Our glossary for terms used in mining that you might come across during the course of researching mineral specimens.
Adit – A nearly horizontal passage driven into a mine from the surface for access or drainage.
Assay – Analysis to determine the metal content of an ore.
After damp – Toxic gas mixture left after a mine explosion, usually containing carbon monoxide and dioxide.
Backfill – Material used to refill excavated areas or voids in underground mines.
Bench – A step – like excavation made in open – pit mining.
Black damp – A suffocating mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen that depletes oxygen in mines.
Black Lung – A respiratory disease (coal workers’ pneumoconiosis) caused by inhaling coal dust.
Blast Furnace – A type of furnace used to smelt iron ore with coke and limestone.
Blasting – The use of explosives to break rock.
Bonanza – A rich mineral deposit or sudden mining windfall.
Breaker – A machine that crushes coal or ore.
Claim – A legal declaration of the right to extract minerals from a specific piece of land.
Colliery – A coal mine and all its associated structures and equipment.
Consols – Consolidated mining shares, especially in British mining history.
Core Drilling – Drilling method that extracts a cylindrical sample of rock.
Cut and Fill – A mining method where material is excavated and backfilled in cycles.
Damps – A general term for harmful gases in mines, including black damp, fire damp, etc.
Decline – A sloped tunnel used for access to underground workings.
Deposit – A natural occurrence of a mineral or ore.
Dredging – Excavation of minerals from underwater deposits.
Drift – A horizontal or near – horizontal underground mine tunnel following a mineral vein or seam.
Dump – A pile of waste rock or tailings.
Exploration – The search for mineral deposits.
Face – The surface where mining is currently taking place.
Fire damp – Methane gas that forms explosive mixtures in coal mines.
Flotation – A method for separating minerals based on their surface properties.
Gangue – The unwanted minerals surrounding or mixed with the ore.
Grade – The concentration of metal within ore.
Haulage – The transport of ore or waste in a mine.
Headframe – A structure above a mine shaft housing hoisting equipment.
Heap Leaching – A process of extracting metals by running chemicals through a heap of ore.
Highwall – The unexcavated face of exposed rock in surface mining.
Host Rock – The rock surrounding a mineral deposit. Sometimes called ‘matrix’ in mineral specimens.
Incline – A sloping shaft or tunnel.
Level – A horizontal passageway in an underground mine, often used for access or transportation.
Lode – A vein or body of ore.
Metallurgy – The science of extracting and processing metals.
Mill – A plant where ore is crushed and ground to extract metal.
Mine – An excavation in the earth for extracting minerals, ores, or fossil fuels.
Mineralisation – The process by which minerals are concentrated in a given area.
Open pit – A surface mining technique where minerals are extracted from an open excavation.
Ore – A naturally occurring mineral or rock from which valuable substances, usually metals, can be extracted.
Overburden – Rock and soil overlying a mineral deposit.
Pan – A shallow dish used to manually separate gold from gravel.
Pit – A general term for a mine, often used in reference to coal mining or china clay.
Placer – A deposit of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes.
Portal – The entrance to an underground mine.
Prospect – An area showing signs of potential mineralization.
Prospector – A person who searches for mineral deposits.
Quarry – An open excavation for extracting building stone, slate, or other non – metallic materials.
Raise – A vertical or inclined underground opening driven upward.
Reclamation – The process of restoring mined land to a usable state.
Recovery – The percentage of valuable material extracted from ore.
Refining – The process of purifying a metal after smelting.
Room and Pillar – A mining method leaving pillars of material to support the roof.
Sett – An area of land granted or claimed for mining, particularly in historical British law.
Shaft – A vertical or inclined passage for access or ventilation.
Slag – The glassy waste product left after a metal has been separated from its ore during smelting.
Slurry – A mixture of water and fine mineral particles, often used in transport or processing. This term is also used for leftover waste materials which are often toxic.
Smelter – A facility where ores are heated and melted to extract metal.
Spoil – Waste material removed during mining.
Stink damp – Poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas found in mines, recognizable by its rotten egg smell.
Stope – An underground void created during ore extraction.
Tailings – Residual materials left after mineral processing.
Tonnage – The amount of ore available or mined.
Tram – To transport materials in mine carts.
Tunneling – Excavating horizontal passageways underground.
Vein – A distinct sheet – like deposit of minerals within rock.
Wet Grooves – Water – filled mining trenches or cuts, often associated with alluvial mining.
Wheal – A term used especially in Cornwall, UK, for a mine or group of mines.
White damp – A dangerous gas in mines primarily composed of carbon monoxide.
Winze – A downward shaft connecting levels within a mine.