In video games players are constantly mining ore that just sits on top of the map, where do ores like copper, tin, silver, gold, iron actually come from in real life and how did we find and mine it?

Question

In video games players are constantly mining ore that just sits on top of the map, where do ores like copper, tin, silver, gold, iron actually come from in real life and how did we find and mine it?

In: 1

Answer 1

Or can exist on the surface of the earth and can have very high metal content like in games. That is how mining and usage of metal started. People mined surface sources with high metal content first for obvious reasons

But because there is a limited amount of ore with that high metal content on the surface and the amount of it today is very low. As a result, we have to move if from underground and often with quite low metal content.

Other post has explained how it is done today but points out that ore can exist like in games too even if it is rare today with most used up.