>>13421544Ore Deposit Geology (Ridley 2013) should be a simple enough book if you're at the level where you can't judge between different textbooks, and it covers the geology behind pretty much all metallic ores. Not too long of a read either considering how deep it goes.
If you're interested in what happens between a mine and a smelter (extractive metallurgy), I haven't encountered an in-depth comprehensive guide, so your best option would be case studies of individual mines and their operation (e.g. recovery rates of metal from ore, refining methods tailored to the deposit etc). The few megacorps that can afford to build a mine generally know how to do it, so there's no market for a "mining operations for idiots" book; the thinking guys are generally too busy wining and dining dictators and paying mercenaries to protect their precious employees. In the present world economy, iron is the most important metal (shipped around the globe as raw ore), followed by gold and copper (extracted locally), and the rest are afterthoughts. If you're modeling some different era like the bronze age, tin of course becomes a major player.
I have no idea what smithing is, so I can't help you or the other anon there. The smiling black man simply drives away in a lorry full of rocks, we both get paid at rather different rates, and I assume that through some dark arts a farming tool appears a month or two down the line at some rural marketplace.
