MINERAL EXPLORERS | S1 | Ep6 | MEXICO

[Music] before Montezuma and before Cortez the natives of what we now call Mexico work with the ancient and lustrous mineral of silver in masterful ways crafting sculptures flaked by the sparks of the earth the pre-columbian silversmithing was soon a calling card of a conquered nation and Mexican silver would help fund the discovery of new lands my name is Thomas Nagin and I am a mineral Explorer for the last 35 years I've traveled the world in search of the finest gems crystals and minerals now I'm taking you along with me we'll visit some of the richest mines and discover just what it takes to unearth these natural treasures gonna be one heck of an explosion it's okay come on home to nearly 20 million people Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world once the capital of a powerful Aztec empire Spanish conquest in the early 1500s allowed Cortes to seize control and build a capital for New Spain soon the Spanish were on the hunt for the silver and gold that was once a gift from the natives today Mexico City is home to one of the country's most prominent silver houses here at Thani the tradition of Mexican silver smithing can still be seen in its world-class craftsmanship from their pre-columbian influence to its more modern and elegant designs the art of silversmithing has not been lost and here is a great example of the evolution of the spoon from the ingot to the finished product [Music] townie pieces can be found in the homes of royalty movie stars industry leaders and in museum collections the company prides itself both in preserving and evolving the art of molding this noble metal the skill of the craftsman their attention to detail their knowledge of generations past is reflected in the anthem of the workshop a new creative note with every strike of the hammer for decades Connie's been well known throughout Mexico for its top quality craftsmanship and that starts with top-quality silver here is a place where everything is beginning we all that we are making in Tunney is from three things this this is grain coming from the mind directly in ingots and this is like an ad limen is silver all of this is Mexican silver so this is a laminate of silver and it's 970 97 percent silver look at that if you want to make quality after you have to begin with a very good element at the beginning you have to start with quality to end up with quality that's is that's a point so this is pure silver here this is these are silver ingots which are 970 and I would show you how with this and only one hammer they can make a very big spoon with one hammer oh that would be cool I'd love to see that [Music] he's making a spoon meal right okay I'm gonna shut up here they're making a spoon it's a sample spoon out of brass this is the finished product they want to get to it's a dessert spoon first they use this as a model and they pound it out like he's doing here to this size they send it to be polished and they trim it up and then they take it here and they pound it out like this to make the contour of the spoon with a little heat and a lot of hard work we witness a piece of Mexican history take shape [Music] it's actually forming the silver silver is a hard metal and needs to be heated before it's shaped with the right artist and a few thousand spins but once was a rock is now a chalice everything must be measured so that it is the precise size perfect we put it in plastic because of to keep the color of the steel to keep it from oxidize exactly all of these are very famous artists from Mexico this is Soriano this is Toledo from Oaxaca this is Rodriguez this is genetics it's called la la linterna la linterna the light the shine of high-quality silver has long lit the curiosity of visitors to Mexico from the early Spanish explorers to modern-day collectors now Mexican silver has become a blank canvas to artists around the world John Hendricks was born in the Netherlands but has lived and worked in Mexico since 1978 and is now collaborating with taani the whole thing grew out of out of drawing and did the draftsmanship and the work I've been doing as a printmaker has gradually got me into suddenly these large drawings that I realized I could fold them up or unfold them and turn them into sculptures so it's a bit of a two-dimensional drawing that turns it to a three-dimensional object so when did you start turning these drawings and to say about 15 years ago the thing really started plastic collaboration with architects and doing the upscaling in a in a literary sense that you make a drawing and you make it bigger or you make it very small so you start to do things really in a big scale or in a very small scale making a piece with silver gets you to a small scale and then the drawing becomes a very intimate affair you know how do you like working with solar for me as a printmaker and a draw a draftsman paper is very seductive but nowadays one of the materials I really am both me over how beautiful it is is silver the beauty of silver has not only inspired stunning works of art but it's rich value is reflected throughout the entire country where this precious mineral has created other booming communities Machuca is the grandfather of the Mexican silver industry where high officials from Mexico City would devote their lives and their fortunes to the mines that gave birth to one of Mexico's first colonial boom towns mining history is alive and well in Pachuca thanks to the efforts of museums and geologists like my friend and fellow mineral dealer Luis Hagen bet he owns and operates shops all across Mexico and help supply the museum with specimens from all around the world while Luis works we learned of the geological process that helped to create these specimens this is the new volcanic belt and it's the volcano of Colima the nevado de toluca the East Elizabeth and Papa gotta battle La Malinche and the pico de orizaba this volcanic occurrence that happened here is where all the minerals formed in this section of the country right yes mostly and you can also find gold and silver near the surface because of the volcanoes who have tells them to the surface this volcanic activity helped to create the Mexican silver belt which is the world's most productive silver district with an annual production of over 10 billion ounces and includes cities like Guanajuato [Music] by the 18th century Guanajuato had become the world's largest silver producer the mineral wealth built impressive baroque buildings crafted with the same mastery as the legendary silversmiths I can imagine the excitement of the early explorers when they discovered silver but I can't imagine is how it must have felt unearthing this next discovery [Music] unlike the famed Egyptian mummies these were never in bomb but preserved by nature in this exhibition you can see 66 mummies many expression of pain in the face of the mummies are natural for example you can see the tongue between the teeth you can see the eyes up out of the sockets but it's natural wow they're very creepy looking this mining town the arid climate the wooden coffins and above-ground crypts help create this unique occurrence you can see a body of a miner and the man has died for naturally she's worth calling psittacosis silver curse say died because he was doing so much drilling right I mean around breathing me breathe minerals yeah and the minerals inside their lungs yes dry out the body for that region you can see extremely team person so there was really a lot of miners in this area really when Todd yeah he's the best job Mexican tradition embraces both life and death but the spirit world is also celebrated in the ornate churches throughout Guanajuato so this was a fellow's house here huh Antonio Verdugo al qussair that is the owner of the mine and he promised to make the church you know a fellow told me that when his daughter got married they made a carpet or actually a whole line of gold and silver bars he offered it for her to walk on to the church to get married yeah that's incredible yeah yeah you can imagine no hundred three hundred fields all covered with bars of silver and gold right no such a rich time in the Valenciana Church is considered among the most beautiful examples of Baroque architecture in Central and South America with its altars gilded with gold from local mines it's a breathtaking display of both wealth and craftsmanship representative of a town that was once among the most powerful in all of New Spain but Guanajuato scarm shows itself best at night and seeing this historic town come to life I can almost imagine its heyday when the city produced two-thirds of the world silver a lot has changed over the last few centuries but Guanajuato retains its lively energy and is the perfect place to sample another mexican tradition to Keela my niece is stronger yours are stronger than mine because dark day so to me it's really incredible to think that one place in the world can produce two-thirds of the world so one city that's right and also you know if that is a great example because we will see exactly the same situation that happened here in Vanuatu during the 18th centuries but right now in Fresno is exactly the similar case but right now in the happening now in this times so that will give you a bit very good give an idea with one whatõs was like yeah right in that part of the history whoa salute you - Bwana Watteau [Music] maybe it was the booze for the warm Mexican night but I believe it was the spirit of Guanajuato that brought me to my feet in celebration of a moment flavoured with the richness of the pass [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] many people have the wrong impression of Mexico while it does have its dangers it also has a beauty so vivid in its poetry you have to pause and take in a verse and the beauty extends beyond its landscapes to its storage cities with their rich histories and lively cultures cities like Zacatecas nestled in the mountains of central Mexico this capital city once produced a fifth of the world's silver and would go on to play a crucial role in the Mexican Revolution cd6 convent or the fund the Franciscans exemple begins and 1567 founded is a Spanish mining camp in the 16th century today it's a jewel of the silver belt rich not only in Mexican history but also important to the foundation of the United States cities now as we known as the his names as the saints San Francisco Santa Barbara San Antonio Texas all them Saints came from this place it knows and they were all founded from here from the families that came from here that's correct these storied Hills would play a crucial role in a victory for rebel forces against the central Mexican government the Battle of Sackett a kiss of 1914 is said to have been the bloodiest battle of the decade-long revolution over six thousand people were killed on this very hill dead bodies laying everywhere and the vicious Pancho via was the one that led the battle the story of this legendary city is still being written today as the region continues to be the world leader and silver production due in large part to the nearby fresney your mind it's a wonderful mining colonial town it's it's a great place to be that's great at this area was where mining actually started right yes architect no mining is started in Mexico we would say that into two main areas no that would be psychotic as in the in the area of Pachuca perhaps are that the two oldest mining places Moore and silver has always been the mechanic symbol of Mexico and the connect symbol of Zacatecas I could take us is the largest state in Mexico producing silver ore it's at the same time is the largest state I would say worldwide producing that silver Wow because of the abundance of silver in the region Zacatecas is a great place to look for crystallized silver and I have a tip on an old collection La Casa tengo algunas otras como happiness estoy tratando de la rocca crystallized silver has become harder to find his mines are cracking down on its removal these specimens have been swept up or overlooked in the industrial process the the crystals are broken right here yeah but right now that kind of makes it a tough sell for a collector yeah it's not always what you're looking for but which you find along the way I like to use what I like about this lot of Mexican amethyst are the large clear deep colored crystals and matrix but I don't think he's gonna part with them easily we can do here many dealers keep their best stuff at home once the dealer knows you're serious you can oftentimes get access to his private collection and hopefully at a stellar piece or two to sweeten the deal it was definitely an impressive collection but like many collectors there were some pieces he just wouldn't part with I'll say but this is si muy bonito super super see quantity quantal of in this no is he a same time I stopped in town nice SK just a local good tambien good but I did find a few pieces of crystallized silver that caught my eye although crystal Nestle's or a contagious ESO some emil pesos for water polo tres Tamia Rory mr. Paley in their SOC compressors in those mill pesos where even dead Lama teesta and cinco mil office she's making it just also look a quit the ambien movie okay H [Music] I was happy with the by but an even better deal was the opportunity to see inside the world's largest producing silver mine located about 40 miles outside of Zacatecas pres neo has been producing silver for centuries operated by Pan yoli's a Mexico City based company it is one of the world's most profitable mines and a major source of employment for the city and with soccer fields and animal sanctuary and public parks and yoli's is committed to helping support the community in many ways while the view from above was terrific I was anxious to see the city from below [Music] this is by far the largest mind I've ever explored and Alejandra was guiding us deep into Mexico's silver history we're going to level 720 which is 720 meters well over 2,000 feet below the surface it felt like something out of a sci-fi movie with all the machinery and a sense of life buzzing through an uninhabitable world in these dark humid and wet surroundings the best fashion is safety from the headlamps down to the rubber boots we're about to see the Jumbos operate what they do is they drill holes into the rock so that they can put explosives in it that helps do their exploration and further make more of these tunnels and take out the silver metal the Jumbo is a real monster of a machine to see in action I got to take it on an exhilarating test run [Music] [Music] now the work that they do here is done looking for veins the veins are the thickest concentration of the mineral silver what they'll try to do is they'll try to follow those veins and get as much silver out as that they can now down here is the silver vein you can see it running it at a diagonal angle we're in a very rich area of the mind an area that's just loaded with silver silver the most conductive of all metals is used in almost all electronics everything from solar panels and x-rays to computers and cellphones but I wanted to find silver in its crystalline form we're looking for crystallized silver now different types of silver minerals and I'm with Carlos and Lupita and we're in the San Carlos vein and hopefully we're gonna have some good luck Carlos this is going off what does that mean these schools 60 it's tell me know that those have but they don't explode it's better in here just know we are we all gonna die no no okay that's good until just a warning yes just a wink that's because Lupita are you scared you get your mask on should I have a mask on yeah all I should okay once the gases had cleared we continued our search in this newly formed tunnel looks like we found the little pocket up here which has quartz and calcite and some crystallized silver in it unfortunately we're not going to be able to get up to it here this afternoon but I'll show you what some looks like out of the pocket [Music] a lot of people don't realize that silver will also come in a crystal form and they're very sought-after by collectors louise these are some really nice pieces of crystallized silver or silver minerals and these are actually argent tights right yeah those right there adjust his mold pieces you could really see the crystal structure of them really nicely this one here is kind of like a cubic right that buddy said most common way that the urging type can grow so collectors usually look for like the most aesthetic types of crystals the ones that have the nicest form and there are really the prettiest to the eyes I've learned a lot on this trip actually and it's been a lot of fun you have to be in one of the richest silver mines all over the world and the biggest producers of Gilbert so you get a lot of the information you learn a lot when you get that experience yeah all minerals have a story and the story of silver can't be told without including the rich heritage of Mexico from the colonial cities that build new worlds to the modern mining towns that supply the world's industrial needs the search for silver has inspired collectors around the globe to save the fragments of nature's art and with each piece the legacy of historic lands are preserved if you want to see more episodes or check out our mineral collection click the link in the description and of course like and subscribe to our Channel thanks for watching and we'll see you next time on mineral explorers [Music]

Channel: Mineral Explorers

Views: 36,054

Keywords: MEXICO, SILVER, MINERALS, ROCK COLLECTING, GEM HUNTING, MINERAL HUNTING, MINERAL COLLECTION, ROCK COLLECTION, TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, MINES, CAVES, EXPLORING, JEWELRY, GEM DEALING, JUNGLE, MINERAL EXPLORERS, SOUTH AMERICA, MINING, TREASURE, SPELUNKING, GEM POCKET, GEMS, NATURAL TREASURE, ROCKS, CRYSTALS, CRYSTAL COLLECTING, SILVERSMITHING, SILVER MINING, ROCKHOUNDING

Id: UqwrWsNrKfw

Length: 26min 13sec (1573 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 04 2020