MINING GLOSSARY

A
Abutment
In coal mining, (1) the weight of the rocks
above a narrow roadway is transferred to the solid coal
along the sides, which act as abutments of the arch of
strata spanning the roadway; and (2) the weight of the
rocks over a longwall face is transferred to the front
abutment, that is, the solid coal ahead of the face and the
back abutment, that is, the settled packs behind the face.
Acid mine drainage
Acidic run-off water from mine
waste dumps and mill tailings ponds containing sulphide
minerals. Also refers to ground water pumped to surface
from mines. Such drainage often requires treatment to
buffer acidity before it can be released into the natural
environment.
Acid mine water
Mine water that contains free
sulfuric acid, mainly due to the weathering of iron pyrites.
Acidic precipitation
Snow and rain that have a low
pH, caused by sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide gases
from industrial activity released into the atmosphere.
Acidic rocks
Usually refers to an igneous rock
carrying a high (greater than 65%) proportion of silica.
Active workings
Any place in a mine where miners
are normally required to work or travel and which are
ventilated and inspected regularly.
Adit
An adit is a more or less horizontal drive (walk-in
mine) into a hill that is usually driven for the purpose of
intersecting or mining an ore body. An adit may also be
driven into a hill to intersect or connect a shaft for the
purpose of dewatering. Adits were commonly driven on a
slight incline to enable loaded mine trucks to have the
advantage of a downhill run out, while the empty (lighter)
truck was pushed uphill back into the hill. The incline also
allows water to drain out of the adit. An adit only
becomes a tunnel if it comes out again on the hill
somewhere, like a train tunnel.

Agitation
In metallurgy, the act or state of being
stirred
or
shaken
mechanically,
some
times
accomplished by the introduction of compressed air.
Air Shaft
This term is one of the over used ones.
There is a lot of effort in digging a mine. You don't do it if
you don't have to. The airshaft is usually an abandoned
shaft which has been intersected during the normal
course of following the common denominator (usually a
quartz vein) or driven a small distance to or along a vein
to a known abandoned or disused shaft. An intersection
provides ventilation. Two entrances to the surface
provide a natural airflow, hence the term airshaft.
Air split
The division of a current of air into two or
more parts.
Airborne survey
A survey made from an air craft to
obtain photographs, or measure magnetic properties,
radioactivity, etc.
Airway
Any passage through which air is carried. Also
known as an air course.
Alloy

A compound of two or more metals.

Alluvial, alluvium
Relatively recent deposits of
sedimentary material laid down in river beds, flood plains,
lakes, or at the base of mountain slopes.
Alpha meter
An instrument used to measure
positively charged particles emitted by radio active
materials.
Alpha ray
A positively charged particle emitted by
certain radioactive materials.
Alteration
Any physical or chemical change in a rock
or mineral subsequent to its formation. Milder and more
localized than metamorphism.

Advance
Mining in the same direction, or order of
sequence; first mining as distinguished from retreat. Or a
noun describing the distance a tunnel has advanced
during a period of time. For example, the advance in the
tunnel last month was 100 metres.

Amalgam
An alloy or union of mercury with another
metal; gold or other metal that has been coated with
mercury by adhesion

Aerial magnetometer
An instrument used to
measure magnetic field strength from an airplane.

Amorphous
A term applied to rocks or minerals that
possess no definite crystal structure or form, such as
amorphous carbon.

Agglomerate
A breccia composed largely or entirely
of fragments of volcanic rocks.
Agglomeration
A method of concentrating valuable
minerals based on their adhesion properties.

Amalgamation
The process of removing precious
metals from ores by use of mercury.

Amortization
The gradual and systematic writing off
of a balance in an account over an appropriate period.
Analysis

The determination of the contents in any

substance.
Anemometer

deposited by water.
Instrument for measuring air velocity.

ANFO
Acronym for ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, a
mixture used as a blasting agent in many mines.
Angle of draw
In coal mine subsidence, this angle is
assumed to bisect the angle between the vertical and the
angle of repose of the material and is 20 for flat seams.
For dipping seams, the angle of break increases, being
35.8 from the vertical for a 40 dip. The main break
occurs over the seam at an angle from the vertical equal
to half the dip.
Angle of repose
The maximum angle from horizontal
at which a given material will rest on a given surface
without sliding or rolling.
Anhydrous
Refers to compounds having no water in
their composition.
Anneal
Heating and cooling metals to make them
harder and stronger
Annual report
The formal financial statements and
report on operations issued by a corporation to its
shareholders after its fiscal year-end.
Anode
A rectangular plate of metal cast in a shape
suitable for refining by the electrolytic process.
Anomaly
Any departure from the norm which may
indicate the presence of mineralization in the underlying
bedrock. In geophysics and geochemistry, an area where
the property being measured is significantly higher or
lower than the larger, surrounding area.
Anthracite
A hard, black coal containing a high
percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of
volatile matter.
Anticline
An arch or fold in the layers of rock shaped
like the crest of a wave, as opposed to a syncline, which
is similar to the trough of a wave.
Apex
The top or terminal edge of a vein on surface or
its nearest point to the surface.
Appalachian Region
The eastern geological region
of Canada consisting of the Appalachian Mountains
Aqua Regia
Acid mixture of 3 parts hydrochloric and
1 part nitric acid.
Aqueous

Containing water or related to material

Aquifer
A water-bearing bed of porous rock, often
sandstone.
Arborescent

Minerals that branch in treelike forms.

Archean
Refers to rock group of the Archean
geological era.
Arching
Fracture processes around a mine opening,
leading to stabilization by an arching effect.
Argentiferous
Argentite
Argillaceous
nature

Pertains to silver-clearing rocks.

A silver sulphide mineral.

Consisting of clays or having a clayey

Arrastra
Crude stone
amalgamating gold ores.
Arsenical

mill

for

grinding

and

Pertaining to or containing arsenic

Artesian
an aquifer or water bearing zone where the
piezometric surface (pressure level) is above ground
surface.
Artificial intelligence
A field of computer science
research aimed at enabling computers to mimic (at best)
the reasoning processes of human experts.
Ash
coal.

The inorganic residue remaining after ignition of

Assay
A chemical test performed on a sample of ores
or minerals to determine the amount of valuable metals
contained.
Assay - ton
grams.

Assaying equivalent ton, equal to 29.166

Assay foot (metre, inch, centimetre)

The assay
value multiplied by the number of feet, metres, inches,
centimetres across which the sample is taken.
Assay laboratory
A laboratory in which the
proportions of metal in ores or concentrates are
determined using analytical techniques
Assay map

Plan view of an area indicating assay

values and locations of all samples taken on the property.

back of an underground opening for the purpose of

determining grade.

Assay Value
The value of an ore as determined by
assay results; the amount and worth of metals or
minerals in a sample.

Backfill
Waste material used to fill the void created
by mining an orebody.

Assessment work
The amount of work, specified by
provincial law, that must be performed each year in order
to retain legal control of mining claims.

Background
Minor amounts of radioactivity, shown
on a counter, that are due not to abnormal amounts of
radioactive minerals nearby, but to cosmic rays and
minor residual radioactivity in the vicinity.

Atomic Weight
The relative weight of an atom of an
element as compared to the most stable isotope of
carbon (At. Wt. 12.01115).

Backwardation
A situation when the cash or spot
price of a metal stands at a premium over the price of
the metal for delivery at a forward date.

Attrition
abrasion.

Backwash
Water movement against the primary
direction of flow.

Loss of material through friction and

Auger
A rotary drill that uses a screw device to
penetrate, break, and then transport the drilled material
(coal).

Bacterial leaching / bio-oxidation

bacteria to oxidise sulphide minerals

The use of

Auriferous

Refers to gold-bearing rocks and gravels.

Baffle
A partition or grating in a furnace, container or
channel.

Auriferous

Containing gold.

Bailer
Device for removing sludge and water from a
drill hole or mine.

Authorized capital

see Capital stock.

Autogenous grinding
The process of grinding ore in
a rotating cylinder, using as a grinding medium large
pieces or pebbles of the ore being ground, instead of
conventional steel balls or rods.
Automation
The process of controlling industrial
production processes by computers or programmable
"logic-controllers" with a minimum of human involvement.
Auxiliary operations
All activities supportive of but
not contributing directly to mining.
Auxiliary ventilation
Portion of main ventilating
current directed to face of dead end entry by means of an
auxiliary fan and tubing.
Avoirdupois
Common system of weights used in the
U.S. and Britain.
Azimuth
A surveying term that references the angle
measured clockwise from any meridian (the established
line of reference). The bearing is used to designate
direction. The bearing of a line is the acute horizontal
angle between the meridian and the line.

B
Back

The ceiling or roof of an underground opening.

Back sample

Rock chips collected from the roof or

Balance sheet
A formal statement of the financial
position of a company on a particular day, normally
presented to shareholders once a year. Everything
owned by the company (i.e. its assets) must be equal to
the sum of the company's debts (liabilities) and the value
of its shares and retained earnings (net worth).
Ball Clay
A fine-grained, plastic, white firing clay
used principally for bonding in ceramic ware.
Ball mill
A cylindrically shaped steel container filled
with steel balls into which crushed ore is fed. The ball
mill is rotated, causing the balls to cascade, which in turn
grinds the ore.
Banded iron formation
Rock composed of bands or
layers of minerals (rocks) differing in color and texture.
Banjo
An alluvial gold washing trough, a shovel,
musical instrument, a carrying case for Chinese gold
scales.
Barren
Said of rock or vein material containing no
minerals of value, and of strata without coal, or
containing coal in seams too thin to be workable.
Barricading
Enclosing part of a mine to prevent
inflow of noxious gasses from a mine fire or an
explosion.
Barrier
Something that bars or keeps out. Barrier
pillars are solid blocks of coal left between two mines or
sections of a mine to prevent accidents due to inrushes
of water, gas, or from explosions or a mine fire.

Basal till
Unsorted glacial debris at the base of the
soil column where it comes into contact with the bedrock
below.

In roof bolting, the plate used between the bolt head and
the roof.
Bed

Basalt
An extrusive volcanic rock composed primarily
of plagioclase, pyroxene and minor olivine.

A stratum of coal or other sedimentary deposit.

Bedded
Refers to rock formations deposited in
successive layers.

Base
Any compound that will combine with an acid
and neutralize it, forming a salt; also bottom or support
for any structure.
Base camp
Centre of operations from which
exploration activity is conducted.

Bedded Lead
A term used to describe planar quartz
veins confined by the bedding planes of metamorphosed
sedimentary rocks. Commonly used to describe goldbearing quartz veins in Nova Scotia.

Base metal
Any non-precious metal (e.g.. copper,
lead, zinc, nickel, etc.).

Bedding
layers.

Basement rocks
The underlying or older rock mass.
Often refers to rocks of Precambrian age which may be
covered by younger rocks.

Bedrock
Solid rock forming the Earth's crust,
frequently covered by soil or water.

Basic
Underlying fundamental; rocks with little silica;
also the opposite of acidic.
Basic research
Fundamental scientific research
concerned solely with scientific principles as opposed to
applied scientific research which is concerned with the
commercial application of those principles.
Basic rocks
An igneous rock, relatively low in silica
and composed mostly of dark-colored minerals.
Batholith
A large mass of igneous rock extending to
great depth with its upper portion dome-like in shape. It
has crystallized below surface, but may be exposed as a
result of erosion of the overlying rock. Smaller masses of
igneous rocks are known as bosses or plugs.
Bauxite
A rock made up of hydrous aluminum oxides;
the most common aluminum ore. layers.

The arrangement of sedimentary rocks in

Belt conveyor
A looped belt on which Coal or other
materials can be carried and which is generally
constructed of flame-resistant material or of reinforced
rubber or rubber-like substance.
Belt idler
A roller, usually of cylindrical shape, which
is supported on a frame and which, in turn, supports or
guides a conveyor belt. Idlers are not powered but turn
by contact with the moving belt.
Belt take-up
A belt pulley, generally under a
conveyor belt and inby the drive pulley, kept under
strong tension parallel to the belt line. Its purpose is to
automatically compensate for any slack in the belting
created by start-up, etc.
Bench
One of to or more divisions of a coal seam
separated by slate or formed by the process of cutting
the coal. Or one "step" or working level of an open pit
mine.

Beach placer
A placer deposit of valuable heavy
minerals on a contemporary or ancient beach or along a
coastline.

Beneficiate
To concentrate or enrich; often applied to
the preparation of iron ore for smelting, through such
processes as sintering, magnetic concentration,
washing, etc.

Beam
A bar or straight girder used to support a span
of roof between two support props or walls.

Beneficiation
The treatment of mined material,
making it more concentrated or richer.

Beam building
The creation of a strong, inflexible
beam by bolting or otherwise fastening together several
weaker layers. In coal mining this is the intended basis
for roof bolting.

Bentonite
A clay which has great ability to absorb
water and which swells accordingly.

Bear market
Term used to describe market
conditions when share prices are declining.
Bearing
A surveying term used to designate
direction. The bearing of a line is the acute horizontal
angle between the meridian and the line. The meridian is
an established line of reference. Azimuths are angles
measured clockwise from any meridian.
Bearing plate

A plate used to distribute a given load.

Berm
A pile or mound of material capable of
restraining a vehicle.
Bessemer
An iron ore which has a very low
phosphorus content.
Beta particles
An elementary particle emitted from
the nucleus of an element during radioactive decay.
Binder
A streak of impurity in a coal seam. Or the
cement or pozzolanic material added to mine backfill to
consolidate it.

Bio-leaching
A process for recovering metals from
low-grade ores by dissolving them in solution, the
dissolution being aided by bacterial action.

Blasting cap
A detonator containing a charge of
detonating compound, which is ignited by electric current
or the spark of a fuse. Used for detonating explosives.

Biosphere
living things.

Blasting circuit
Electric circuits used to fire electric
detonators or to ignite an igniter cord by means of an
electric starter.

That part of the Earth which contains

Biotite
A platy magnesium-iron mica, common in
igneous rocks.
Bit
The hardened and strengthened device at the end
of a drill rod that transmits the energy of breakage to the
rock. The size of the bit determines the size of the hole.
A bit may be either detachable from or integral with its
supporting drill rod. Frequently made of an ultra-hard
material such as industrial diamonds or tungsten
carbide.
Bituminous coal
A middle rank coal (between
subbituminous and anthracite) formed by additional
pressure and heat on lignite. Usually has a high Btu
value and may be referred to as "soft coal."
Black damp
A term generally applied to carbon
dioxide. Strictly speaking, it is a mixture of carbon
dioxide and nitrogen. It is also applied to an atmosphere
depleted of oxygen, rather than having an excess of
carbon dioxide.

Blasting Machine
blast by electricity.

Bleeder or bleeder entries

Special air courses
developed and maintained as part of the mine ventilation
system and designed to continuously move air-methane
mixtures emitted by the gob or at the active face away
from the active workings and into mine-return air
courses. Alt: Exhaust ventilation lateral.
Blister copper
The product of the Bessemer
converter furnace used in copper smelting. It is a crude
form of copper, assaying about 99% copper, and
requires further refining before being used for industrial
purposes.
Block caving
An inexpensive method of mining in
which large blocks of ore are undercut, causing the ore
to break or cave under its own weight.
Board lot

Black gold
Placer gold that is coated with black
manganese oxides.
Black Jack
blend.

A portable device used to initiate a

One hundred shares.

Boiling Point
The point at which a substance boils;
for water, 212 degrees F. or 100 degrees C.

A miner's term for sphalerite or zinc

Black smoker
Tall volcanic vent found along active
spreading centres on the ocean floor through which
sulphide-laden fluids escape.
Blast furnace
A reaction vessel in which mixed
charges of oxide ores, fluxes and fuels are blown with a
continuous blast of hot air and oxygen-enriched air for
the chemical reduction of metals to their metallic state.
Iron ore is most commonly treated in this way, and so
are some ores of copper, lead, etc.
Blast hole
A hole drilled for emplacement of
explosives.

Bolt torque
The turning force in foot-pounds applied
to a roof bolt to achieve an installed tension.
Bonanza

Very rich ore.

Bond
An agreement to pay a certain amount of
interest over a given period of time.
Boom
A telescoping, hydraulically powered steel arm
on which drifters, manbaskets and hydraulic hammers
are mounted.
Bootleg
The remnants of a blasthole that did not
properly break when the blast was initiated.

Blaster
A mine employee responsible for loading,
priming and detonating blastholes.

Borehole

Blasthole
A hole drilled for purposes of blasting
rather than for exploration or geological information.

Borer
Common term for rock-cutting drill.
Boring
Drilling holes into hard rock or driving a tunnel
with a tunnel boring machine

Blasting
Detonating explosives to loosen rock for
excavation.
Blasting agent
Any material consisting of a mixture
of a fuel and an oxidizer. It normally refers to relatively
insensitive mixture such as ANFO, emulsion, or watergel
explosive.

Common term for a drill hole.

Bort
An impure diamond used for hardening drill bits;
an abrasive.
Bortryoidal
forms.

Refers to mineral occurring in globular

Boss
Any member of the managerial ranks who is
directly in charge of miners (e.g., "shift-boss," "faceboss," "fire-boss," etc.).
Bottom
Floor or underlying surface of an
underground excavation.
Boulder clay
An unstratified deposit of clay in which
are embedded rock particles up to the size of boulders;
usually of glacial origin.
Box hole
A short raise or opening driven above a drift
for the purpose of drawing ore from a stope, or to permit
access.
Box-type magazine
A small, portable magazine used
to store limited quantities of explosives or detonators for
short periods of time at locations in the mine which are
convenient to the blasting sites at which they will be
used.
Brace
Mine timber; also platform over mouth of
vertical shaft.
Brattice or brattice cloth
Fire-resistant fabric or
plastic partition used in a mine passage to confine the air
and force it into the working place. Also termed "line
brattice," "line canvas," or "line curtain."
Break
A loose term used to describe a large scale
regional shear zone or structural fault.
Break line
The line that roughly follows the rear
edges of coal pillars that are being mined. The line along
which the roof of a coal mine is expected to break.
Breaker

Slang term for a rock crusher

Breakthrough
A passage for ventilation that is cut
through the pillars between rooms.
Breast
The face of an overhand cut and fill stope
where the drill holes are driven horizontally
Breccia
A type of rock whose components are
angular in shape, as distinguished from a conglomerate,
whose components are water- worn into a rounded
shape.
Bridge carrier
A rubber-tire-mounted mobile
conveyor, about 10 meters long, used as an intermediate
unit to create a system of articulated conveyors between
a mining machine and a room or entry conveyor.
Bridge conveyor
A short conveyor hung from the
boom of mining or lading machine or haulage system
with the other end attached to a receiving bin that dollies
along a frame supported by the room or entry conveyor,
tailpiece. Thus, as the machine boom moves, the bridge
conveyor keeps it in constant connection with the
tailpiece.

Brittle

Easily fractured or broken.

Broken reserves
The amount of ore in a mine which
has been broken by blasting but which has not yet been
transported to surface.
Brokerage
A commission fee, set by the stock
exchange, charged by a broker on each share purchase
or sale. Rates are scaled according to share price
Brow
A low place in the roof of a mine, giving
insufficient headroom.
Brunton compass
A pocket compass equipped with
sights and a reflector, useful for sighting lines, measuring
dip and carrying out preliminary surveys.
Brushing
Digging up the bottom or taking down the
top to give more headroom in roadways.
Btu
British thermal unit. A measure of the energy
required to raise the temperature of one pound of water
one degree Fahrenheit.
Bucket line dredge
A large dredge that utilizes a
chain of buckets to excavate and lift gravels for
processing.
Bug dust
The fine particles of coal or other material
resulting form the boring or cutting of the coal face by
drill or machine.
Bulk mining
Any large-scale, mechanized method of
mining involving many thousands of tonnes of ore being
brought to surface per day by a relatively few number of
miners
Bulk sample
A large sample of mineralization,
frequently involving hundreds of tonnes, selected in such
a manner as to be representative of the potential
orebody being sampled. Used to determine metallurgical
characteristics.
Bulkhead
of mines.

Partition erected to seal off certain portions

Bull market
Term used to describe financial market
conditions when share prices are going up.
Bull quartz
A prospector's term describing white,
coarse-grained, barren quartz.
Bulldozing
equipment.
Bullion

Moving material with mechanized

Metal in bars, ingots or other uncoined form.

Bullwheel
A belt driven drive wheel, located on the
side of a machine such as on a stamper battery.
Bump (or burst) A violent dislocation of the mine
workings which is attributed to severe stresses in the
rock surrounding the workings.

flame, and is extremely easy to ignite.

Butt cleat .
A short, poorly defined vertical cleavage
plane in a coal seam, usually at right angles to the long
face cleat
Butt entry
A coal mining term that has different
meanings in different locations. It can be synonymous
with panel entry, submain entry, or in its older sense it
refers to an entry that is "butt" onto the coal cleavage
(that is, at right angles to the face).
Butte

An isolated hill or mountain with steep sides.

Button
Refers to precious metal globule produced by
fire assaying.
Byproduct
A secondary metal or mineral product
recovered in the milling process.

C
Cable bolt
A steel cable, capable of withstanding
tens of tonnes, cemented into a drillhole to lend support
in blocky ground.
Cache

A place where supplies are stored or hidden.

Cage
The conveyance used to transport men and
equipment in a shaft.
Cage
In a mine shaft, the device, similar to an
elevator car, that is used for hoisting personnel and
materials.
Caisson
A metal casing or cylinder used to sink
shafts in unstable or wet placer ground.
Calcareous
Like limestone or calcium carbonate, or
composed of same.
Calcine
Name given to concentrate that is ready for
smelting (i.e. the sulphur has been driven off by
oxidation).
Calich
A cemented conglomerate, usually occurring
in desert climates.
Call
An option to buy shares at a specified price. The
opposite of a "put".
Calorie
Heat required to raise the temperature of 1
gram of water by 1 degree Centigrade.
Calorific value
The quantity of heat that can be
liberated from one pound of coal or oil measured in
BTU's.
Cam
Projection on a shaft that impart irregular
motion or reciprocating action to another part; also the
shaft itself.
Cannel coal
A massive, non-caking block coal with a
fine, even grain and a conchoidal fracture which has a
high percentage of hydrogen, burns with a long, yellow

Canopy
machine.

A protective covering of a cab on a mining

Cap
A miner's safety helmet. Also, a highly sensitive,
encapsulated explosive that is used to detonate larger
but less sensitive explosives.
Cap block
A flat piece of wood inserted between the
top of the prop and the roof to provide bearing support.
Cap rock
of rock.

A layer of rock lying on top of another type

Capillarity
The property of liquids allowing them to
rise through solids.
Capital stock
The total ownership of a limited
liability company divided among a specified number of
shares.

Capitalization
A financial term used to describe the
value financial markets put on a company. Determined
by multiplying the number of outstanding shares of a
company by the current stock price.
Captive stope
A stope that is accessible only through a manw
Car
A railway wagon, especially any of the wagons
adapted to carrying coal, ore, and waste underground.
Carat
Unit of weight used for precious stones, equal
to 3.2 grains.
Carbide bit
More correctly, cemented tungsten
carbide. A cutting or drilling bit for rock or coal, made by
fusing an insert of molded tungsten carbide to the cutting
edge of a steel bit shank.
Carbon steel
A steel hardened by the addition of
carbon; drill rod.
Carbonaceous

Refers to rocks containing carbon.

Carboniferous

A geological time period.

Carbon-in-pulp
A method of recovering gold and
silver from pregnant cyanide solutions by adsorbing the
precious metals to granules of activated carbon, which
are typically ground up coconut shells.
Carborundum
Car-dump
car.

Silicon carbide used as an abrasive.

The mechanism for unloading a loaded

Cash Cost
Includes all direct and indirect operating
cash costs incurred at each operating mine, divided by
the total weight of the primary metal produced.
Byproduct revenues earned from other metals are used
to reduce the cash cost per ounce of producing the
primary metal.
Cash flow

A measure of the fiscal strength of a

business. The net of the inflow and outflow of cash

during an accounting period. Does not account for
depreciation or bookkeeping write-offs which do not
involve an actual cash outlay.
Casing head
Hardened fitting on top of casing, used
for driving casing.
Cast
A directed throw; in strip-mining, the
overburden is cast from the coal to the previously mined
area.
Cast Blasting
The practice of using blasting to throw
the waste rock or overburden some distance in a
controlled direction, to reduce the cost of handling it with
mechanical equipment. Usually this term is applied to
coal mining where cast blasting is used to remove the
overburden from the coal seam.
Cathode
A rectangular plate of metal, produced by
electrolytic refining, which is melted into commercial
shapes such as wirebars, billets, ingots, etc.
Caustic

Corrosive chemical substance.

Cave In

Collapse of mine workings.

Caving
caved.

A mining method where or is purposely

Cement copper
Copper that has been salvaged
from its solution in groundwater or mine drainage water
by precipitating on scrap iron, a process commonly used
in the U.S.
Centigrade
A system for measuring temperature.
Ceramic

Refers to clays hardened by roasting.

Cesium magnetometer
An instrument used in
geophysics which measures magnetic field strength in
terms of vertical gradient and total field.
Chain

Survey measure equal to 66 feet.

Chain conveyor
A conveyor on which the material is
moved along solid pans (troughs) by the action of
scraper crossbars attached to powered chains.
Chain pillar
The pillar of coal left to protect the
gangway or entry and the parallel airways.
Chalcocite
A sulphide mineral of copper common in
the zone of secondary enrichment.
Chalcopyrite
A sulphide mineral of copper and iron.
A common ore mineral of copper.
Change house
A special building, constructed at a
mine site, where the miner changes into work clothes;
also known as the "dry".
Channel

The main section of a watercourse.

Channel sample
A sample composed of pieces of
vein or mineral deposit that have been cut out of a small

trench or channel, usually about 10 cm wide and 2 cm or

so deep.
Charter
A document issued by a governing authority
creating a company or other corporation.
Chartered bank
A financial institution that accepts
deposits and makes loans.
Check curtain
Sheet of brattice cloth hung across
an airway to control the passage of the air current.
Check valve
gases.

Device for controlling flow of liquids or

Chemical
Refers to substances involved in reaction
between the elements.
Chemical Analysis
chemistry.

Determination of content by

Chip sample
A method of sampling a rock exposure
whereby a regular series of small chips of rock is broken
off along a line across the face.
Chock
Large hydraulic jacks used to support roof in
longwall and shortwall mining systems.
Chromite

The chief ore mineral of chromium.

Chromium
A gray metallic element found in the
mineral chromite.
Chute
An opening, usually constructed of timber and
equipped with a gate, through which ore is drawn from a
stope into mine cars.
Cinnabar
A vermilion-colored mercury sulfide
mineral. It is the principal ore mineral for mercury.
Chemical symbol: HgS. Hardness: 2-2.5 Cleavage:
Perfect in 3 directions at 60 and 120 degrees. Specific
Gravity 8.0 to 8.2. Best Field Identification Features:
Bright red colour, softness, and unusual heaviness.
More Information:
www.mininglife.com/commodities/mercury.htm
Circulating load
Over-sized chunks of ore returned
to the head of a closed grinding circuit before going on to
the next stage of treatment.
Claim
A portion of land held either by a prospector or
a mining company under federal or provincial law. The
common size is 1,320 ft. (about 400 m) square,
containing 40 acres (about 16 ha).
Clarification
Process of clearing dirty water by
removing suspended material.
Classifier
A mineral-processing machine which
separates minerals according to size and density.
Clastic rock
A sedimentary rock composed
principally of fragments derived from pre-existing rocks
and transported mechanically to their place of
deposition.

Clay
A fine-grained material composed of hydrous
aluminum silicates.
Clay vein
A body of clay-like material that fills a void
in a coal bed.
Cleaning Up
After the stamper battery has stopped
cleaning up refers to getting the gold and or separating
the gold and mercury from the copper plates.
Cleat
The vertical cleavage of coal seams. The main
set of joints along which coal breaks when mined.
Cleavage
A property of many minerals which may be
easily split along crystallographic planes.
Closed circuit
A loop in the milling process wherein
a selected portion of the product of a machine is
returned to the head of the machine for finishing to
required specification; commonly used examples in
milling plants include grinding mills in closed circuit with
classifiers.
Coal A solid, brittle, more or less distinctly stratified
combustible carbonaceous rock, formed by partial to
complete decomposition of vegetation; varies in color
from dark brown to black; not fusible without
decomposition and very insoluble.
Coal dust
sieve.

Particles of coal that can pass a No. 20

Coal Gasification
gaseous fuel.

The conversion of coal into a

Coal reserves
Measured tonnages of coal that have
been calculated to occur in a coal seam within a
particular property.
Coal washing
The process of separating
undesirable materials from coal based on differences in
densities. Pyritic sulfur, or sulfur combined with iron, is
heavier and sinks in water; coal is lighter and floats.
Coalification
forming coal.
Coarse gold
nuggets.

Column flotation
A precombustion coal cleaning
technology in which coal particles attach to air bubbles
rising in a vertical column. The coal is then removed at
the top of the column.
Comminution
The breaking, crushing, or grinding of
coal, ore, or rock.
Common stock
Shares in a company which have
full voting rights which the holders use to control the
company in common with each other. There is no fixed
or assured dividend as with preferred shares, which
have first claim on the distribution of a company's
earnings or assets.
Common-core training
Underground hardrock
mining skills taught to all underground miners.
Competent rock
Rock which, because of its
physical and geological characteristics, is capable of
sustaining openings without any structural support
except pillars and walls left during mining (stalls, light
props, and roof bolts are not considered structural
support).
Complex ore
An ore containing a number of
minerals of economic value. Usually implies there are
metallurgical difficulties in liberating and separating the
valuable metals.
Compressor
A machine for compressing air to a
pressure sufficient to actuate mine machinery
Computer-aided design
A method of creating plans,
sections and oblique views of orebodies using computer
graphics.
Concentrate
A product containing the valuable
minerals of an ore from which most of the waste material
has been removed by undergoing a specific treatment.

Concentrator
A milling plant that produces a
concentrate of the valuable minerals or metals. Further
treatment
required
the pure
General term applied to rough or angular gold
particlesisas
well astotorecover
larger pieces
or metal.
The metamorphic processes of

Coke
A hard, dry carbon substance produced by
heating coal to a very high temperature in the absence
of air.
Collar
The term applied to the timbering or concrete
around the mouth or top of a shaft. The beginning point
of a shaft or drill hole at the surface.
Colliery

tall cylindrical column, whereby valuable minerals are

separated from gangue minerals based on their
wetability properties.

British name for coal mine.

Colloidal gold
Extremely fine gold particles that can
remain suspended in solution.
Column flotation

A milling process, carried out in a

Cone crusher
A machine which crushes ore
between a gyrating cone or crushing head and an
inverted truncated cone known as a bowl.
Confined aquifer
An aquifer (or water bearing zone)
where the pressure (or generically the water) level is
above the top of the aquifer.
Confirmation
A form delivered by a broker to the
client, setting forth the details of stock sales or
purchases for the client.
Conglomerate
A sedimentary rock consisting of
rounded, water-worn pebbles or boulders cemented into
a solid mass.

Contact
The place or surface where two different
kinds of rocks meet. Applies to sedimentary rocks, as the
contact between a limestone and a sandstone, for
example, and to metamorphic rocks; and it is especially
applicable between igneous intrusions and their walls.
Contact metamorphism
Metamorphism of country
rocks adjacent to an intrusion, caused by heat from the
intrusion
Contango
A situation in which the price of a metal
for forward or future delivery stands at a premium over
the cash or spot price of the metal.
Continental crust
The thick, solid part of the Earth's
crust underlying the continents.
Continental drilling
Deep drilling projects up to 5
km deep, conducted by scientific research institutions
worldwide to learn more about the deep structure of the
continental crust.
Continuous miner
A machine that constantly
extracts coal while it loads it. This is to be distinguished
from a conventional, or cyclic, unit which must stop the
extraction process in order for loading to commence.
Contour
An imaginary line that connects all points
on a surface having the same elevation.
Controlled blasting
Blasting patterns and
sequences designed to achieve a particular objective.
Cast blasting, where the muck pile is cast in a particular
direction, and deck blasting, where holes are loaded
once but blasted in successive blasts days apart, are
examples.
Converter
In copper smelting, a Bessemer furnace
is used to separate copper metal from matte; also used
in steelmaking.
Conveyor
An apparatus for moving material from
one point to another in a continuous fashion. This is
accomplished with an endless (that is, looped)
procession of hooks, buckets, wide rubber belt, etc.
Cordillera
The continuous chain of mountain ranges
on the western margin of North and South America..
Cordilleran Region
The continuous chain or range
of mountains on the western margin of North America.
Core
The long cylindrical piece of rock, about 2 cm
or more in diameter, recovered by diamond drilling.
Core barrel
That part of a string of tools in a
diamond drill hole in which the core specimen is
collected.
Core sample
A cylinder sample generally 1-5" in
diameter drilled out of an area to determine the geologic
and chemical analysis of the overburden and coal.

Country rock
A loose term to describe the general
mass of rock adjacent to an orebody, as distinguished
from the vein or ore deposit itself. Also known as the
host rock.
Cover

The overburden of any deposit.

Cradle
Alluvial gold washing box with slides and
riffles to catch gold. See Rocker
Creep
The forcing of pillars into soft bottom by the
weight of a strong roof. In surface mining, a very slow
movement of slopes downhill.
Crevicing
The cleaning of cracks and crevices in the
bedrock beneath a watercourse for the gold particles
lodged therein. Also called "sniping".
Crib
A roof support of prop timbers or ties, laid in
alternate cross-layers, log-cabin style. It may or may not
be filled with debris. Also may be called a chock or cog.
Cribbing
The construction of cribs or timbers laid at
right angles to each other, sometimes filled with earth, as
a roof support or as a support for machinery.
Crop coal
Coal at the outcrop of the seam. It is
usually considered of inferior quality due to partial
oxidation, although this is not always the case.
Cross entry
main entry.

An entry running at an angle with the

Crossbar
The horizontal member of a roof timber
set supported by props located either on roadways or at
the face.
Crosscut
A passageway driven between the entry
and its parallel air course or air courses for ventilation
purposes. Also, a tunnel driven from one seam to
another through or across the intervening measures;
sometimes called "crosscut tunnel", or "breakthrough". In
vein mining, an entry perpendicular to the vein.
Crosscut
A horizontal opening driven from a shaft
and at right angles to the strike of a vein or rock
formation.
Crucible
in.

A heat resistant container used to melt gold

Crusher
A machine for crushing rock or other
materials. Among the various types of crushers are the
ball mill, gyratory crusher, Handsel mill, hammer mill, jaw
crusher, rod mill, rolls, stamp mill, and tube mill.
Crust
The solid part of the Earth's crust com posed
of continental and oceanic crust.
Cum-dividend
payment.

Buyer entitled to pending dividend

Current assets
Assets of company which can and
are likely to be converted into cash within a year.

Includes cash, marketable securities, accounts

receivable and supplies.
Current liabilities
A company's debts that are
payable within a year's time.
Custom smelter
A smelter which processes
concentrates from independent mines. Concentrates
may be purchased or the smelter may be contracted to
do the processing for the independent company.
Cut value
Applies to assays that have been reduced
to some arbitrary maximum - thus high erratic values are
reduced in order not to have an undue influence on the
overall average.
Cut-and-fill
A method of stoping in which ore is
removed in slices, or lifts, following which the excavation
is filled with rock or other waste material known as
backfill, before the subsequent slice is mined; the backfill
sup- ports the walls of the stope.
Cutter; Cutting machine
A machine, usually used in
coal, that will cut a 10- to 15-cm slot. The slot allows
room for expansion of the broken coal. Also applies to
the man who operates the machine and to workers
engaged in the cutting of coal by prick or drill.
Cyanidation
A method of extracting exposed gold or
silver grains from crushed or ground ore by dissolving it
in a weak solution of sodium- or calcium-cyanide. Also
known as leaching. May be carried out in tanks inside a
mill or in heaps of ore out of doors.
Cyanide
A highly toxic chemical compound used to
dissolve gold and silver from ore.
Cycle mining
A system of mining in more than one
working place at a time, that is, a miner takes a lift from
the face and moves to another face while permanent
roof support is established in the previous working face.

Deep Leed
A run of alluvial gravel's or a gold bearing
alluvial seam that uses underground methods to extract
it.
Deferred charges
Expenses incurred but not
charged against the current year's operation.
Demonstrated reserves
A collective term for the
sum of coal in both measured and indicated resources
and reserves.
Depletion
An accounting device, used primarily in tax
computations. It recognizes the consumption of an ore
deposit, a mine's principal asset.
Deposit
Mineral deposit or ore deposit is used to
designate a natural occurrence of a useful mineral, or an
ore, in sufficient extent and degree of concentration to
invite exploitation.
Depreciation
In accounting, the practice of deducting
annually a specified amount or percentage from the
value of equipment and machinery representative of the
deterioration suffered by the equipment or machinery
during the year. The deduction reduces the amount of
profit reported but is not an actual out-of-pocket expense.
Detectors
Specialized chemical or electronic
instruments used to detect mine gases.
Detonator
A device containing a small detonating
charge that is used for detonating an explosive,
including, but not limited to, blasting caps, exploders,
electric detonators, and delay electric blasting caps.
Detonator House
detonators.

A magazine used to store

Day order
An order to buy or sell shares, good only
on the day the order was entered.

Detritus
A general term covering all unconsolidated
sediments.

Debenture

Development
Underground work carried out for the
purpose of opening up a mineral deposit. Includes shaft
sinking, crosscutting, drifting and raising.

see Bonds.

Debt financing
Method of raising capital whereby
companies borrow money from a lending institution.
Deck
The area around the shaft collar where men
and materials enter the cage to be lowered underground
Decline
A sloping underground opening, usually
driven at a grade of about 15% to 20%, for machine
access from level to level or from surface; also called a
ramp. An underground tunnel developed on a sloping
grade for traveling around an underground mine in a selfpropelled vehicle or mining machine. These tunnels are
often driven in a spiral, much the same as a staircase, to
access different elevations in the mine.

Development drilling
Drilling to establish accurate
estimates of mineral reserves.
Development mining
Work undertaken to open up
coal reserves as distinguished from the work of actual
coal extraction.
Diabase
A common basic igneous rock usually
occurring in dykes or sills.
Diamond
The hardest known mineral, composed of
pure carbon; low-quality diamonds are used to make bits

for diamond drilling in rock.

Diamond drill
A rotary type of rock drill in which the
cutting is done by abrasion rather than percussion. The
cutting bit is set with diamonds and is attached to the end
of long hollow rods through which water is pumped to the
cutting face. The drill cuts a core of rock that is recovered
in long cylindrical sections, two centimetres or more in
diameter.
Diamond driller
drill.

A person who operates a diamond

Diffuser fan
A fan mounted on a continuous miner to
assist and direct air delivery from the machine to the
face.
Diffusion
Blending of a gas and air, resulting in a
homogeneous mixture. Blending of two or more gases.
Dilute
To lower the concentration of a mixture; in this
case the concentration of any hazardous gas in mine air
by addition of fresh intake air.
Dilution
Waste or low-grade rock that is unavoidably
removed along with the ore in the mining process,
subsequently lowering the grade of the ore.
Dilution (mining)
Rock that is, by necessity,
removed along with the ore in the mining process,
subsequently lowering the grade of the ore.
Dilution (shares)
A decrease in the value of a
company's shares caused by the issue of treasury
shares.
Diorite
An intrusive igneous rock composed chiefly of
sodic plagioclase, hornblende, biotite or pyroxene
Dip
The angle at which a vein, structure or rock bed
is inclined from the horizontal as measured at right
angles to the strike.
Dip needle
A compass with the needle mounted so
as to swing in a vertical plane, used for prospecting to
determine the magnetic attraction of rocks.
Directional drilling
A method of drilling involving the
use of stabilizers and wedges to direct the orientation of
the hole.
Discount
The minimum price below the par value at
which treasury shares may legally be sold.
Dishing

Gold Panning.

Disseminated ore
Ore carrying small particles of
valuable minerals, spread more or less uniformly through

the gangue matter; distinct from massive ore wherein the

valuable minerals occur in almost solid form with very
little waste material included.
Dividend
Cash or stock awarded to preferred and
common shareholders at the discretion of the company's
board of directors.
Dividend claim
Made when a dividend has been
paid to previous holder because stock has not yet been
transferred to the name of the new owner.
Dolly Pot
Small hand operated (motor and pestle)
rock crusher used to sample for ore and to sample ore
for gold. Most were made from mercury bottles.
Dome
shape.

An uplifted structure with an inverted bowl

Dore
Unrefined gold and silver bullion bars consisting
of approximately 90% precious metals which will be
further refined to almost pure metal. The final saleable
product of a gold mine.
Drag fold
The result of the plastic deformation of a
rock unit where it has been folded or bent back on itself.
Dragline
Equipment with a long boom and large
digging bucket that is cast outward and dragged back
toward the machine.
Dragline
A large excavation machine used in surface
mining to remove overburden (layers of rock and soil)
covering a coal seam. The dragline casts a wire ropehung bucket a considerable distance, collects the dug
material by pulling the bucket toward itself on the ground
with a second wire rope (or chain), elevates the bucket,
and dumps the material on a spoil bank, in a hopper, or
on a pile.
Drainage
The process of removing surplus ground or
surface water either by artificial means or by gravity flow.
Draw slate
A soft slate, shale, or rock from
approximately 1 cm to 10 cm thick and located
immediately above certain coal seams, which falls quite
easily when the coal support is withdrawn.
Drawpoint
An underground opening at the bottom of
a stope through which broken ore is extracted from the
stope.
Dredging
Using a machine to dig up and sought
through alluvial gravel's in a watercourse.
Drift
A horizontal or near horizontal underground
opening that follows along the length of a vein or rock
formation as opposed to a crosscut which crosses the
rock formation.

Drift mine
An underground coal mine in which the
entry or access is above water level and generally on the
slope of a hill, driven horizontally into a coal seam.
Drifter
A hydraulic rock drill used to drill smalldiameter holes for blasting or for installing rock bolts.
Drill
A machine utilizing rotation, percussion
(hammering), or a combination of both to make holes. If
the hole is much over 0.4m in diameter, the machine is
called a borer.
Drill core
The sand and gravel forced upward into
the drill casing as it is driven into placer deposit
Drill log
A record of drilling results compiled as the
work progresses
Drill-indicated reserves
The size and quality of a
potential orebody as suggested by widely spaced
drillholes; more work is required before reserves can be
classified as probable or proven.
Drilling
The use of such a machine to create holes
for exploration or for loading with explosives.
Drive

An underground excavation within the mine.

Drive pipe

Another term for casing.

Dry
A building where the miner changes into working
clothes.
Dry washing
Extracting gold from dry gravels,
usually by equipment which uses air bellows for
separating lighter from heavier material.
Ductile
Capable of being bent, drawn into wire, or
pounded into sheets.
Drag fold
itself

Draw slate
A soft slate, shale, or rock from
approximately 1 cm to 10 cm thick and located
immediately above certain coal seams, which falls quite
easily when the coal support is withdrawn.
Drawpoint
An underground opening at the bottom of
a stope through which broken ore is extracted from the
stope.
Dredging
Using a machine to dig up and sought
through alluvial gravel's in a watercourse.
Drift
A horizontal or near horizontal underground
opening that follows along the length of a vein or rock
formation as opposed to a crosscut which crosses the
rock formation.
Drift mine
An underground coal mine in which the
entry or access is above water level and generally on the
slope of a hill, driven horizontally into a coal seam.
Drifter
A hydraulic rock drill used to drill smalldiameter holes for blasting or for installing rock bolts.
Drill
A machine utilizing rotation, percussion
(hammering), or a combination of both to make holes. If
the hole is much over 0.4m in diameter, the machine is
called a borer.
Drill core
The sand and gravel forced upward into
the drill casing as it is driven into placer deposit
Drill log
A record of drilling results compiled as the
work progresses
Drill-indicated reserves
The size and quality of a
potential orebody as suggested by widely spaced
drillholes; more work is required before reserves can be
classified as probable or proven.

The result of the plastic deformation of a rock unit where it has been folded or bent back on
Drilling
The use of such a machine to create holes
for exploration or for loading with explosives.

Dragline
Equipment with a long boom and large
digging bucket that is cast outward and dragged back
toward the machine.

Drive

An underground excavation within the mine.

Drive pipe
Dragline
A large excavation machine used in surface
mining to remove overburden (layers of rock and soil)
covering a coal seam. The dragline casts a wire ropehung bucket a considerable distance, collects the dug
material by pulling the bucket toward itself on the ground
with a second wire rope (or chain), elevates the bucket,
and dumps the material on a spoil bank, in a hopper, or
on a pile.
Drainage
The process of removing surplus ground or
surface water either by artificial means or by gravity flow.

Another term for casing.

Dry
A building where the miner changes into working
clothes.
Dry washing
Extracting gold from dry gravels,
usually by equipment which uses air bellows for
separating lighter from heavier material.
Ductile
Capable of being bent, drawn into wire, or
pounded into sheets.

Emulsion
Due diligence
In a professional evaluation, the
degree of care and caution required before making a
decision.
Dull

En echelon
A geological term used to describe the
geometric structure of minerals found in a roughly
parallel but staggered fashion.

Refers to a mineral's luster; not colorful or shiny.

End line

Dummy
A bag filled with sand, clay, etc., used for
stemming a charged hole.
Dump
surface.

A mixture of water and oily substances.

Line across the width of a lode chain.

Entry
Refers to mining location; also opening to
underground workings.

A pile or heap of broken rock or ore on

Dump
To unload; specifically, a load of coal or waste;
the mechanism for unloading, e.g. a car dump
(sometimes called tipple); or, the pile created by such
unloading, e.g. a waste dump (also called heap, pile, tip,
spoil pike, etc.).
Dyke
A long and relatively thin body of igneous rock
that, while in the molten state, intruded a fissure in older
rocks.

E
Effervesce
Forming and breaking gas bubbles by
chemical reaction.
Electrical grounding
To connect with the ground to
make the earth part of the circuit.
Electrolysis
An electric current is passed through a
solution containing dissolved metals, causing the metals
to be deposited on to a cathode.
Electrolytic refining
The process of purifying metal
ingots that are suspended as anodes in an electrolytic
bath, alternated with refined sheets of the same metal
which act as starters or cathodes.
Electrostatic separator
Machine employing static
electrical charges to separate heavy mineral
concentrates.
Electrum
Native gold containing a large amount of
alloyed silver.
Element
Substance composed of atoms that cannot
be broken down by ordinary chemical means; metals,
nonmetals and certain gasses.
Eluvium
Material produced by decomposing rock
formations where water movement and abrasion are not
present.
EM survey
A geophysical survey method which
measures the electromagnetic properties of rocks.

Entry
An underground horizontal or near-horizontal
passage used for haulage, ventilation, or as a mainway;
a coal heading; a working place where the coal is
extracted from the seam in the initial mining; same as
"gate" and "roadway," both British terms.
Environmental impact study
A written report,
compiled prior to a production decision, that examines
the effects proposed mining activities will have on the
natural surroundings of an exploration property.
Epigenetic
Orebodies formed by hydrothermal fluids
and gases that were introduced into the host rocks from
elsewhere, filling cavities in the host rock.
Epithermal deposit
A mineral deposit consisting of
veins and replacement bodies, usually in volcanic or
sedimentary rocks, containing precious metals, or, more
rarely, base metals.
Equity financing
shares.

The provision of funds by buying

Era
A large division of geologic time - the
Precambrian era, for example.
Erosion
The breaking down and subsequent removal
of either rock or surface material by wind, rain, wave
action, freezing and thawing and other processes.
Erratic
Refers to either a piece of visible gold (or
gold nugget in a core sample) or a large glacial boulder
Escrowed shares
Shares deposited in trust pending
fulfillment of certain conditions, and not ordinarily
available to trading until released.
Evaluation
The work involved in gaining a
knowledge of the size, shape, position and value of coal.
Evaporate

Drying out; also refers to the dry product.

Ex-dividend
On stocks selling "ex-dividend," the
seller retains the right to a pending dividend payment.
Expert systems
Computer software which attempts
to mimic the reasoning processes of a human expert.

Fall of Earth
Exploration
Prospecting, sampling, mapping,
diamond drilling and other work involved in searching for
ore.
Explosive
Any rapidly combustive or expanding
substance. The energy released during this rapid
combustion or expansion can be used to break rock.
Exposure
An outcrop of ore or a rock luvial; Sand
and gravel laid down by water movement.
Extraction
The process of mining and removal of
coal or ore from a mine.
Extraction
The proportion of a coal seam or orebody
which is removed from the mine. The remainder may
represent coal or ore in pillars or a part of the orebody
which is too thin or inferior to mine or lost in mining.
Shallow coal mines working under townships, reservoirs,
etc., may extract 50%, or less, of the entire seam, the
remainder being left as pillars to protect the surface.
Under favorable conditions, longwall mining may extract
from 80 to 95% of the entire seam. With pillar methods of
working, the extraction ranges from 50 to 90% depending
on local conditions.
Extralateral right
of mining claims.

Right to minerals beyond side lines

Extrusive
Igneous rocks that cooled at or above the
earth's surface.
Exude

To ooze out, or emit an odor.

F
Face
The end of a drift, crosscut or stope in which
work is progressing. Or The exposed area of a coal bed
from which coal is being extracted.

False set

Face conveyor
Any conveyor used parallel to a
working face which delivers coal into another conveyor or
into a car.
Factor of safety
The ratio of the ultimate breaking
strength of the material to the force exerted against it. If a
rope will break under a load of 6000 lbs., and it is
carrying a load of 2000 lbs., its factor of safety is 6000
divided by 2000 which equals 3.
Fahrenheit

A system of temperature measurement.

Fall
A mass of roof rock or coal which has fallen in
any part of a mine.

Temporary timbering in a mine.

Fan signal
Automation device designed to give alarm
if the main fan slows down or stops.
Fan, auxiliary
A small, portable fan used to
supplement the ventilation of an individual working place.
Fan, booster
A large fan installed in the main air
current, and thus in tandem with the main fan.
Fault
A break in the Earth's crust caused by tectonic
forces which have moved the rock on one side with
respect to the other; faults may extend for many
kilometres, or be only a few centimetres in length;
similarly, the movement or displacement along the fault
may vary widely.
Fault zone
A fault, instead of being a single clean
fracture, may be a zone hundreds or thousands of feet
wide. The fault zone consists of numerous interlacing
small faults or a confused zone of gouge, breccia, or
mylonite.
Feeder
A machine that feeds coal onto a conveyor
belt evenly.
Feldspar
A crystalline mineral consisting of aluminum
silicates and other elements that is an essential
ingredient for the ceramics industry, and also is used in
the glass and paint industries. A group of rock-forming
minerals. Includes: microcline, orthoclase, plagioclase
and anorthoclase.
Felsic
Term used to describe light-colored rocks
containing feldspar, fledspathoids and silica.
Ferrous

Face cleat
The principal cleavage plane or joint at
right angles to the stratification of the coal seam.

Cave in.

Containing iron.

Fill
Any material that is put back in place of the
extracted ore to provide ground support.
Fine gold
Fineness is the proportion of pure gold or
silver in jewelry or bullion expressed in parts per
thousand. Thus, 925 fine gold indicates 925 parts out of
1,000, or 92.5%, is pure gold. A fine ounce is a troy
ounce of 99.5% gold and 0.5% silver.
Fineness
thousand

Gold content expressed in parts per

Fire assay
The assaying of metallic minerals by use
of a miniature smelting procedure with various fluxing
agents
Fire damp

The combustible gas, methane, CH4.

Also, the explosive methane-air mixtures with between

5% and 15% methane. A combustible gas formed in
mines by decomposition of coal or other carbonaceous
matter, and that consists chiefly of methane.
Firing
The term fire in the hole denotes a firing in
progress. Refers to the setting off of explosives.
Fissile
Capable of being split or removed in sheets,
as slate and mica.
Fissure
rocks.

An extensive crack, break, or fracture in the

Fissure
rocks.

An extensive crack, break or fracture in

Fixed Assets
Possessions such as buildings,
machinery and land which, as opposed to current assets,
are unlikely to be converted into cash during the normal
business cycle.
Fixed carbon
The part of the carbon that remains
behind when coal is heated in a closed vessel until all of
the volatile matter is driven off.
Flask
Unit and container for measuring mercury,
equal to 76 pounds
Flat-lying
Said of deposits and coal seams with a dip
up to 5 degrees.
Flight
The metal strap or crossbar attached to the
drag chain-and-flight conveyor.
Float
Pieces of rock that have been broken off and
moved from their original location by natural forces such
as frost or glacial action.
Float dust
Fine coal-dust particles carried in
suspension by air currents and eventually deposited in
return entries. Dust consisting of particles of coal that can
pass through a No. 200 sieve.
Floater
Rocks or ground that appears to be solid that
is not attached to the bedrock or country rock.
Floor
mines.

The bottom of a mining level in underground

Floor
That part of any underground working upon
which a person walks or upon which haulage equipment
travels; simply the bottom or underlying surface of an
underground excavation.
Flotation
A milling process by which some mineral
particles are induced to become attached to bubbles and
float, and others to sink. In this way the valuable minerals

are concentrated and separated from the worth less

gangue.
Flour
ore.

Extremely fine gold particles; also finely-ground

Flowsheet
An illustration showing the sequence of
operations, step by step, by which ore is treated in a
milling, concentration, or smelting process.
Flow-through shares
A form of equity financing
whereby shares of a junior exploration company are
purchased by an investor through the Canadian
Exploration Incentive Program. As funds are drawn down
by the junior exploration company, shares are issued to
the investor. The method allows the investor to deduct
133% of the cost of the shares from their income.
Flue Gas Desulfurization
Any of several forms of
chemical/physical processes that remove sulfur
compounds formed during coal combustion. The devices,
commonly called "scrubbers," combine the sulfur in
gaseous emissions with another chemical medium to
form inert "sludge" which must then be removed for
disposal.
Fluidized Bed Combustion
A process with a high
degree of ability to remove sulfur from coal during
combustion. Crushed coal and limestone are suspended
in the bottom of a boiler by an upward stream of hot air.
The coal is burned in this bubbling, liquid-like (or
"fluidized") mixture. Rather than released as emissions,
sulfur from combustion gases combines with the
limestone to form a solid compound recovered with the
ash.
Flume
A trough used to convey water. fluvial: Sand
and gravel laid down by water movement.
Flux
A chemical substance used in metallurgy to
react with gangue minerals to form slags, which are liquid
at furnace temperature and low enough in density to float
on the molten bath of metal or matte; examples range in
scale from large tonnages of limestone, silica, etc., in
large furnaces, to small quantities of borax, soda, etc.,
used in laboratory assay ovens.
Fluxgate magnetometer
An instrument used in
geophysics to measure total magnetic field.
Fly ash
The finely divided particles of ash suspended
in gases resulting from the combustion of fuel.
Electrostatic precipitators are used to remove fly ash
from the gases prior to the release from a power plant's
smokestack.
Fold
Foliated

Any bending or wrinkling of rock strata.

Leaf-like formations of minerals.

Footwall
The wall or rock on the underside of a vein
or ore structure.

G
Gabbro

Formation
Denotes a particular rock structure; also
the processes by which a mineral deposit is formed.
Formation
Any assemblage of rocks which have
some character in common, whether of origin, age, or
composition. Often, the word is loosely used to indicate
anything that has been formed or brought into its present
shape.
Forward contract
The sale or purchase of a
commodity for delivery at a specified future date.

Gadd
moil.

A coarse-grained, dark, igneous rock.

A small rock wedge or chisel also known as a

Galena
A sulphide mineral of lead, being a common
lead ore mineral.
Gallery
A horizontal or a nearly horizontal
underground passage, either natural or artificial.
Gamma

A unit of measurement of magnetic intensity.

Fossicker
Alluvial surface gold digger. Hence the
term fossicking license.

Gangue

The worthless minerals in an ore deposit.

Fossil fuel
Any naturally occurring fuel of an organic
nature, such as coal, crude oil and natural gas.

Gasification
Any of various processes by which coal
is turned into low, medium, or high Btu gases.

Fowl Air
A possible problem underground. No taste,
smell, colours, unfortunately no OXYGEN! Affected by
fowl air underground your heart rate increases, you
become short of breath and faint before you expire if you
do not beat a hasty retreat.

Gathering conveyor; gathering belt

Any conveyor
which is used to gather coal from other conveyors and
deliver it either into mine cars or onto another conveyor.
The term is frequently used with belt conveyors placed in
entries where a number of room conveyors deliver coal
onto the belt.

Fracture
A break in the rock, the opening of which
affords the opportunity for entry of mineral-bearing
solutions. A "cross fracture" is a minor break extending at
more-or-less right angles to the direction of the principal
fractures.
Free milling
Ores of gold or silver from which the
precious metals can be recovered by concentrating
methods without resort to pressure leaching or other
chemical treatment.
Friable
Easy to break, or crumbling naturally.
Descriptive of certain rocks and minerals.
Friction hoist
A mine hoist in which conveyances are
suspended from both sides of a simple friction pulley
which imparts the desired motion; it is distinct from a
drum hoist, in which the ropes are wound on to their
individual drums.
Fumarole
A site where fumes are expelled in a
volcanic area.
Furnace

Equipment for roasting or smelting ores.

Fuse
A cord-like substance used in the ignition of
explosives. Black powder is entrained in the cord and,
when lit, burns along the cord at a set rate. A fuse can be
safely used to ignite a cap, which is the primer for an
explosive.
Fusion

The melting of a substance.

Geiger counter
An instrument used to measure
radioactivity (e.g., that which emanates from certain
minerals) by means of a Geiger- Mueller tube. It detects
the gamma rays and indicates the frequency or intensity
either visually (by dial or flashing light), audibly (by
earphones) or both.
Geochemistry
- The use of a broad spectrum of
chemical elements and ratios and their patterns, which
are naturally dispersed around ore deposits, to detect
concealed orebodies.
Geochemistry
of rocks.

The study of the chemical properties

Geologist
One who studies the constitution,
structure, and history of the earth's crust, conducting
research into the formation and dissolution of rock layers,
analyzing fossil and mineral content of layers, and
endeavoring to fix historical sequence of development by
relating characteristics to known geological influences
(historical geology).
Geology
The science concerned with the study of
the rocks which compose the Earth.
Geophysical survey
A scientific method of
prospecting that measures the physical properties of rock
formations. Common properties investigated include
magnetism, specific gravity, electrical conductivity and
radioactivity.

Geophysicist

A scientist who practices geophysics

Geophysics
- The use of the physical, magnetic or
electrical properties of rock formations, minerals and
orebodies to remotely detect new ore deposits, either by
ground or airborne surveys.
Geophysics
The study of the physical properties of
rocks and minerals.
Geothermal
interior.

Pertains to the heat of the Earth's

Gin Pole
Long portable stick with a pulley on top for
use as a crane usually to lift shed poles into position.
Glacial drift
Sedimentary material, consisting of clay
and boulders, that has been transported by glaciers.
Glacial striations
Lines or scratches on a smooth
rock surface caused by glacial abrasion.
Glory hole
An open pit from which ore is extracted,
especially where broken ore is passed to underground
workings before being hoisted.
Gneiss
A layered or banded crystalline metamorphic
rock the grains of which are aligned or elongated into a
roughly parallel arrangement.
Goaf

see Gob

Gold
A heavy, soft, yellow, ductile, malleable, metallic
element. The unique properties of this precious metal
make it an essential component in a diverse number of
products. Gold is a critical element in computer and
communications technologies, some medicines and the
space program.
Gold loans
A form of debt financing whereby a
potential gold producer borrows an amount of gold from a
lending institution, sells the gold on the open market,
uses the cash for company purposes (building a mine),
then pays back the gold from actual mine production.
Volume or weight of placer gravel or an

Golley or Gook
Gophering
holes.

Gouge
Fine, putty-like material composed of groundup rock found along a fault.
Grab sample
A sample taken at random; it is
assayed to determine if valuable elements are contained
in the rock. A grab sample is not intended to be
representative of the deposit, and usually the bestlooking material is selected.
Graben

A downfaulted block of rock.

Grade
- The metal content of rock. With precious
metals, grade can be expressed as troy ounces or grams
per ton of rock. The quantity of minerals present in an
ore, e.g. 100 ozs to the ton is high-grade ore.
Graduated cylinder
Flask marked with lines to
indicate measured volumes.
Grain
Unit of weight. There are 480 grains in a troy
ounce. Or In petrology, that factor of the texture of a rock
composed of distinct particles or crystals which depends
upon their absolute size.
Gram
Metric unit of weight. There are 31.103 grams
in a troy ounce.
Granite
An coarse-grained (intrusive) igneous rock
consisting of quartz, feldspar and mica.

Gob
The term applied to that part of the mine from
which the coal has been removed and the space more or
less filled up with waste. Also, the loose waste in a mine.
Also called goaf.

Gold table
ore.

Gossan
The rust-colored oxidized capping or
staining of a mineral deposit, generally formed by the
oxidation or alteration of iron sulphides.

A rock.

Prospecting by means of hand-dug

Granular
Graphitic

Composed of compacted mineral grains.

Containing carbon or graphite.

Gravity meter, gravimeter

An instrument for
measuring the gravitational attraction of the Earth;
gravitational attraction varies with the density of the rocks
in the vicinity.
Greenstone belt
A convenient field term used to
describe any fine-grained greenish volcanic rock, most
often applied to andesite.
Grizzly
Course screening or scalping device that
prevents oversized bulk material form entering a material
transfer system; constructed of rails, bars, beams, etc.
Grizzly (or mantle)
A grating (usually constructed of
steel rails) placed over the top of a chute or ore pass for
the purpose of stopping large pieces of rock or ore that
may hang up in the pass.
Gross Profit
Sales revenue minus direct production
costs, including depreciation, depletion and amortization
of assets at the operations. It does not include corporate

overhead, Exploration, or other non-allocable operating

expenses.
Gross value
The theoretical value of ore deter mined
simply by applying the assay of metal or metals and the
current market price; it represents the total value of the
contained metals before deduction for dilution, mill
recovery losses, mining and smelting costs, etc.; it must
be used only with caution and severe qualification.
Gross value royalty
A share of gross revenue from
the sale of minerals from a mine.
Ground control
The regulation and final arresting of
the closure of the walls of a mined area. The term
generally refers to measures taken to prevent roof falls or
coal bursts.

H
Hammer and Tap
The process of drilling holes in
hard rock by manually hitting and turning (rotating) a drill
steel.
Haulage
The horizontal transport of ore, coal,
supplies, and waste. The vertical transport of the same is
called hoisting.
Haulageway
Any underground entry or passageway
that is designed for transport of mined material,
personnel, or equipment, usually by the installation of
track or belt conveyor.
Head section
A term used in both belt and chain
conveyor work to designate that portion of the conveyor
used for discharging material.

Ground pressure
The pressure to which a rock
formation is subjected by the weight of the superimposed
rock and rock material or by diastrophic forces created by
movements in the rocks forming the earth's crust. Such
pressures may be great enough to cause rocks having a
low compressional strength to deform and be squeezed
into and close a borehole or other underground opening
not adequately strengthened by an artificial support, such
as casing or timber.

Headframe
The structure surmounting the shaft
which supports the hoist rope pulley, and often the hoist
itself.

Grouting
The process of sealing off a water flow in
rocks by forcing thin cement slurry, or other chemicals,
into the crevices; usually done through a diamond drill
hole.

Heaving
Applied to the rising of the bottom after
removal of the coal; a sharp rise in the floor is called a
"hogsback".

Grubstake
Finances or supplies of food, etc.,
furnished to a prospector in return for an interest in any
discoveries made.
Guides
The timber rails installed along the walls of a
shaft for steadying, or guiding, the cage or conveyance.
Gulch
Gully
Gumbo

A narrow or deep ravine or canyon.

A small ravine.
Very sticky or clayey mud.

Heading
A vein above a drift. An interior level or
airway driven in a mine. In longwall workings, a narrow
passage driven upward from a gangway in starting a
working in order to give a loose end.

Hedging
Taking a buy or sell position in a futures
market opposite to a position held in the cash market to
minimize the risk of financial loss from an adverse price
change.
Highwall
The unexcavated face of exposed
overburden and coal in a surface mine or in a face or
bank on the uphill side of a contour mine excavation.
Highwall miner
A highwall mining system consists of
a remotely controlled continuous miner which extracts
coal and conveys it via augers, belt or chain conveyors to
the outside. The cut is typically a rectangular, horizontal
cut from a highwall bench, reaching depths of several
hundred feet or deeper.

Gunite
A cement applied by spraying to the roof and
sides of a mine passage.

Hogsback

Gutter
The lowest depression in the bottom of a
stream channel.

Hoist
A drum on which hoisting rope is wound in the
engine house, as the cage or skip is raised in the hoisting
shaft.

Gypsum
A sedimentary rock consisting of hydrated
calcium sulphate.

Hoisting

Gyratory crusher
A machine that crushes ore
between an eccentrically mounted crushing cone and a
fixed crushing throat. Typically has a higher capacity than
a jaw crusher.

Horizon
In geology, any given definite position or
interval in the stratigraphic column or the scheme of
stratigraphic classification; generally used in a relative
sense.

A sharp rise in the floor of a seam.

The vertical transport coal or material.

Horseback
A mass of material with a slippery surface
in the roof; shaped like a horse's back.
Hydraulic
Of or pertaining to fluids in motion.
Hydraulic cement has a composition which permits it to
set quickly under water. Hydraulic jacks lift through the
force transmitted to the movable part of the jack by a
liquid. Hydraulic control refers to the mechanical control
of various parts of machines, such as coal cutters,
loaders, etc., through the operation or action of hydraulic
cylinders.
Hydrocarbon
A family of chemical compounds
containing carbon and hydrogen atoms in various
combinations, found especially in fossil fuels.

I
Igneous rocks
Rocks formed by the solidification of
molten material that originated within the Earth.

observation are to 1 miles apart. Indicated coal is

projected to extend as an mile wide belt that lies more
than mile from the outcrop or points of observation or
measurement.
Indicated value
The prehinluary value determined
for a placer sample, before it is adjusted or corrected for
known variables.
Induced polarization
A method of ground
geophysical surveying employing an electrical current to
determine indications of mineralization.
Industrial minerals
Non-metallic, non-fuel minerals
used in their natural state in the chemical and
manufacturing industries; they require some
beneficiation. Examples: asbestos, gypsum, salt,
graphite, mica, gravel, building stone and talc.

Impregnated
Rocks or minerals saturated with some
other substance.

Inferred coal resources

Coal in unexplored
extensions of the demonstrated resources for which
estimates of the quality and size are based on geologic
evidence and projection. Quantitative estimates are
based largely on broad knowledge of the geologic
character of the deposit and for which there are few, if
any, samples or measurements. The estimates are based
on an assumed continuity or repletion of which there is
geologic evidence; this evidence may include
comparison with deposits of similar type. Bodies that are
completely concealed may be included if there is specific
geologic evidence of their presence. The points of
observation are 1 to 6 miles apart.

In situ
In the natural or original position. Applied to a
rock, soil, or fossil when occurring in the situation in
which it was originally formed or deposited.

Initial public offering

The first sale of shares to the
public, usually by subscription from a group of investment
dealers.

Inby

Institutional investors
Pension funds and mutual
funds, managing money for a large number of individual
investors.

Ilmenite
An ore mineral of titanium, being an irontitanium oxide.
Immediate roof
The roof strata immediately above
the coalbed, requiring support during the excavation of
coal.

Incline

In the direction of the working face.

A rising slope.

Incline
Any entry to a mine that is not vertical (shaft)
or horizontal (adit). Often incline is reserved for those
entries that are too steep for a belt conveyor (+17
degrees -18 degrees), in which case a hoist and guide
rails are employed. A belt conveyor incline is termed a
slope. Alt: Secondary inclined opening, driven upward to
connect levels, sometimes on the dip of a deposit; also
called "inclined shaft".
Incompetent
Applied to strata, a formation, a rock, or
a rock structure not combining sufficient firmness and
flexibility to transmit a thrust and to lift a load by bending.
Incrustation

A coating or crust on a rock.

Indicated coal resources

Coal for which estimates
of the rank, quality, and quantity have been computed
partly from sample analyses and measurements and
partly from reasonable geologic projections. The points of

Intake
The passage through which fresh air is drawn
or forced into a mine or to a section of a mine.
Interbedded
or strata.

Occurring between distinct rock layers

Intermediate rock
to 66% quartz.

An igneous rock containing 52%

Intermediate section
A term used in belt and chain
conveyor network to designate a section of the conveyor
frame occupying a position between the head and foot
sections.
Intrusion
A mass of rock that has been forced into or
between other rocks.
Intrusive
A body of igneous rock formed by the
consolidation of magma intruded into other rocks, in

contrast to lavas, which are extruded upon the surface.

Kimberlite
A variety of peridotite; the most common
host rock of diamonds.

Ion exchange
An exchange of ions in a crystal with
ions in a solution. Used as a method for recovering
valuable metals, such as uranium, from solution.

Knob

Iridescence

Koepe Hoist
A hoisting system in which the winding
drum is replaced by large wheels or sheaves over which
passes an endless rope

Display of colors by diffraction of light.

Isopach
A line, on a map, drawn through points of
equal thickness of a designated unit. Synonym for
isopachous line; isopachyte.

J
Jackhammer
Term for rock-breaking pneumatic
hammer or rock drill.
Jackleg
A percussion drill used for drifting or
stopping that is mounted on a telescopic leg which has
an extension of about 2.5 m. The leg and machine are
hinged so that the drill need not be in the same direction
as the leg.
Jaw crusher
A machine in which rock is broken by
the action of steel plates.
Jet
itself.

Joint
A divisional plane or surface that divides a rock
and along which there has been no visible movement
parallel to the plane or surface.

Lacustrine deposit
bottom of lakes.

Sediments deposited on the

Lagging
Planks or small timbers placed between
steel ribs along the roof of a stope or drift to prevent
rocks from falling, rather than to support the main weight
of the overlying rocks. Secondary timber placed behind
main timber in a shaft, drive, tunnel or adit to support
loose rock.
Lamp
The electric cap lamp worn for visibility. Also,
the flame safety lamp used in coal mines to detect
methane gas concentrations and oxygen deficiency.
Lamprophyre
An igneous rock, composed of dark
minerals, that occurs in the form of dykes.
Laterite
A residual soil developed in tropical
countries, out of which the silica has been leached. May
form orebodies of iron, nickel, bauxite and manganese.
Launder
A chute or trough for conveying pulp, water
or powdered ore in a mill.
Lava
A general name for the molten rock ejected by
volcanoes.
Lay
The general direction or slope of a device or
ground surface.

K
Kaolin
Also known as china clay, kaolin is a white
alumina-silicate clay used in porcelain, paper, plastics,
rubber, paints and many other products.
A large vat

Keewatin
A series of rocks consisting mostly of
lavas, but including some sediments; the oldest
recognized Precambrian rock unit
Kerf

Device for spraying water, also the water spray

Jig
A piece of milling equipment used to concentrate
ore on a screen submerged in water, either by the
reciprocating motion of the screen or by the pulsation of
water through it.

Keeve

An isolated, projecting hill or butte.

The undercut of a coal face.

Kettle bottom
A smooth, rounded piece of rock,
cylindrical in shape, which may drop out of the roof of a
mine without warning. The origin of this feature is thought
to be the remains of the stump of a tree that has been
replaced by sediments so that the original form has been
rather well preserved.

Layout
The design or pattern of the main roadways
and workings. The proper layout of mine workings is the
responsibility of the manager aided by the planning
department.
Leachable

Extractable by chemical solvents.

Leaching
A chemical process for the extraction of
valuable minerals from ore; also, a natural process by
which ground waters dissolve minerals, thus leaving the
rock with a smaller proportion of some of the minerals
than it contained originally.
Lead
The bottom portion of gold-bearing channel
gravels, particularly in buried placers.
Ledge

A horizontal layer of rock.

Leg Wires
The wires attached to an electric blasting
cap used for initiating its detonation.

material is loaded by bin, hopper, and chute into a skip.

Lode

Lens
Generally used to describe a body of ore that is
thick in the middle and tapers towards the ends.
Lenticular
A lens-shaped deposit having roughly the
form of a double convex lens.
Lessee
property.
Level
mine.

The person leasing or optioning a mining

London fix
The twice-daily bidding session held by
five dealing companies to set the gold price. There are
also daily London fixes to set the price of other precious
metals
London Metals Exchange
A major bidding market
for base metals, which operates daily in London.

Lift
The amount of coal obtained from a continuous
miner in one mining cycle.

A soft, low-rank, brownish-black coal.

Limestone
A bedded, sedimentary deposit consisting
chiefly of calcium carbonate.
Limit order
An order made by a client to a broker to
buy or sell shares at a specified price or better.
Limonite

Logging
The process of recording geological
observations of drill core either on paper or on computer
disk.

A horizontal tunnel or drift in an underground

Levet
The horizontal openings on a working horizon
in a mine; it is customary to work mines from a shaft,
establishing levels at regular intervals, generally about 50
m or more apart.

Lignite

A mineral deposit in solid rock.

A brown, hydrous iron oxide.

Long position
on margin.

Securities owned outright or carried

Long ton
2,240 lb avoirdupois (compared to a short
ton, which is 2,000 lb.)
Longwall mining
A method of mining coal in narrow
vertical slices cut by mechanical means along long
straight faces or walls.
Longwall Mining
One of three major underground
coal mining methods currently in use. Employs a steal
plow, or rotation drum, which is pulled mechanically back
and forth across a face of coal that is usually several
hundred feet long. The loosened coal falls onto a
conveyor for removal from the mine.
Loose coal
dust.

Coal fragments larger in size than coal

Line cutting
Straight clearings through the bush to
permit sightings for geophysical and other surveys.
Linear

Along the length of an object or area.

Liquefaction
The process of converting coal into a
synthetic fuel, similar in nature to crude oil and/or refined
products, such as gasoline.
Lithology
The character of a rock described in terms
of its structure, color, mineral composition, grain size,
and arrangement of its component parts; all those visible
features that in the aggregate impart individuality of the
rock. Lithology is the basis of correlation in coal mines
and commonly is reliable over a distance of a few miles.
Load
To place explosives in a drill hole. Also, to
transfer broken material into a haulage device.
Loading machine
Any device for transferring
excavated coal into the haulage equipment.
Loading pocket

Transfer point at a shaft where bulk

Low voltage
standards.
Luster

Up to and including 660 volts by federal

The character of light reflected by minerals.

M
Macroscopic

Visible to the unaided eye.

Mafic
Igneous rocks composed mostly of dark, ironand magnesium-rich minerals.
Magazine
A building, storehouse, or structure where
explosive materials are kept or stored.
Magma
The molten material deep in the Earth, from
which rocks are formed.
Magmatic Ore Deposit
mineral in magma.

Formed by differentiation of

Magmatic segregation
An ore-forming process
whereby valuable minerals are concentrated by settling
out of a cooling magma.
Magnetic gradient survey
A geophysical survey
using a pair of magnetometers a fixed distance apart, to
measure the difference in the magnetic field with height
above the ground.
Magnetic separation
A process in which a
magnetically susceptible mineral is separated from
gangue minerals by applying a strong magnetic field;
ores of iron are commonly treated in this way.

Map-staking
A form of claim-staking practiced in
Nova Scotia whereby claims are staked by drawing lines
around the claim on claim maps at the provincial mines
branch and an appropriate fee is paid.
Marble
A metamorphic rock derived from the recrystallization of limestone by the application of heat and
pressure.
Margin
Cash deposited with a broker as partial
payment of the purchase price for any type of listed
stock. The stock is held by the broker as security for the
loan. Securities may be used as collateral in lieu of cash.
Marginal deposit

Magnetic survey
A geophysical survey that
measures the intensity of the Earth's magnetic field.
Magnetic susceptibility
A measure of the degree to
which a rock is attracted to a magnet.
Magnetite
Magnetic iron ore, being a black iron oxide
containing 72.4% iron when pure.
Magnetometer
An instrument used to measure the
magnetic attraction of underlying rocks.
Main entry
A main haulage road. Where the coal has
cleats, main entries are driven at right angles to the face
cleats.
Main fan
A mechanical ventilator installed at the
surface; operates by either exhausting or blowing to
induce airflow through the mine roadways and workings.
Malleable
Easily hammered and flattened when cold;
refers to metals.
Mallet

Wooden hammer for driving stakes.

Man Killer
A hand held tool like an axe or pick that is
really too big for the job.
Man trip
A carrier of mine personnel, by rail or rubber
tire, to and from the work area.
Manhole
A safety hole constructed in the side of a
gangway, tunnel, or slope in which miner can be safe
from passing locomotives and car. Also called a refuge
hole.
Manway
An entry used exclusively for personnel to
travel form the shaft bottom or drift mouth to the working
section; it is always on the intake air side in gassy mines.
Also, a small passage at one side or both sides of a
breast, used as a traveling way for the miner, and
sometimes, as an airway, or chute, or both.

An orebody of minimal profitability

Market Capitalization
Current market price of stock
multiplied by the number of shares outstanding.
Market order
An order to buy or sell at the best price
available. In absence of any specified price or limit, an
order is considered to be "at the market."
Matrix
The rock or gangue material containing ore
minerals.
Matte
A product of a smelter, containing metal and
some sulphur which must be refined further to obtain
pure metal.
Measured coal resources
Coal for which estimates
of the rank, quality, and quantity have been computed
from sample analyses and measurements from closely
spaced and geologically well-known sample sites, such
as outcrops, trenches, mine workings, and drill holes.
The points of observation and measurement are so
closely spaced and the thickness and extent of coals are
so well defined that the tonnage is judged to be accurate
within 20 percent of true tonnage. Although the spacing
of the points of observation necessary to demonstrate
continuity of the coal differs from region to region
according to the character of the coal beds, the points of
observation are no greater than mile apart. Measured
coal is projected to extend as a -mile wide belt from the
outcrop or points of observation or measurement.
Mercury
A silvery metal that is a liquid at room
temperature. The principal ore mineral of mercury
cinnabar. Mercury was used extensively in the past to
amalgamate gold in recovered in placer mining. It is still
used for this purpose in many developing countries.
More Information:
www.mininglife.com/commodities/mercury.htm
Meridian
A surveying term that establishes a line of
reference. The bearing is used to designate direction.
The bearing of a line is the acute horizontal angle
between the meridian and the line. Azimuths are angles
measured clockwise from any meridian.
Mesh

Related to the openings in a sieve or screen.

Metallurgical coal

Coal used to make steel

Metallurgy
their ores.

The process of extracting metals from

Metallurgy

Science of ore processing and metals.

Metamorphic rocks
Rocks which have undergone a
change in texture or composition as the result of heat
and pressure.
Metamorphism
The process by which the form or
structure of rocks is changed by heat and pressure.
Meteoric water
and fissures.

Miner
One who is engaged in the business or
occupation of extracting ore, coal, precious substances,
or other natural materials from the earth's crust.
Mineral
A naturally occurring homogeneous
substance having definite physical properties and
chemical composition and, if formed under favorable
conditions, a definite crystal form
Mineral
An inorganic compound occurring naturally in
the earth's crust, with a distinctive set of physical
properties, and a definite chemical composition.

Surface water that sinks into cracks

Miner's inch
per minute.

Methane
A potentially explosive gas formed naturally
from the decay of vegetative matter, similar to that which
formed coal. Methane, which is the principal component
of natural gas, is frequently encountered in underground
coal mining operations and is kept within safe limits
through the use of extensive mine ventilation systems.
Methane monitor
An electronic instrument often
mounted on a piece of mining equipment, that detects
and measures the methane content of mine air.
Metric tonne
(U.S.).

Mineable reserves
Ore reserves that are known to
be extractable using a given mining plan.

Equal to 1.102 standard short ton

Migmatite
Rock consisting of thin, alternating layers
of granite and schist.
Mill
1) A plant in which ore is treated for the recovery
of valuable metals, or the concentration of valuable
minerals into a smaller volume for shipment to a smelter
or refinery. 2) A piece of milling equipment consisting of a
revolving drum, for the fine-grinding of ores as a
preparation for treatment.

Mining claim
A portion of the public lands claimed for
the valuable minerals occurring in those lands; obtaining
mineral rights under mining law.
Mining Engineer
A person qualified by education,
training, and experience in mining engineering. A trained
engineer with knowledge of the science, economics, and
arts of mineral location, extraction, concentration and
sale, and the administrative and financial problems of
practical importance in connection with the profitable
conduct of mining.
Misfire
The complete or partial failure of a blasting
charge to explode as planned.
Molecule
Smallest atomic combination that
comprises a certain compound.
Monitor
Device for measuring equipment or
processing operations.
Monolith

Millhead grade
mill.

Water measure equal to 12.5 gallons

A single, large block of stone.

The average grade of ore fed into a

Milling ore
Ore that contains sufficient valuable
mineral to be treated by milling process.
Millivolts
A measure of the voltage of an electric
current, specifically, one-thousandth of a volt.
Mine development
The term employed to designate
the operations involved in preparing a mine for ore
extraction. These operations include tunneling, sinking,
cross-cutting, drifting, and raising.
Mine mouth electric plant
A coal burning electricgenerating plant built near a coal mine.

Monument
An object placed or erected to mark
boundaries of a mining claim.
Mother lode
A gold-bearing district in California over
100 miles long. Also refers to very rich placer in ore
deposits.
MSHA
Mine Safety and Health Administration; the
federal agency which regulates coal mine health and
safety.
Muck

Ore or rock that has been broken by blasting.

Muck sample
A representative piece of ore that is
taken from a muck pile and then assayed to determine

the grade of the pile.

Nugget

Mud cap
A charge of high explosive fired in contact
with the surface of a rock after being covered with a
quantity of wet mud, wet earth, or sand, without any
borehole being used. Also termed adobe, dobie, and
sandblast (illegal in coal mining).

Larger than normal piece of alluvial gold.

Occurrence

Existence or how a mineral is deposited.

Ocean crust
The relatively thin, solid portion of the
Earth's surface underlying the oceans.

Mullock
Waste rock thrown outside a shaft or other
underground working around the entrance forming a
heap. Mullock heap.

Odd lot
lot.

Muskeg
Decayed vegetable matter and black soil
forming swampy areas.

Open end pillaring

A method of mining pillars in
which no stump is left; the pockets driven are open on
the gob side and the roof is supported by timber.

N
Nanotesla
The international unit for measuring
magnetic flux density.
Native gold
Metallic gold in its free or uncombined
state. Placer gold.
Native metal
A metal occurring in nature in pure
form, uncombined with other elements.
Natural ventilation
Ventilation of a mine without the
aid of fans or furnaces.
Net profit interest
Profit remaining after all charges,
including taxes and bookkeeping charges (such as
depreciation) have been deducted.
Net smelter return
An interest in a mining property
held by the vendor on the net revenues generated from
the sale of metal produced by the mine.
Net worth
The difference between total assets and
total liabilities.
Nip
Device at the end of the trailing cable of a mining
machine used for connecting the trailing cable to the
trolley wire and ground.
Nodule

A block of shares that is less than a board

Open order
An order to buy or sell stock, which is
good until cancelled by the client.
Open pit
A surface mine, open to daylight, such as a
quarry. Also referred to as open-cut or open-cast mine.
Option
An agreement to purchase a property
reached between the property vendor and some other
party that wishes to explore the property further.
Option (on stock)
The right to buy (or sell) a share
at a set price, regardless of market value.
Ore
A mixture of ore minerals and gangue from which
at least one of the metals can be extracted at a profit.
Ore pass
Vertical or inclined passage for the
downward transfer of ore connecting a level with the
hoisting shaft or a lower level.
Ore Reserves
The calculated tonnage and grade of
mineralization which can be extracted profitably;
classified according to the level of confidence that can be
placed in the data.
Ore Zone (Orebody)
A continuous, well-defined
mass of material of sufficient ore content to make
extraction economically feasible.

A rounded lump or mass of mineral.

Nonel
A detonator which does not require an electric
current to initiate its explosive charge.
Non-electric Cap
A detonator which does not require
an electric current to initiate its explosive charge.
Non-metallic
mineral.

Containing little or no metal; industrial

Norite
A coarse-grained igneous rock that is host to
copper/nickel deposits in the Sudbury area of Ontario.

Orebody
A natural concentration of valuable material
that can be extracted and sold at a profit.
Oreshoot
The portion, or length, of the vein, or other
ore structure, that carries sufficient valuable mineral to be
extracted profitably.
Organic

Of plant or animal origin.

Organic maturation
coal.
Orogeny

The process of turning peat into

The process of mountain-building by folding

of the Earth's crust.

Outby; outbye
Nearer to the shaft, and hence farther
from the working face. Toward the mine entrance. The
opposite of inby.
Outcrop
An exposure of rock, coal, or mineral
deposit that can be seen on surface, i.e., that is not
covered by overburden or water.
Overburden
Layers of soil and rock covering a coal
seam. Overburden is removed prior to surface mining
and replaced after the coal is taken from the seam.

Participating interest
A company's interest in a
mine, which entitles it to a certain percentage of profits in
return for putting up an equal percentage of the capital
cost of the project.
Parting
Fire assay procedure for separating gold
from other metals.
Parting
(1) A small joint in coal or rock; (2) a layer of
rock in a coal seam; (3) a side track or turnout in a
haulage road.

Overcast (undercast)
Enclosed airway which
permits one air current to pass over (under) another
without interruption.

Patent
The ultimate stage of holding a mineral claim,
after which no more assessment work is necessary;
determines that all mineral rights, both surface and
underground have been earned.

Overturned
Sedimentary beds that have been
deformed in such a way that the oldest beds are lying on
top of younger beds.

Pay streak
A layer or channel within a gravel deposit
that contains a much higher average gold content that
the surrounding gravels.

Oxidation
A chemical reaction caused by exposure
to oxygen that results in a change in the chemical
composition of a mineral.

Peat
The partially decayed plant matter found in
swamps and bogs, one of the earliest stages of coal
formation.

Oxidation
A chemical reaction caused by exposure
to oxygen that results in a change in the chemical
composition of a mineral.

Pegmatite
A coarse-grained, igneous rock, usually
irregular in texture and composition, similar to a granite in
composition; it usually occurs in dykes or veins and
sometimes contains valuable minerals.

Oxide
Oxidize

Any chemical combination with oxygen.

To combine with oxygen.

Oxidized zone
Portion of ore deposit where oxygen
has displaced other non-metallic elements in chemical
combination with metals.

P
Pan
To wash (in a metal, bowl-like pan) gravel and
sand or rock samples that have been ground to small
particles, in order to separate gold or other valuable
metals.
Panel
A coal mining block that generally comprises
one operating unit.
Panic bar
A switch, in the shape of a bar, used to cut
off power at the machine in case of an emergency.
Panning
gold pan

The act of mining for alluvial gold with a

Par value
The stated face value of a stock. No par
value shares have no specified face value, but the total
amount of authorized capital is set down in the
company's charter.0

Pellet
A marble-sized ball of iron ore bonded by clay
and fused for hardness.
Pentlandite

An iron and nickel sulphide mineral.

Percussion drill
A drill, usually air powered, that
delivers its energy through a pounding or hammering
action.
Peridotite
An intrusive igneous rock consisting
mainly of olivine.
Permissible
That which is allowable or permitted. It
is most widely applied to mine equipment and explosives
of all kinds which are similar in all respects to samples
that have passed certain tests of the MSHA and can be
used with safety in accordance with specified conditions
where hazards from explosive gas or coal dust exist.
Permit
As it pertains to mining, a document issued by
a regulatory agency that gives approval for mining
operations to take place.
Phaneritic
A term used to describe the coarse
grained texture of some igneous rocks.
Phenocryst

A porphyritic crystal inclusion.

Picket line
A reference line, marked by pickets or
stakes, established on a property for mapping and survey
purposes.
Pig

Common term for an ingot of cast metal.

Pig iron

Plunge
The vertical angle an orebody makes
between the horizontal plane and the direction along
which it extends, longitudinally to depth.

Crude cast iron from a blast furnace.

Piggy-back

A bridge conveyor.

Pillar
A block of solid ore or rock left in place to
structurally support the shaft, walls or roof in a mine. Or
An area of coal left to support the overlying strata in a
mine; sometimes left permanently to support surface
structures.
Pillar robbing
The systematic removal of the coal
pillars between rooms or chambers to regulate the
subsidence of the roof. Also termed "bridging back" the
pillar, "drawing" the pillar, or "pulling" the pillar.
Pinch
A compression of the walls of a vein or the roof
and floor of a coal seam so as to "squeeze" out the coal.
Pinning

Plugs
A common name for a small offshoot from a
larger batholith.

Plutonic
Refers to rocks of igneous origin that have
come from great depth.

Pneumoconiosis
A chronic disease of the lung
arising from breathing coal dust.
Point
Unit of value of a stock as quoted by a stock
exchange. May represent one dollar, one cent or oneeighth of a dollar, depending on the stock exchange.
Polishing pond
The last in a series of settling ponds
through which mill effluent flows before being discharged
into the natural environment.
Polymetallic
- Complex ores containing profitable
amounts of more than one valuable mineral.

Roof bolting.
Pooling shares

Pitch
Refers to the relative angle of slope or dip of an
ore deposit.
Pitch

Porosity
The relative quantity of holes or opening in
a substance.

The inclination of a seam; the rise of a seam.

Pitchblende
An important uranium ore mineral,
containing a high percentage of uranium oxide. It is black
in color, possesses a characteristic pitchlike or greasy
lustre and is highly radioactive.
Pitting

See escrowed shares.

Porphyry
Any igneous rock in which relatively large,
conspicuous crystals (called phenocrysts) are set in a
fine-grained groundmass.
Porphyry copper
A deposit of disseminated copper
minerals in a large body of porphyry.

Digging test pits for sampling gravels.

Placer
An alluvial deposit of sand and gravel
containing valuable metals such as gold, tin, etc.

Portal
The surface entrance to a tunnel or adit. Or
The structure surrounding the immediate entrance to a
mine; the mouth of an adit or tunnel.

Placer mining
Mining sand and gravel deposits for
their mineral content.

Portal bus
Track-mounted, self-propelled personnel
carrier that holds 8 to 12 people.

Plan
A map showing features such as mine workings
or geological structures on a horizontal plane.

Portfolio

Plant
A building or group of buildings, and their
contained equipment, in which a process or function is
carried out; on a mine it will include warehouses, hoisting
equipment, compressors, maintenance shops, offices,
mill or concentrator.
Plate tectonics
A geological theory which postulates
that the Earth's crust is made up of a number of rigid
plates which collide, rub up against and spread out from
one another.

A list of financial assets.

Possible reserves
Valuable mineralization not
sampled enough to accurately estimate its tonnage and
grade, or even verify its existence. Also called "inferred
reserves".
Post

The vertical member of a timber set.

Potash
Potassium compounds mined for fertilizer
and for use in the chemical industry.

Precambrian Shield
An area covering much of
northern Canada consisting of the oldest, most stable
part of the North American continental plate.
Precipitate
The material that settles from a liquid
solution when a particular substance is added to the
solute.
Preferred shares
Shares of a limited liability
company that rank ahead of common shares, but after
bonds, in distribution of earnings or in claim to the
company's assets in the event of liquidation. They pay a
fixed dividend but normally do not have voting rights as
with common shares.
Preparation plant
A place where coal is cleaned,
sized, and prepared for market.
Price-to-earnings ratio
The current market price of
a stock divided by the company's net earnings per share
for the year.
Primary

screwed, yieldable, or hydraulic.

Prospect
A mining property, the value of which has
not been proven by exploration.
Prospecting
deposits

The search for valuable mineral

Prospectus
A document filed with the appropriate
securities commission detailing the activities and
financial condition of a company seeking funds from the
public by issuing shares in the company.
Proton precession magnetometer
A geophysical
instrument which measures magnetic field intensity in
terms of vertical gradient and total field.
Proven reserves
Reserves that have been sampled
extensively by closely spaced diamond drill holes and
developed by underground workings in sufficient detail to
render an accurate estimation of grade and tonnage.
Also called "measured reserves".

The original or unaltered form.

Primary deposits
Ore minerals deposited during the
original period or periods of metallization as opposed to
those deposited as a result of alteration or weathering.
Primary roof
The main roof above the immediate
top. Its thickness may vary from a few to several
thousand feet.
Primer (booster)
A package or cartridge of explosive
which is designed specifically to transmit detonation to
other explosives and which does not contain a detonator.

Proximate analysis
A physical, or non-chemical, test
of the constitution of coal. Not precise, but very useful for
determining the commercial value. Using the same
sample (1 gram) under controlled heating at fixed
temperatures and time periods, moisture, volatile matter,
fixed carbon and ash content are successfully
determined. Sulfur and Btu content are also generally
reported with a proximate analysis.
Proxy
A power of attorney given by the shareholder
so that his stock may be voted by his nominee(s) at
meetings of shareholders.

Private placement
Sale of shares to individuals or
corporations outside the normal market, at a negotiated
price. Often used to raise capital for a junior exploration
company.

Puddle
Soaking alluvial wash to make it easier to
recover the gold. Gold panning was sometimes referred
to as puddling a dish. A puddling machine that was whim
operated used a horse to walk around a circular trough to
rake over water soaked paydirt.

Pro rata
In proportion (to ownership, income or
contribution).

Pulp

Probable ore

See Ore Reserves

Probable ore

See Ore Reserves.

Probable reserves
Valuable mineralization not
sampled enough to accurately estimate the terms of
tonnage and grade. Also called "indicated reserves".
Profit and loss statement
The income statement of
a company detailing revenues minus total costs to give
total profit.
Prop
Coal mining term for any single post used as
roof support. Props may be timber or steel; if steel--

Pulverized or ground ore in solution.

Put
An option to sell a stock at an agreed upon price
within a specified time. The owner can present his put to
the contracting broker at any time within the option period
and compel him to buy the stock.
Pyramiding
The use of increased buying power to
increase ownership arising from price appreciation.
Pyrite
A common sulphide mineral, shiny and yellow
in color and composed of sulphur and iron, sometimes
known as "fool's gold".
Pyrite
A hard, heavy, shiny, yellow mineral, FeS2 or
iron disulfide, generally in cubic crystals. Also called iron
pyrites, fool's gold, sulfur balls. Iron pyrite is the most

common sulfide found in coal mines.

Pyrrhotite
An iron sulphide, less common than
pyrite, bronze in color and magnetic; some times is
associated with nickel, in which case it may be mined as
a nickel ore.

Q
Qualitative analysis
present in a sample.

Determining which metals are

Quantitative analysis
metal is present.

Determining how much of a

Quartz
Common rock-forming mineral consisting of
silicon and oxygen.
Quartz porphyry

Common gold mine lithology.

Quartzite
A metamorphic rock formed by the
transformation of a sandstone rock by heat and pressure.

Rare earth elements

Relatively scarce minerals
such as scandium and ytrium.
Reaming

Enlarging the diameter of a hole.

Reaming shell
A component of a string of rods used
in diamond drilling, it is set with diamonds and placed
between the bit and the core barrel to maintain the gauge
(or diameter) of the hole.
Reclamation
- The process of returning the land to
another productive use after mining has been completed.
Or The restoration of land and environmental values to a
surface mine site after the coal is extracted. Reclamation
operations are usually underway as soon as the coal has
been removed from a mine site. The process includes
restoring the land to its approximate original appearance
by restoring topsoil and planting native grasses and
ground covers.
Reconnaissance

R
Radioactivity
The property of spontaneously
emitting alpha, beta or gamma rays by the decay of the
nuclei of atoms.

A preliminary survey of ground.

Record date
The date by which a shareholder must
be registered on the books of a company in order to
receive a declared dividend, or to vote on company
affairs.

Radon survey
A geochemical survey technique
which detects traces of radon gas, a product of
radioactivity.

Recovery
The percentage of valuable metal in the
ore that is recovered by metallurgical treatment. Or The
proportion or percentage of coal or ore mined from the
original seam or deposit.

Raise
A vertical or inclined underground working that
has been excavated from the bottom upward. Or A
secondary or tertiary inclined opening, vertical or nearvertical opening driven upward form a level to connect
with the level above, or to explore the ground for a limited
distance above one level.

Red dog
A nonvolatile combustion product of the
oxidation of coal or coal refuse. Most commonly applied
to material resulting from in situ, uncontrolled burning of
coal or coal refuse piles. It is similar to coal ash.

Rake
Similar to plunge (see), being the trend of an
orebody along the direction of its strike.
Ramp
A secondary or tertiary inclined opening,
driven to connect levels, usually driven in a downward
direction, and used for haulage.
Rank
The classification of coal by degree of
hardness, moisture and heat content. "Anthracite" is hard
coal, almost pure carbon, used mainly for heating homes.
"Bituminous" is soft coal. It is the most common coal
found in the United States and is used to generate
electricity and to make coke for the steel industry.
"Subbituminous" is a coal with a heating value between
bituminous and lignite. It has low fixed carbon and high
percentages of volatile matter and moisture. "Lignite" is
the softest coal and has the highest moisture content. It
is used for generating electricity and for conversion into
synthetic gas. In terms of Btu or "heating" content,
anthracite has the highest value, followed by bituminous,
subbituminous and lignite.

Reef
The reef is the seam of rock the gold comes
from and reef gold depicts it as being located or
recovered from the reef.
Refining
minerals.

Extracting and purifying metals and

Refractory ore
Ore that resists the action of
chemical reagents in the normal treatment processes
and which may require pressure leaching or other means
to effect the full recovery of the valuable minerals.
Regulator
Device (wall, door) used to control the
volume of air in an air split.
Remediation
Relates to those actions taken to
investigate, prevent, minimize or otherwise resolve the
effects or potential effects on human health or the
environment of a release or threatened release of a
hazardous substance.

Replacement ore
Ore formed by a process during
which certain minerals have passed into solution and
have been carried away, while valuable minerals from the
solution have been deposited in the place of those
removed.
Reserve
That portion of the identified coal resource
that can be economically mined at the time of
determination. The reserve is derived by applying a
recovery factor to that component of the identified coal
resource designated as the reserve base.
Reserves

see Ore Reserves.

Residual

Left over; eroded in place.

Resin bolting
A method of permanent roof support in
which steel rods are grouted with resin.
Resistivity survey
A geophysical technique used to
measure the resistance of a rock formation to an electric
current.
Resource
The calculated amount of material in a
mineral deposit, based on limited drill information.
Resource
a concentration of mineral material in such
form and amount that economic extraction of a
commodity from the concentration is currently or
potentially feasible. Location, Grade, quality or quantity
are estimated from specific geologic evidence. Or
Concentrations of coal in such forms that economic
extraction is currently or may become feasible. Coal
resources broken down by identified and undiscovered
resources. Identified coal resources are classified as
demonstrated and inferred. Demonstrated resources are
further broken down as measured and indicated.
Undiscovered resources are broken down as
hypothetical and speculative.
Respirable dust
size.

Dust particles 5 microns or less in

Respirable dust sample

A sample collected with an
approved coal mine dust sampler unit attached to a
miner, or so positioned as to measure the concentration
of respirable dust to which the miner is exposed, and
operated continuously over an entire work shift of such
miner.
Resuing
A method of stoping in narrow-vein deposits
whereby the wall rock on one side of the vein is blasted
first and then the ore.
Retort
gold.

Used to separate or vaporize off mercury from

Retreat mining
A system of robbing pillars in which
the robbing line, or line through the faces of the pillars
being extracted, retreats from the boundary toward the

shaft or mine mouth.

Return
The air or ventilation that has passed through
all the working faces of a split.
Return idler
The idler or roller underneath the cover
or cover plates on which the conveyor belt rides after the
load which it was carrying has been dumped at the head
section and starts the return trip toward the foot section.
Reverberatory furnace
A long, flat furnace used to
slag gangue minerals and produce a matte.
Rhyolite
A fine-grained (extrusive) igneous rock
which has the same chemical composition as granite.
Rib
The side of a pillar or the wall of an entry. The
solid coal on the side of any underground passage.
Same as rib pillar.
Rib samples
Ore taken from rib pillars in a mine to
determine metal content.
Rider

A thin seam of coal overlying a thicker one.

Riffle
A groove or ridge in the bottom of a stream
channel; a slat or block of wood or metal placed across a
sluice box or other placer unit.
Rights
In finance, a certified right to purchase
treasury shares in stated quantities, prices and time
limits; usually negotiable at a price which is related to the
prices of the issue represented; also referred to as
warrants. Rights and war- rants can be bought and sold
prior to their expiry date because not all shareholders
wish to exercise their rights.
Ripper
A coal extraction machine that works by
tearing the coal from the face.
Roast
To heat an ore to drive off volatile substances
or oxidize the ore.
Rob
To extract pillars of coal previously left for
support.
Robbed out area
Describes that part of a mine from
which the pillars have been removed.
Rock
Any natural combination of minerals; part of the
Earth's crust.
Rock factor
The number of cubic metres of a
particular rock type required to make up one tonne of the
material. One tonne of a highly siliceous ore may occupy
0.40 cu m while a tonne of dense sulphide ore may
occupy only 0.25 cu m.

Rock mechanics
The study of the mechanical
properties of rocks, which includes stress conditions
around mine openings and the ability of rocks and
underground structures to withstand these stresses.
Rockbolting
The act of supporting openings in rock
with steel bolts anchored in holes drilled especially for
this purpose.
Rockburst
A violent release of energy resulting in the
sudden failure of walls or pillars in a mine, caused by the
weight or pressure of the surrounding rocks.
Rod mill
A rotating steel cylinder that uses steel rods
as a means of grinding ore.
Roll
(1) A high place in the bottom or a low place in
the top of a mine passage, (2) a local thickening of roof
or floor strata, causing thinning of a coal seam.
Roll protection
A framework, safety canopy, or
similar protection for the operator when equipment
overturns.
Roof
The stratum of rock or other material above a
coal seam; the overhead surface of a coal working place.
Same as "back" or "top."
Roof bolt
A long steel bolt driven into the roof of
underground excavations to support the roof, preventing
and limiting the extent of roof falls. The unit consists of
the bolt (up to 4 feet long), steel plate, expansion shell,
and pal nut. The use of roof bolts eliminates the need for
timbering by fastening together, or "laminating," several
weaker layers of roof strata to build a "beam."
Roof fall
A coal mine cave-in especially in permanent
areas such as entries.
Roof jack
A screw- or pump-type hydraulic extension
post made of steel and used as temporary roof support.
Roof sag
The sinking, bending, or curving of the
roof, especially in the middle, from weight or pressure.
Roof stress
Unbalanced internal forces in the roof or
sides, created when coal is extracted.
Roof support
Posts, jacks, roof bolts and beams
used to support the rock overlying a coal seam in an
underground mine. A good roof support plan is part of
mine safety and coal extraction.
Roof trusses
A combination of steel rods anchored
into the roof to create zones of compression and tension
forces and provide better support for weak roof and roof
over wide areas.
Room and pillar mining

A method of underground

mining in which approximately half of the coal is left in

place to support the roof of the active mining area. Large
"pillars" are left while "rooms" of coal are extracted.
Room neck
room.

The short passage from the entry into a

Room-and-pillar mining
A method of mining flatlying ore deposits in which the mined- out area, or rooms,
are separated by pillars of approximately the same size.
Rotary drill
A machine that drills holes by rotating a
rigid, tubular string of drill rods to which is attached a bit.
Commonly used for drilling large-diameter blastholes in
open pit mines. A method of making hole that relies on
continuous circular motion of the bit to break rock at the
bottom of the hole. Rotary drilling is a nearly continuous
process, because cuttings are removed as drilling fluids
circulate through the bit and up the wellbore to the
surface.
Rotary Drilling
Round
Planned pattern of drill holes fired in
sequence in tunneling, shaft sinking, or stopping. First
the cut holes are fired, followed by relief, lifter, and rib
holes.
Royalty
An amount of money paid at regular intervals
by the lessee or operator of an exploration or mining
property to the owner of the ground. Generally based on
a certain amount per ton or a percentage of the total
production or profits. Also, the fee paid for the right to use
a patented process.
Royalty
The payment of a certain stipulated sum on
the mineral produced.
Rubbing surface
sides) of an airway.

The total area (top, bottom, and

Run-of-mine
A loose term to describe raw material
as it exists in the mine; average grade, size, or quality.
to be continued)