Short answers, pulled from the story.
The oldest known mine on the archaeological record is the Ngwenya Mine in Eswatini, which radiocarbon dating shows to be about 43,000 years old. Paleolithic humans mined hematite at this site to make the red pigment ochre for body paint and ritualistic purposes.
The Romans developed large-scale mining methods including hydraulic mining and hushing after the 1st century AD, with sluicing methods specifically developed in Spain in 25 AD. They used aqueducts to supply water to mineheads to remove overburden and wash crushed ores.
The silver crisis of 1465 occurred when all mines had reached depths at which the shafts could no longer be pumped dry with the available technology. This crisis forced changes in the social structure of society and the spread of mineral extraction from central Europe to England.
The Courrières mine disaster involved the death of 1,099 miners in Northern France on the 10th of March 1906. This event was Europe's worst mining accident and was surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on the 26th of April 1942.
Ore mills generate large amounts of waste called tailings, with 99 tons of waste generated per ton of copper and even higher ratios in gold mining. These tailings can be toxic and are most commonly dumped into ponds made from naturally existing valleys, leading to potential failures and ecological collapse.