At the turn of the nineteenth century, a frantic search took place in Minas Gerais for minerals that could prove to be of economic value and thus compensate for the decline in the production of gold and diamonds, the mainstay of the economy in the preceding century. This article addresses the search for new mineral wealth, involving the work of many different explorers and their multidisciplinary research, and particularly the unsuccessful efforts directed to finding and obtaining lead and silver in sizable amounts as two such possible replacements.
Keywords:
lead and silver in Brazil; mining of galen; early analyses of minerals
