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Glossary of Mining Terms: A-D
- Adit
- Horizontal passage to access mineralization, usually in the side of a hill
- Ag
- Chemical symbol for silver
- Andesite
- A variety of volcanic rock
- Anomalous
- Value of a given element that is deemed to be above the background or normal value
- Arsenopyrite
- Arsenic-iron sulphide mineral
- Assay
- The analysis of minerals, rocks and mine products to determine and quantify their constituent parts
- Au
- Chemical symbol for gold
- Backfill
- Material placed into stopes to support the hangingwall following extraction of ore
- Bacterial oxidation
- Oxidation of sulphide ore using bacteria in order to make the ore amenable to leaching
- Ball Mill
- Mineral processing equipment containing steel balls used to reduce the particle size of the ore
- Bankable
- A term commonly used to refer to studies that are intended to be sufficiently advanced to secure debt finance
- Benches
- Individual levels in the extraction of an open-pit which often remain as steps in the walls of the pit
- Breccia
- Rock composed of angular fragments
- Bulk Sample
- A large volume sample commonly taken for metallurgical testing or trial mining purposes
- Carbon in Column (CIC)
- Process for the extraction of gold from the leach solution in a series of columns
- Carbon in Leach (CIL)
- Process in which carbon is added to the solution following leaching in order to extract gold
- Carbon in Pulp (CIP)
- Process in which carbon is added to the ore pulp during leaching in order to extract the gold
- Carbonate
- Relating to rocks rich in calcium and/or magnesium
- Channel sample
- A means of taking a sample from a rock face by collecting the cuttings from a small channel
- Chalcopyrite
- Copper-iron sulphide mineral
- Country rock
- A term used to describe the rocks surrounding an ore body
- Crosscut
- A horizontal underground drive developed perpendicular to the strike direction of the stratigraphy (orebody)
- Crown Pillar
- A pillar of ore left for safety and stability reasons between the base of the open-pit and the first level of underground mining and strategically between levels for support
- Cu
- Chemical symbol for copper
- Cut and fill
- A mining method where the void resulting from mining the ore is filled with material in order to stabilise the roof and walls enabling extraction of nearby ore
- Cyanidation
- Process in which the precious metals are extracted from the processed ore by leaching with a cyanide solution
- Cyclone
- Mineral processing equipment used to separate milled ore into different size fractions
- Deposit
- An anomalous occurrence of a specific mineral or minerals within the Earth's crust
- Diamond Drilling
- A drilling method which obtains a cylindrical core of rock by drilling with an annular bit set with diamonds
- Diorite
- An intrusive igneous rock with a mixture of dark and light minerals
- Dilution
- Incorporation of low grade or waste material into the mined ore as a function of the mining process
- Dip
- Inclination of a geological feature/rock from the horizontal (perpendicular to strike)
- Disseminated
- Fine grained material scattered quite evenly throughout the rock
- Doré
- Unrefined gold, usually in bar form and consisting primarily of gold with smaller amounts of other previous and base metal, which will be further refined to high purity gold bullion
- Draw Points
- Access into stopes from which broken ore is removed
- Drive
- An underground passage for exploration, development or working of an ore body
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