| Adit |
|
A horizontal passage from the surface into a mine. Sometimes called a tunnel.
|
| |
| Anomaly |
|
A geological feature, esp. in the subsurface, distinguished by
geological, geophysical, or geochemical means, which is different from
the general surroundings and is often of potential economic value, and
usually suggests the possibility of a mineral deposit.
|
| |
| Argillic |
|
Pertaining to clay or clay minerals; e.g. "argillic alteration" in which
certain minerals of a rock are converted to minerals of the clay group.
|
| |
| Arsenopyrite |
|
A tin-white or silver-white to steel-gray mineral. Arsenopyrite occurs
chiefly in crystalline rocks and esp. in lead and silver veins, and is
constitutes the principal ore of arsenic.
|
| |
| Assay |
|
To analyze the proportions of metals in an ore, to test an ore or
mineral for composition, purity, weight, or other properties of
commercial interest.
|
| |
| Backfilling |
The process of refilling an excavation, a mine opening, or the space around a foundation.
|
| |
| Ball Mill |
|
A rotating horizontal cylinder with a diameter almost equal to the
length supported by a frame or shaft, in which nonmetallic materials are
ground using various types of grinding media such as quartz pebbles,
porcelain balls, etc.
|
| |
| Base Metal |
- Any of the more common and more chemically active metals, e.g. lead,
copper.
- The principal metal of an alloy, e.g. the copper in brass.
|
| |
| Bed / Beds |
|
Perhaps the most common term in geology, meaning layer or stratum.
Quarrymen usually mean by beds not the stone beds in the geologist's
sense but the partings between them.
|
| |
| Bench |
- In an underground mine, a long horizontal face or ledge of ore in a
stope or working place.
- The horizontal step or floor along which
coal, ore, stone, or overburden is worked or quarried.
|
| |
| Blade |
|
A flattened, elongate mineral crystal.
|
| |
| Blasthole |
|
A hole drilled in a material to be blasted, for the purpose of containing an explosive charge.
|
| |
| Breccias / Brecciating |
|
A course-grained clastic rock, composed of angular broken rock fragments
held together by a mineral cement or in a fine-grained matrix. The
fragments have sharp edges and unworn corners.
|
| |
| By-product |
|
A secondary metal or mineral product recovered in the milling process.
|
| |
| Calcareous |
|
Said of a substance that contains calcium carbonate. When applied to a
rock name it implies that as much as 50% of the rock is calcium
carbonate.
|
| |
| Capital Assets |
|
Assets, purchased as a long term investment for generating profit, such as buildings, plant and machinery and fixtures etc.
|
| |
| Carbon-in-leach |
|
A recovery process in which a slurry of gold ore, carbon granules and
cyanide are mixed together. The cyanide dissolves the gold content and
the gold is adsorbed on the carbon: the carbon is subsequently separated
from the slurry for further gold removal.
|
| |
| Carbon-in-pulp |
|
A precious metals leaching technique in which granular activated carbon
particles much larger than the ground ore particles are added to the
cyanidation pulp after the precious metals have been solubilized. The
activated carbon and pulp are agitated together to enable the
solubilized precious metals to become adsorbed onto the activated
carbon. The loaded activated carbon is mechanically screened to separate
it from the barren ore pulp and processed to remove the precious metals
and prepare it for reuse. Similar to carbon-in-leach process.
|
| |
| Carbonaceous |
- Said of a rock or sediment that is rich in carbon; coaly.
- Said of a sediment containing organic matter.
|
| |
| Carbonate |
- A mineral compound characterized by a fundamental anionic structure.
- A sediment formed by the organic or inorganic precipitation from
aqueous solution of carbonates of calcium, magnesium, or iron; e.g.
limestone and dolomite.
|
| |
| Cash Operating Costs |
|
Include site costs for all mining (excluding deferred stripping costs),
processing and administration, but are exclusive of royalties,
production taxes, depreciation, reclamation, financing costs, capital
costs and exploration costs.
|
| |
| Chalcopyrite |
A bright brass-yellow tetragonal mineral. It is generally found massive and constitutes the most important ore of copper.
|
| |
| Chert |
|
A hard, extremely dense or compact, dull to semivitreous, sedimentary
rock, consisting dominantly of interlocking crystals of quartz; it may
contain amorphous silica (opal). It may be white or variously colored
gray, green, blue, pink, red, yellow, brown, and black.
|
| |
| Collar |
|
The mouth or upper end of a mine shaft.
|
| |
| Compression |
A system of forces or stresses that tends to decrease the volume or to
shorten a substance, or the change of volume produced by such a system
of forces.
|
| |
| Concentrates |
|
The valuable fraction of an ore that is left after worthless material is removed in processing.
|
| |
| Concentrator |
- A plant where ore is separated into values (concentrates) and rejects
(tails). An appliance in such a plant, e.g., flotation cell, jig,
electromagnet, shaking table. Also called mill; reduction works;
cleaning plant.
- An apparatus in which, by the aid of water, air,
and/or gravity, mechanical concentration of ores is performed.
|
| |
| Contained Ounces |
|
Represents ounces in the ground without the reduction of ounces not recovered by the applicable metallurgical process.
|
| |
| Contango |
|
Contango on gold is the positive difference between the spot market gold
price and the forward market gold price. It is often expressed as an
interest rate and is the difference between inter-bank deposit rates and
gold lending rates.
|
| |
| Core Hole |
|
Any hole drilled for the purpose of obtaining cores; loosely, a well,
generally shallow, drilled for geological information only.
|
| |
| Cut-and-fill |
A stoping method in which the ore is excavated by successive flat or
inclined slices, working upward from the level. However, after each
slice is blasted down, all broken ore is removed, and the stope is
filled with waste (backfill) up to within a few feet of the back before
the next slice is taken out, just enough room being left between the top
of the waste pile and the back of the stope to provide working space.
The term cut-and-fill stoping implies a definite and characteristic
sequence of operations:
- breaking a slice of ore from the back;
- removing the broken ore; and
- introducing filling.
|
| |
| Cut-off Grade |
|
The lowest grade of mineralized material that qualifies as ore in a
given deposit; ore of the lowest assay value that is included in an ore
estimate.
|
| |
| Cyanidation |
|
A process of extracting gold and silver as cyanide slimes from their
ores by treatment with dilute solutions of potassium cyanide or sodium
cyanide. The slimes are subsequently fused and cast into ingots or
bullion.
|
| |
| Dacite |
|
A fine-grained extrusive rock.
|
| |
| Deferred Stripping Costs |
Mining costs associated with waste rock removal that are deferred and
charged to income on the basis of the average stripping ratio for the
mine. The average stripping ratio is calculated as a ratio of the tons
of material estimated to be mined to the estimated recoverable ounces of
gold. At the start of a mine's productive life costs on a per-ounce
basis are usually higher than in later years as the mining rate is above
the life-of-mine stripping ratio. In later years, as the mining rate
falls below the life-of-mine stripping ratio, the deferred costs are
charged to operating costs.
|
| |
| Development |
|
The preparation of a mining property or area so that an orebody can be
analyzed and its tonnage and quality estimates have been made; ore
essentially ready for mining.
|
| |
| Diamond Drilling |
|
A variety of rotary drilling in which diamond bits are used as the
rock-cutting tool. It is a common method of prospecting for mineral
deposits, esp. in development work where core samples are desired.
|
| |
| Dike |
|
A tabular igneous intrusion that cuts across the bedding or foliation of the country rock.
|
| |
| Dike Swarm |
|
A group of dikes, which may be in radial, parallel, or en echelon
arrangement. Their relationship with the parent plutonic body may not be
directly observable.
|
| |
| Dilution |
|
The contamination of ore with barren wall rock in stoping. The assay of
the ore after mining is frequently 10% lower than when sampled in place.
|
| |
| Disseminated Ore |
Said of a mineral deposit (esp. of metals) in which the desired minerals
occur as scattered particles in the rock, but in sufficient quantity to
make the deposit an ore.
|
| |
| Dolomite |
- A common rock-forming mineral. Dolomite is white, colorless, or
tinged yellow, brown, pink, or gray. Dolomite is found in extensive beds
as dolomite rock; it is a common vein mineral.
- A carbonate
sedimentary rock consisting of dolomite, or a variety of limestone or
marble rich in magnesium carbonate. Dolomite occurs in crystalline and
noncrystalline forms, is clearly associated and often interbedded with
limestone, and usually represents a postdepositional replacement of
limestone.
|
| |
| Doré |
|
Gold and silver bullion that remains in a cupelling furnace after the lead has been oxidized and skimmed off.
|
| |
| Drift |
|
A horizontal or nearly horizontal underground opening driven along a vein to gain access to the deposit.
|
| |
| Fault Gouge |
|
Soft, uncemented pulverized clay or claylike material, commonly a
mixture of minerals in finely divided form, found along some faults or
between the walls of a fault, and filling or partly filling a fault
zone; a slippery mud that coats the fault surface or cements the fault
breccia. It is formed by the crushing and grinding of rock material as
the fault developed, as well as by subsequent decomposition and
alteration caused by underground circulating solutions.
|
| |
| Fault Zone |
A fault that is expressed as a zone of numerous small fractures or of
breccia or fault gouge. A fault zone may be as wide as hundreds of
meters.
|
| |
| Fill |
|
Man-made deposits of natural earth materials (e.g. rock, soil, gravel)
and waste materials (e.g. tailings or spoil from dredging), used to fill
an enclosed space such as an old stope or chamber in a mine.
|
| |
| Flotation |
|
A process by which some mineral particles are induced to become attached
to bubbles and float, and other particles to sink, so that the valuable
minerals are concentrated and separated from the worthless gangue.
|
| |
| Foot Wall |
|
The wall or the rock on the underside of a vein or ore deposit.
|
| |
| GAAP |
|
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The common set of standards
and procedures by which audited financial statements are prepared.
|
| |
| Galena |
|
A bluish-gray to lead-gray mineral. It frequently contains included
silver minerals. It has a shiny metallic luster, exhibits highly perfect
cubic cleavage, and is relatively soft and very heavy. Galena is the
most important ore of lead and one of the most important sources of
silver.
|
| |
| Glacial Deposits |
|
A general term for debris transported by glaciers or icebergs, and deposited directly on land or in the sea.
|
| |
| Glaciation |
- The formation, movement, and recession of glaciers or ice sheets.
- The covering of large land areas by glaciers or ice sheets.
- The
geographic distribution of glaciers and ice sheets.
- A collective term
for the geologic processes of glacial activity, including erosion and
deposition, and the resulting effects of such action on the Earth's
surface.
- Any of several minor parts of geologic time during which
glaciers were more extensive than at present.
|
| |
| Grade |
|
The amount of valuable mineral in each ton of ore, expressed as troy
ounces per ton or grams per tonne for precious metals and as a
percentage for other metals.
|
| |
| Gravity Circuit |
|
A method by which mineral particles are separated with the aid of water
or air, according to the differences in their specific gravities.
|
| |
| Grinding |
|
Size reduction of ore into fine particles to prepare it for processing; comminution.
|
| |
| Hanging Wall |
|
The overlying side of an orebody, fault, or mine working, esp. the wall rock above an inclined vein or fault.
|
| |
| Heap / Dump Leaching |
|
A process used for the recovery of copper, uranium, and precious metals
from weathered low-grade ore. The crushed material is laid on a slightly
sloping, impervious pad and uniformly leached by the percolation of the
leach liquor trickling through the beds by gravity to ponds. The metals
are recovered by conventional methods from the solution.
|
| |
| Heap Leach Pad |
|
A large impermeable foundation or pad used as a base for ore during heap leaching.
|
| |
| Hoist |
|
The machine used for raising and lowering the cage or other conveyance in a shaft.
|
| |
| Host Rock |
|
The rock surrounding an ore deposit.
|
| |
| Hydrothermal |
|
Of or pertaining to hot water, to the action of hot water, or to the
products of this action, such as a mineral deposit precipitated from a
hot aqueous solution, with or without demonstrable association with
igneous processes; also, said of the solution itself.
|
| |
| Impervious |
|
Said of a rock that does not permit the passage of fluids under the pressure conditions ordinarily found in the subsurface.
|
| |
| Indicated Mineral Resource |
|
An Indication Mineral Resource is that part of a Mineral Resource for
which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical
characteristics, can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient
to allow the appropriate application of technical and economic
parameters, to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic
viability of the deposit. The estimate is based on detailed and
reliable exploration and testing information gathered through
appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, ppits,
workings and drill holes that are spaced closely enough for geological
and grade continuity to be reasonably assumed.
|
| |
| Inferred Mineral Resource |
|
An Inferred Mineral Resource is that part of a Mineral Resource for
which quantity and grade or quality can be estimated on the basis of
geological evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not
verified, geological and grade continuity. The estimate is based on
limited information and sampling gathered through appropriate techniques
from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill
holes.
|
| |
| Infill Drilling |
|
Diamond drilling at shorter intervals between existing holes, used to
provide greater geological detail and to help establish reserve
estimates.
|
| |
| Intercept |
|
That portion included between two points in a borehole, as between the
point where the hole first encounters a specific rock or mineral body
and where the hole enters a different or underlying rock formation.
|
| |
| Internal Rate of Return |
The interest rate which, when used as the discount rate for a series of cash flows, gives a net present value of zero.
|
| |
| Measured Mineral Resource |
|
A Measured Mineral Resource is that part of a Mineral Resource for which
quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape, physical characteristics
are so well established that they can be estimated with confidence
sufficient to allow the appropriate application of technical and
economic parameters, to support production planning and evaluation of
the economic viability of the deposit. The estimate is based on
detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing information
gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops,
trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that are spaced closely enough
to confirm both geological and grade continuity.
|
| |
| Merrill Crowe Circuit or Merrill Crowe Process |
|
Removal of gold from pregnant cyanide solution by deoxygenation,
followed by precipitation on zinc dust, followed by filtration to
recover the resultant auriferous gold slimes.
|
| |
| Metallurgy |
|
The science and art of separating metals and metallic minerals from
their ores by mechanical and chemical processes; the preparation of more
metalliferous materials from raw ore.
|
| |
| Mill Head Grade |
|
The grade of ore as it comes from a mine and goes to a mill.
|
| |
| Milling Circuit |
|
The combination of various processes and systems which concentrate the valuable minerals.
|
| |
| Mine |
|
An excavation beneath the surface of the ground from which mineral matter of value is extracted.
|
| |
| Mineralization |
The process or processes by which mineral or minerals are introduced
into a rock, resulting in a valuable or potentially valuable deposit.
|
| |
| Mining Claim |
|
That portion of public mineral lands which a party has staked or marked
out in accordance with federal, provincial or state mining laws to
acquire the right to explore for and exploit the minerals under the
surface.
|
| |
| Mudstone |
- An indurated mud having the texture and composition of shale, but
lacking its fine lamination or fissility; a blocky or massive,
fine-grained sedimentary rock in which the proportions of clay and silt
are approximately equal; a nonfissile mud shale. See also siltstone.
- A
general term that includes clay, silt, claystone, siltstone, shael, and
argillite, and that should be used only when the amounts of clay and
silt are not known or specified or cannot be precisely identified.
- lA
term used for a mud-supported carbonate sedimentary rock containing less
than 10% grains (particles with diameters greater than 20 microns);
e.g. a calcilutite. The term specifies neither mineralogic composition
nor mud of clastic origin.
|
| |
| Ore |
Rock, generally containing metallic or non-metallic minerals, that can
be mined and processed at a profit. Also, the mineral(s) thus extracted.
|
| |
| Ore Shoot |
|
An elongated pipelike, ribbonlike, or chimneylike mass of ore within a
deposit (usually a vein), representing the more valuable part of the
deposit.
|
| |
| Ore Slurry |
The fine carbonaceous discharge from a mine washery. All washeries
produce some slurry, which must be treated to separate the solids from
the water in order to have a clear effluent for reuse or discharge.
|
| |
| Orebody |
|
A sufficiently large amount of ore that can be mined economically.
|
| |
| Overburden |
|
Barren rock material, either loose or consolidated, overlying a mineral deposit, which must be removed prior to mining.
|
| |
| Oxide Ore |
|
Mineralized rock in which some of the original minerals have been
oxidized. Oxidation tends to make the ore more porous and permits a more
complete permeation of cyanide solutions so that minute particles of
gold in the interior of the minerals will be readily dissolved.
|
| |
| Oxidized Zone |
An area of mineral deposits modified by surface waters, e.g. sulfides altered to oxides and carbonates.
|
| |
| Patenting |
|
A process established under the General Mining Law of 1872 which permits
the conversion of mining claims on federal lands into full fee
ownership, provided certain conditions are met.
|
| |
| Permeable |
|
Pertaining to a rock or soil having a texture that permits passage of
liquids or gases under the pressure ordinarily found in earth materials.
|
| |
| Pregnant Pond |
|
Pond containing solution which has percolated through the ore on a heap
leach. The solution is impregnated with gold and silver removed from the
ore.
|
| |
| Pyrite |
|
A common, pale-bronze or brass-yellow, isometric mineral. It is
dimorphous with marcasite, and often contains small amounts of other
metals. Pyrite has a brilliant metallic luster and an absence of
cleavage, and has been mistaken for gold. Pyrite is the most wide-spread
and abundant of the sulfide minerals and occurs in all kinds of rocks,
such as in nodules in sedimentary rocks and coal seams or as a common
vein material associated with many different minerals.
|
| |
| Pyritization |
|
Introduction of , or replacement by, pyrite; e.g. the replacement of the
original material of the hard parts of certain fossil animals and
plants by pyrite. Pyritization is a common process of hydrothermal
alteration and often involves the introduction of fine-grained pyrite
disseminated as specks in rock adjacent to veins.
|
| |
| Quartz |
- Crystalline silica, an important rock-forming mineral. It is, next to
feldspar, the commonest mineral, occurring either in transparent
hexagonal crystals (colorless, or colored by impurities) or in
crystalline or cryptocrystalline masses. Quartz is the commonest gangue
mineral of ore deposits, forms the major proportion of most sands, and
has a widespread distribution in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary
rocks.
- A general term for a variety of noncrystalline or
cryptocrystalline minerals having the same chemical composition as that
of quartz, such as chalcedony, agate, and opal.
|
| |
| Quartzite |
- A granoblastic metamorphic rock consisting mainly of quartz and
formed by recrystallization of sandstone or chert by either regional or
thermal metamorphism.
- A very hard but unmetamorphosed sandstone,
consisting chiefly of quartz grains that have been so completely and
solidly cemented with secondary silica that the rock braks across or
though the grains rather than around them. The cement grows in optical
and crystallographic continuity around each quartz grain, thereby
tightly interlocking the grains as the original pore spaces are filled.
|
| |
| Raise |
|
A vertical hole between mine levels used to move ore or waste rock or to provide ventilation.
|
| |
| Ramp |
An inclined underground tunnel which provides access for exploration or a connection between levels of a mine.
|
| |
| Ratio of Debt to Equity |
A measure of a company's financial strength which illustrates how much
of the funds it uses were borrowed compared with how much were invested
by shareholders or were in the form of earnings retained by the company.
|
| |
| Reclamation |
|
The process by which lands disturbed as a result of mining activity are
reclaimed back to a beneficial land use. Reclamation activity includes
the removal of buildings, equipment, machinery and other physical
remnants of mining, closure of tailings impoundments, leach pads and
other mine features, and contouring, covering and revegetation of waste
rock piles and other disturbed areas.
|
| |
| Recovered Grade |
|
Actual metal content of ore determined after processing.
|
| |
| Recovery Rate |
|
A term used in process metallurgy to indicate the proportion of valuable
material obtained in the processing of an ore. It is generally stated
as a percentage of the material recovered compared to the total material
present.
|
| |
| Refining |
|
The final stage of metal production in which impurities are removed from the molten metal.
|
| |
| Refractory Material |
|
Gold mineralized material in which the gold is not amenable to recover
by conventional cyanide methods without any pretreatment. The refractory
nature can be either silica or sulphide encapsulation of the gold or
the presence of naturally occurring carbons which reduce gold recovery.
Material of this nature is difficult or expensive to recover its
valuable constituents.
|
| |
| Reserve |
|
The quantity of mineral that is calculated to lie within given
boundaries. It is described as total (or gross), workable, or probable
working, depending on the application of certain arbitrary limits in
respect of deposit thickness, depth, quality, geological conditions, and
contemporary economic factors. Proved, probable, and possible reserves
are other terms used in general mining practice.
|
| |
| Reserves |
That part of a mineral deposit which could be economically and legally
extracted or produced at the time of the reserve determination. Reserves
are customarily stated in terms of ore when dealing with metalliferous
minerals. There are two categories of reserves:
Proven Ore
Material for which tonnage and grade are computed from dimensions
revealed in outcrops, trenches, underground workings or drill holes;
grade is computed from the results of adequate sampling; and the sites
for inspection, sampling and measurement are so spaced and the
geological character so well-defined that size, shape and mineral
content are established.
Probable Ore
Material for which tonnage and grade are computed partly from specific
measurements, samples or production data and partly from projection for a
reasonable distance on geological evidence: and for which the sites
available for inspection, measurement and sampling are too widely or
otherwise inappropriately spaced to outline the material completely or
to establish its grade throughout.
|
| |
| Resource |
|
A Mineral Resource is a concentration or occurrence of natural, solid,
inorganic or fossilized organic material in or on the Earth's crust in
such form and quantity and of such a grade or quality that it has
reasonable prospects for economic extraction. The location, quantity,
grade, geological characteristics and continuity of a Mineral Resource
are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence
and knowledge.
|
| |
| Return on Equity |
|
A measure of a corporation's profitability, calculated as dividing net income by total shareholders' equity.
|
| |
| Reverse Circulation Drilling |
|
Drilling that produces rock chips rather than core. Faster and cheaper
than diamond drilling, the chips are forced by air to surface for
examination.
|
| |
| Reverse Circulation Holes |
|
Holes drilled using a process where the circulation of bit-coolant and
cuttings-removal liquids, drilling fluid, mud, air, or gas down the
borehole outside the drill rods and upward inside the drill rods. Also
called countercurrent; counterflush.
|
| |
| Rhyolite |
|
A group of extrusive, igneous rocks.
|
| |
| Sediment |
|
Solid fragmental material that originates from weathering of rocks and
is transported or deposited by air, water, or ice, or that accumulates
by other natural agents, such as chemical precipitation from solution or
secretion by organisms, and that forms in layers on the Earth's surface
at ordinary temperatures in a loose, unconsolidated form; e.g., sand,
gravel, silt, mud, alluvium.
|
| |
| Semi-autogenous Grinding (SAG) |
|
A method of grinding rock into fine powder whereby the grinding media consist of larger chunks of rocks and steel balls.
|
| |
| Sericitic |
|
Pertaining to a hydrothermal, deuteric or metamorphic process involving
the introduction of, alteration to, or replacement by sericitic
muscovite.
|
| |
| Shaft |
|
A vertical passageway to an underground mine for moving personnel,
equipment, supplies and material including ore and waste rock.
|
| |
| Sheeted Veins |
|
A group of closely spaced, distinct parallel fractures filled with mineral matter and separated by layers of barren rock.
|
| |
| Shotcrete |
|
A mixture made of course aggregate up to 2 cm thick, applied by
pneumatic pressure through a specially adapted hose and used as a
fireproofing agent and as a sealing agent to prevent weathering of mine
timbers and roadways.
|
| |
| Sill |
- A tabular igneous intrusion that parallels the planar structure of
the surrounding rock.
-
- A submarine ridge or rise at a relatively
shallow depth, separating a basin from another basin or from an adjacent
sea and causing the basin to be partly closed, e.g. in the Straits of
Gibraltar.
- A ridge of bedrock or earth material at a shallow depth
near the mouth of a fjord, separating the deep water of the fjord from
the deep ocean water outside.
|
| |
| Slurry |
|
A mixture of crushed and finely ground solids with water.
|
| |
| Smelting |
|
A metallurgical operation in which metal is separated from impurities by a process that includes fusion.
|
| |
| Spot Bolting |
|
The use of one or just a few roof bolts at spot locations.
|
| |
| Spot Deferred Contract |
|
A spot deferred contract is a forward sale with a flexible delivery
date. The ultimate delivery date and sale price are not fixed on the
contract. If it is rolled over, the new contract price is based on the
price at maturity in the old contract plus contango.
|
| |
| Stockwork |
A mineral deposit consisting of a three-dimensional network of planar to
irregular veinlets closely enough spaced that the whole mass can be
mined.
|
| |
| Stope |
|
An area in an underground mine where ore is mined.
|
| |
| Stratum / Strata |
|
A bed or layer of rock; strata, more than one layer.
|
| |
| Strike Fault |
|
A fault whose strike is parallel to the strike of the strata.
|
| |
| Strike Length |
|
The longest horizontal dimension of an ore body or zone of mineralization.
|
| |
| Stripping Ratio |
The ratio of the number of tons of waste material removed to the number
of tons of ore removed, used in connection with open pit mining.
|
| |
| Sulphide Ore |
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A sub-group of refractory ore - mineralized rock in which much of the
gold is encapsulated in sulphides and is not readily amenable to
dissolution by cyanide solutions - associated with sulphide minerals
(primarily pyrite) that have not been oxidized. Some sulphide ore may
require autoclaving or roasting prior to cyanidation.
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