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The development of metal smelting technology has come a long and difficult way. All along the way, people tried to invent more and more efficient methods that could provide maximum productivity, as they realised that the development of the whole industry depended on it. Throughout history, as well as now, it was the level of metallurgy development that determined the strength and influence of a country on international relations. Therefore, each country tried to increase both the amount of ore mined and the efficiency of extracting metals from it and eventually smelting these metals.