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De re metallica (Latin for On the Nature of Metals (Minerals)) is a book cataloguing the state of the art of mining, refining, and smelting metals, published a year posthumously in 1556 due to a delay in preparing woodcuts for the text. The author was Georg Bauer, whose pen name was the Latinized Georgius Agricola. The book remained the authoritative text on mining for 180 years after its publication. It was also an important chemistry text for the period and is significant in the history of chemistry.[1]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_re_metallica
Georgius Agricola (/əˈɡrɪkələ/; 24 March 1494 – 21 November 1555) was a German Catholic, scholar and scientist. Known as "the father of mineralogy", he was born at Glauchau in Saxony. His birth name was Georg Pawer (Bauer in modern German);[1] Agricola is the Latinized version of his name, by which he was known his entire adult life; Agricola and Bauer mean "farmer" in their respective languages. He is best known for his book De Re Metallica (1556).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgius_Agricola
De Re Metallica is still the primary reference for many mining activities. The best translation by far is the one by Herbert Hoover.