I'm a miner, stout and bold Long time I've worked down underground To raise both tin and copper too To the honour of our miners. Now brother miners I bid you adieu I go no more to work with you But tramp the country through and through And still be a rambling miner.’ Cornish folksong. Late 18th century

37. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Ring, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 535.

38. Ibidem p. 956.

39. Tolkien, JRR (2001) The Lord of the Ring, Harper Collins Publishers, p. 855.