Does anyone know where I can find stats on mine production in medieval times? Say a rich gold vein was discovered. How much ore could be removed from from the mine daily/monthly? I know that it depends on number of people and other factors. I'm just trying to get some general stats I can extrapolate from. I realize in a D&D fantasy world there is magic that can speed things up but I want to start with mundane numbers as a basis.
The accessibly of gold depends on the soil.
Most medieval gold came from easily accessible river gravel.
Is your gold source imbedded deep inside rock?
The speed of tunneling varies greatly, depending on the hardness of the rock and the abundance and ease of extracting the gold, from say 10 meters per year to comb thru carefully to a 1000 meters a year to blitz thru.
Some are pit mines. with an open sky, more like a rock quarry.
How much a mine (or region of mines) produces varies extremely, from ounces to tons.
How long a mine (or region of mines) remains active also depends. Often centuries.
It seems to me, you can just make up whatever you want.
Notably, tunnel mining is extremely dangerous from cave-ins, poison gases, lack of oxygen, flooding, etcetera.
