Natural resources and where they are found

[Shades of Green]

I'm currently designing my campaign area (the land of Renya and the surrounding countries) and I need some help in placing natural resources (mostly iron, copper, gold and coal; wood is not an issue as the Renya Swamps are quite wooded); I have vauge knowledge about coal being found in hilly swamps and iron/gold in mountains, but is it accurate?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

More or less, but they have broader ranges than that. For true accuracy, you can probably find a cheap science book on the internet or in a used book store that will tell you everything you want to know.

Since you're asking about mineral resources, just track down a book on rocks & minerals, maybe on gems. A little Golden Books or some kind of Field guide would do you just fine. They'll often tell you what minerals are found and thus mined together, like certain kinds of quartz are found with gold, diamonds in kimberlite pipes, etc.

For more exotic stuff, you'll have to do a little more research. For instance, nickel-iron can be found in meteor craters- its HARD stuff and relatively pure, and might be very highly valued by miners...but you'll also find peridot in the same strike occasionally. Other meteors strikes can be high in iridium, gold and other precious metals.

 

[Vlos]

Found this link which gives types of minerals and where they are commonly occur.

http://psychcentral.com/psypsych/Mineral

 

[Hand of Evil]

Steal from the real world, find a loction that meets your need and take from it.

Oh, granite and marble are a natural resource too. I bring it up becuse of where I live, Columbia SC) and being 120 miles from the coast this was one of the first places it was mined for shipping down river to Charleston and up the coast for building needs.

 

[Brad Hindman]

I'm currently designing my campaign area (the land of Renya and the surrounding countries) and I need some help in placing natural resources (mostly iron, copper, gold and coal; wood is not an issue as the Renya Swamps are quite wooded); I have vauge knowledge about coal being found in hilly swamps and iron/gold in mountains, but is it accurate?

I don't think coal is really that picky about where you find it. In the US coal is prevalent in large swaths of Appalachia and the south west. One is a forested hilly country and the other is a desert. You can find smaller deposits in many other locations as well. Old coal mines dot the high altitude plains around Denver for example.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I don't think coal is really that picky about where you find it. In the US coal is prevalent in large swaths of Appalachia and the south west. One is a forested hilly country and the other is a desert. You can find smaller deposits in many other locations as well. Old coal mines dot the high altitude plains around Denver for example.

In England and other areas you find were the sea has exposed it, this is called Sea Coal, you just pick it up.

 

[Warehouse23]

Coal is associated with mountainous/hilly regions because the squeezing and heating of the earth's crust (metamorphism) that builds hills helps transform organic matter into coal.

For a fantasy setting, don't forget the role of peat--low-grade organic material which burns with a smoky, low intensity flame. It's much more abundant and much more easily mined that coal is--you just have to dig it up out of bogs and dry it.

Also, "bog iron" is commonly found in swamps and was often used by ancient societies over more difficult to extract deposits.

Unless you are building massive fantasy mines (teeming with dwarves and goblins and such), I'd keep resources low scale-- for example, gold can be panned for in rivers flowing out of mountains (where it is native in the granites) or on beaches where wave action "pans" for you.

Any book on "Economic Geology" will give you a good idea of where resources are located and what goes into their formation and concentration. If you have particular questions, though, ask away.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Rivers make great miners. Almost anything worth mining has been found in some river somewhere somewhen.

River mineral finds of note besides Gold:

Louisiana Sand Opal (a new kind of opal recently discovered) as well as Mexican Fire and precious opal.

Rubies were found in such abundance in one river in Persia (modern Iran) that the river looked blood red (its the source of the Arabian Legend about the River of Blood).

Petrified (agatized) Wood, Amber, Gem Ammonite and other fossilized material have been uncovered by rivers all around the world. And Amber floats.

Rivers have even breached tombs and storehouses of lost civilizations- with the uncovered helms and such leading to the discoveries of the tombs themselves.