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Seems a rather primitive method.

Locally here, with the major mining starting in the mid to late 1800s, charcoal was produced in mass in order to reduce rich ores to metal for shipment. Multiple large charcoal kilns were established wherever there was enough wood to justify production, and the finished products were then hauled to the mines and mills for smelting and refining.

Here are some famous charcoal kilns that still exist in the Death Valley area here locally:

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