Gold mining in the Apuseni mountains began with the Roman conquest. Trapezoidal galleries unearthed by archeologists at Roșia Montană bear proof to the Roman underground exploitation system.

There were various milling devices as mining specialists from all over the Roman Empire were brought here; they marked those for ore crushing and gold grindin (something of a marketing device for the workshop that produced them) The complex mechanism of watered powered stone mills was known and used in the Roman world, its invention attributed to Heron of Alexandria, considered to be the father of this as well as many other technical devices.

Gold resources in the Apuseni Mountains generated significant urban development. The most important urban settlement in Dacia was Apulum, where the Legion XIII Gemina was stationed. High among its duties was the safety of roads  on which gold, wood, salt and other goods were transported.

It is not by chance that the gold mining mill is related to the Roman period room. Connecting information about important settlements around the city of Alba Iulia, we notice that the evolution of gold exploitations in the Apuseni and of mining devices left their mark  on the development of the Principality of Transylvania. At Rimetea (which became a town in the 15th century), 16 hydraulic hammers were used to make agricultural implements as well as weapons. The hydraulic hammer illustrated on the wall here is a statement to the importance of such equipment for the welfare development of the Principality. Only relevant daily-life aspects were included in the decoration of princely homes. Natural resources in the area had a huge contribution to its welfare and gold, a pre-requisite of prosperity, lent he Principality its power to negotiate on a political level.. Therefore, princes and governors made the import of advanced Western technologies a top priority, motivated by the existing natural resources (ore, salt) and abundant water and wood supplies for technological needs.