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.

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.

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

Agglomerate A breccia composed largely or entirely of fragments of volcanic rocks.

Agglomeration A method of concentrating valuable minerals based on their adhesion

properties.

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.

Amalgam An alloy or union of mercury with another metal; gold or other metal that has been
coated with mercury by adhesion
More Information: www.mininglife.com/commodities/mercury.htm
www.mininglife.com/metallurgist/amalgamation.htm
Amalgamation The process of removing precious metals from ores by use of mercury.
More Information: www.mininglife.com/commodities/mercury.htm
www.mininglife.com/metallurgist/amalgamation.htm
Amorphous A term applied to rocks or minerals that possess no definite crystal structure or
form, such as amorphous carbon.

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 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 deposited by water.

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 Pertains to silver-clearing rocks.

Argentite A silver sulphide mineral.

Argillaceous Consisting of clays or having a clayey nature

Arrastra Crude stone mill for grinding and amalgamating gold ores.

Arsenical 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 The inorganic residue remaining after ignition of coal.

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

Assay - ton Assaying equivalent ton, equal to 29.166 grams.

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.

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

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

Attrition Loss of material through friction and abrasion.

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

Auriferous Refers to gold-bearing rocks and gravels.

Auriferous Containing gold.

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 back of an underground opening for the
purpose of determining grade.

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

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.

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.

Backwash Water movement against the primary direction of flow.

Bacterial leaching / bio-oxidation The use of bacteria to oxidise sulphide minerals

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Beach placer A placer deposit of valuable heavy minerals on a contemporary or ancient

beach or along a coastline.

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

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.

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

Bed A stratum of coal or other sedimentary deposit.

Bedded Refers to rock formations deposited in successive layers.

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

Bedding The arrangement of sedimentary rocks in layers.

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

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

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

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

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.

Biosphere That part of the Earth which contains living things.

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.

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

Black Jack A miner's term for sphalerite or zinc blend.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Blasting Machine A portable device used to initiate a 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 One hundred shares.

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

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.

Borehole Common term for a drill hole.

Borer Common term for rock-cutting drill.

Boring Drilling holes into hard rock or driving a tunnel with a tunnel boring machine
Bort An impure diamond used for hardening drill bits; an abrasive.

Bortryoidal Refers to mineral occurring in globular forms.

Boss Any member of the managerial ranks who is directly in charge of miners (e.g., "shift-
boss," "face-boss," "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 Partition erected to seal off certain portions of mines.

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 Moving material with mechanized equipment.

Bullion 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.

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 flame, and is
extremely easy to ignite.

Canopy A protective covering of a cab on a mining machine.

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 A layer of rock lying on top of another type of rock.

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 manway.

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 Silicon carbide used as an abrasive.

Car-dump The mechanism for unloading a loaded car.

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.
More Information: www.mininglife.com/miner/blasting/cast_blasting.htm
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 A mining method where or is purposely caved.

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 Device for controlling flow of liquids or gases.

Chemical Refers to substances involved in reaction between the elements.

Chemical Analysis Determination of content by chemistry.

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 Particles of coal that can pass a No. 20 sieve.

Coal Gasification The conversion of coal into a gaseous fuel.

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 The metamorphic processes of forming coal.
Coarse gold General term applied to rough or angular gold particles as well as to larger
pieces or nuggets.

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 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 tall cylindrical column, whereby valuable
minerals are separated from gangue minerals based on their wetability properties.

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 is required to recover the pure metal.

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 An entry running at an angle with the main entry.

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 A heat resistant container used to melt gold in.

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 Buyer entitled to pending dividend payment.

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

Debenture 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 self-propelled 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.

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 A magazine used to store detonators.

Detritus A general term covering all unconsolidated sediments.

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

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 A person who operates a diamond drill.

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 An uplifted structure with an inverted bowl shape.

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 rope-hung 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 small-diameter 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.
Due diligence In a professional evaluation, the degree of care and caution required before
making a decision.

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

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

Dump A pile or heap of broken rock or ore on surface.

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.

Emulsion A mixture of water and oily substances.

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

End line Line across the width of a lode chain.

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

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 The provision of funds by buying shares.

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.

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 Right to minerals beyond side lines of mining claims.

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.

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

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.

Fall of Earth Cave in.

False set 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 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 Gold content expressed in parts per thousand

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 An extensive crack, break, or fracture in the rocks.

Fissure An extensive crack, break or fracture in rocks.

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 The bottom of a mining level in underground mines.

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 Extremely fine gold particles; also finely-ground ore.

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 Any bending or wrinkling of rock strata.

Foliated Leaf-like formations of minerals.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

G
Gabbro A coarse-grained, dark, igneous rock.

Gadd A small rock wedge or chisel also known as a moil.

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.

Gangue The worthless minerals in an ore deposit.

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

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.

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 The study of the chemical properties of rocks.

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 Pertains to the heat of the Earth's interior.

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

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 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.

Gold table Volume or weight of placer gravel or an ore.

Golley or Gook A rock.

Gophering Prospecting by means of hand-dug holes.

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

Gouge Fine, putty-like material composed of ground-up 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 best-looking 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.

Granular Composed of compacted mineral grains.

Graphitic 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.

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.

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.

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 A narrow or deep ravine or canyon.

Gully A small ravine.

Gumbo Very sticky or clayey mud.

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

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

Gypsum A sedimentary rock consisting of hydrated calcium sulphate.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Hogsback A sharp rise in the floor of a seam.

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

Hoisting The vertical transport coal or material.

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.

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.

Ilmenite An ore mineral of titanium, being an iron-titanium oxide.

Immediate roof The roof strata immediately above the coalbed, requiring support during the
excavation of coal.

Impregnated Rocks or minerals saturated with some other substance.

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.

Inby In the direction of the working face.

Incline 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 observation are ½ to 1 ½ miles apart. Indicated coal is
projected to extend as an ½ mile wide belt that lies more than ¼ 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.

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 ½
to 6 miles apart.

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

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

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

Interbedded Occurring between distinct rock layers or strata.

Intermediate rock An igneous rock containing 52% to 66% quartz.
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.

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.

Iridescence 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 Device for spraying water, also the water spray itself.

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.

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.

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.

Keeve A large vat

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

Kerf 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.

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

Knob An isolated, projecting hill or butte.

Koepe Hoist A hoisting system in which the winding drum is replaced by large wheels or
sheaves over which passes an endless rope
More Information: www.mininglife.com/miner/materialshandling/hoisting.htm

L
Lacustrine deposit Sediments deposited on the bottom of lakes.

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.

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.

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 The person leasing or optioning a mining property.

Level A horizontal tunnel or drift in an underground mine.

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.

Lift The amount of coal obtained from a continuous miner in one mining cycle.
Lignite 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 A brown, hydrous iron oxide.

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

Lode A mineral deposit in solid rock.

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

Long position Securities owned outright or carried on margin.

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 Coal fragments larger in size than coal dust.

Low voltage Up to and including 660 volts by federal standards.

Luster The character of light reflected by minerals.

M
Macroscopic Visible to the unaided eye.

Mafic Igneous rocks composed mostly of dark, iron- and 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 Formed by differentiation of mineral in magma.

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.

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.
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 re-crystallization 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 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 ½ mile apart. Measured coal is projected to extend as a ¼-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 The process of extracting metals from their ores.

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 Surface water that sinks into cracks and fissures.

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 Equal to 1.102 standard short ton (U.S.).

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.

Millhead grade The average grade of ore fed into a mill.

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 electric-generating plant built near a coal mine.

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

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.

Miner's inch Water measure equal to 12.5 gallons per minute.

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 A single, large block of stone.

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.

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).

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

Muskeg Decayed vegetable matter and black soil forming swampy areas.

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 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 Containing little or no metal; industrial mineral.

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

Nugget Larger than normal piece of alluvial gold.

O
Occurrence Existence or how a mineral is deposited.

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

Odd lot A block of shares that is less than a board lot.

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.

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.

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 The process of turning peat into coal.

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

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

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

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

Oxide Any chemical combination with oxygen.

Oxidize 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 The act of mining for alluvial gold with a gold pan

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 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 Roof bolting.

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

Pitch 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 Digging test pits for sampling gravels.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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 one-eighth 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.

Pooling shares See escrowed shares.

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

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.

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.

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

Portfolio 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 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.

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.

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

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--screwed, yieldable, or hydraulic.

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

Prospecting The search for valuable mineral deposits

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".

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.

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.

Pulp 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 Determining which metals are present in a sample.

Quantitative analysis Determining how much of a metal is present.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 Extracting and purifying metals and minerals.

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 Dust particles 5 microns or less in size.

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 Used to separate or vaporize off mercury from gold.

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 The short passage from the entry into a room.

Room-and-pillar mining A method of mining flat-lying 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 The total area (top, bottom, and sides) of an airway.

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

S
Saddle Formation shaped like a saddle or anticline.

Safety fuse A train of powder enclosed in cotton, jute yarn, or waterproofing compounds,
which burns at a uniform rate; used for firing a cap containing the detonation compound which in
turn sets off the explosive charge.

Safety lamp A lamp with steel wire gauze covering every opening from the inside to the
outside so as to prevent the passage of flame should explosive gas be encountered.

Salting The act of introducing metals or minerals into a deposit or samples, resulting in false
assays - done either by accident or with the intent of defrauding the public.

Sample A small portion of rock or a mineral deposit, taken so that the metal content can be
determined by assaying.

Sampling Selecting a fractional but representative part of a mineral deposit for analysis.

Sandstone A sedimentary rock consisting of quartz sand united by some cementing material,
such as iron oxide or calcium carbonate.

Scaling The act of removing loose slabs of rock from the back and walls of an underground
opening, usually done with a hand-held scaling bar or with a boom-mounted scaling hammer.

Scaling Removal of loose rock from the roof or walls. This work is dangerous and a long bar
(called a scaling bar)is often used.

Scarp An escarpment, cliff or steep slope along the margin of a plateau, mesa or terrace.

Schist A foliated metamorphic rock the grains of which have a roughly parallel arrangement;
generally developed by shearing.
Scintillation counter An instrument used to detect and measure radioactivity by detecting
gamma rays; more sensitive than a geiger counter.

Scooptram A rubber tired-, battery- or diesel-powered piece of equipment designed for

cleaning runways and hauling supplies.

Scrubber Any of several forms of chemical/physical devices that remove sulfur compounds
formed during coal combustion. These devices, technically know as flue gas desulfurization
systems, combine the sulfur in gaseous emissions with another chemical medium to form inert
"sludge," which must then be removed for disposal.

Seam A stratum or bed of coal.

Secondary An alteration of an original formation or deposit.

Secondary enrichment Enrichment of a vein or mineral deposit by minerals that have been
taken into solution from one part of the vein or adjacent rocks and redeposited in another.

Secondary roof The roof strata immediately above the coalbed, requiring support during the
excavating of coal.

Second-foot A unit of water measure equal to one cubic foot per second, or 448.83 gallons
per minute.

Section A portion of the working area of a mine.

Sedimentary Formed by the deposition of eroded material. Pertaining to sediments laid down
by rivers and streams.

Sedimentary rocks Secondary rocks formed from material derived from other rocks and laid
down under water. Examples are lime stone, shale and sandstone.

Seismic prospecting A geophysical method of prospecting, utilizing knowledge of the speed

of reflected sound waves in rock.

Selective mining The object of selective mining is to obtain a relatively high-grade mine
product; this usually entails the use of a much more expensive stopping system and high
exploration and development costs in searching for and developing the separate bunches,
stringers, lenses, and bands of ore.

Self-contained breathing apparatus A self-contained supply of oxygen used during rescue

work from coal mine fires and explosions; same as SCSR (self-contained self rescuer).

Self-potential A technique, used in geophysical prospecting, which recognizes and measures

the minute electric currents generated by sulphide deposits.

Self-rescuer A small filtering device carried by a coal miner underground, either on his belt or
in his pocket, to provide him with immediate protection against carbon monoxide and smoke in
case of a mine fire or explosion. It is a small canister with a mouthpiece directly attached to it. The
wearer breathes through the mouth, the nose being closed by a clip. The canister contains a layer
of fused calcium chloride that absorbs water vapor from the mine air. The device is used for
escape purposes only because it does not sustain life in atmospheres containing deficient oxygen.
The length of time a self-rescuer can be used is governed mainly by the humidity in the mine air,
usually between 30 minutes and one hour.

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.

Serpentine A greenish, metamorphic mineral consisting of magnesium silicate.

Severance The separation of a mineral interest from other interests in the land by grant or
reservation. A mineral dead or grant of the land reserving a mineral interest, by the landowner
before leasing, accomplishes a severance as does his execution of a mineral lease.

Shaft a vertical or steeply inclined excavation for the purpose of opening and servicing a mine.
It is usually equipped with a hoist at the top, which lowers and raises a conveyance for handling
personnel and materials.

Shaft mine An underground mine in which the main entry or access is by means of a vertical
shaft.

Shale A rock formed by consolidation of clay, mud, or silt, having a laminated structure and
composed of minerals essentially unaltered since deposition.

Shear or shearing The deformation of rocks by lateral movement along innumerable parallel
planes, generally resulting from pressure and producing such metamorphic structures as cleavage
and schistosity.

Shear zone A zone in which shearing has occurred on a large scale.

Shearer A mining machine for longwall faces that uses a rotating action to "shear" the material
from the face as it progresses along the face.

Sheave wheel A large grooved wheel in the top of a headframe over which the hoisting rope
passes.

Shieve Common term for a pulley.

Shift The number of hours or the part of any day worked.

Shoot A concentration of mineral values; that part of a vein or zone carrying values of ore
grade.
Short selling The borrowing of stock from a broker in order to sell it in the hope that it may be
purchased at a lower price later on.

Short ton 2,000 lb. avoirdupois.

Shortwall An underground mining method in which small areas are worked (15 to 150 feet) by
a continuous miner in conjunction with the use of hydraulic roof supports.

Shrinkage stoping A stoping method which uses part of the broken ore as a working platform
and as support for the walls of the stope.

Shuttle car A self-discharging truck, generally with rubber tires or caterpillar-type treads, used
for receiving coal from the loading or mining machine and transferring it to an underground loading
point, mine railway or belt conveyor system.

Siderite Iron carbonite, which when pure, contains 48.2% iron; must be roasted to drive off
carbon dioxide before it can be used in a blast furnace. (Roasted product is called sinter).

Silica An oxide of silicon. (Quartz is a common example.)

Siliceous A rock containing an abundance of quartz.

Sill An intrusive sheet of igneous rock of roughly uniform thickness, generally extending over
considerable lateral extent, that has been forced between the bedding planes of existing rock.

Silt Muddy deposits of fine sediment usually found on the bottoms of lakes.

Silver - A white metallic element that is ductile, very malleable and capable of a high polish.
This precious metal has major industrial applications in photography, x-rays, electronics and
electrical contacts, batteries, brazing alloys, catalysts, mirrors, jewelry and sterlingware.

Single jack A light hammer used for drilling holes by hand.

Sinking The process by which a shaft is driven. Or The process of downward excavation.

Sinter Fine particles of iron ore that have been treated by heat to produce blast furnace feed.

Skarn A term used to describe the metamorphic rocks surrounding an igneous intrusive where
it comes in contact with a limestone or dolomite rock formation.

Skid A track-mounted vehicle used to hold trips or cars from running out of control. Also it is a
flat-bottom personnel or equipment carrier used in low coal.

Skip A self-dumping bucket used in a shaft for hoisting ore or rock.

Skip A car being hoisted from a slope or shaft.

Slack Small coal; the finest-sized soft coal, usually less than one inch in diameter.

Slag The vitreous mass separated from the fused metals in the smelting process.
Slakifli-bar A superficial, thin layer of gold-bearing sand and gravel that accumulated on the
surface of river gravel deposits.
Slash The process of blasting rock from the side of an underground opening to widen the
opening.

Slate A metamorphic rock; the metamorphic equivalent of shale. Or A miner's term for any
shale or slate accompanying coal. Geologically, it is a dense, fine-textured, metamorphic rock,
which has excellent parallel cleavage so that it breaks into thin plates or pencil-like shapes.

Slate bar The proper long-handled tool used to pry down loose and hazardous material from
roof, face, and ribs.

Slickenside A smooth, striated, polished surface produced on rock by friction.

Slickenside The striated, polished surface of a fault caused by one wall rubbing against the
other.

Slip A fault. A smooth joint or crack where the strata have moved on each other.

Slope Primary inclined opening, connection the surface with the underground workings.

Slope mine An underground mine with an opening that slopes upward or downward to the
coal seam.

Sloughing The slow crumbling and falling away of material from roof, rib, and face.

Sludge Rock cuttings from a diamond drill hole, sometimes used for assaying.

Sluice A long inclined (one in twelve drop) trough through which water flows with gravel and
dirt. If all works well gold is trapped by obstructions called riffles.

Smelter A facility where metal is separated by fusion from those impurities with which it may
be chemically combined or physically mixed, such as in ore..

Smelting Reducing metallic ores in a furnace.

Sodium cyanide A chemical used in the mill of gold ores to dissolve gold and silver.

Sodium cyanide A chemical used in the mill of gold ores to dissolve gold and silver.

Solvent extraction-Electrowinning (SX-EW) A metallurgical technique, so far applied only to

copper ores, in which metal is dissolved from the rock by organic solvents and recovered from
solution by electrolysis.

Sounding Knocking on a roof to see whether it is sound and safe to work under.

Spad A spad is a flat spike hammered into a wooden plug anchored in a hole drilled into the
mine ceiling from which is threaded a plumbline. The spad is an underground survey station
similar to the use of stakes in marking survey points on the surface. A pointer spad, or sight spad,
is a station that allows a mine foreman to visually align entries or breaks from the main spad.

Span The horizontal distance between the side supports or solid abutments along sides of a
roadway.
Specific gravity - The ratio of the weight of a substance compared with the weight of an equal
volume of pure water at 4 degrees Celsius.

Specimen A selected piece of rock or ore taken for examination or display.

Spelter The zinc of commerce, more or less impure, cast from molten metal into slabs or
ingots.

Sphalerite A sulphide mineral of zinc; a common ore mineral of zinc.

Spider Fashioned piece of metal used to hold a candle underground. Usually with a hook and
point.

Spiral concentrator A revolving drum or pan with an interior section made of spiral riffles,
used for gravity concentration of heavy minerals.

Split The shareholder-approved division of a company's outstanding common shares into a

larger number of new common shares.

Split Any division or branch of the ventilating current. Also, the workings ventilated by one
branch. Also, to divide a pillar by driving one or more roads through it.

Spot price Current delivery price of a commodity traded in the spot market.

Squeeze The settling, without breaking, of the roof and the gradual upheaval of the floor of a
mine due to the weight of the overlying strata.

Station An enlargement of a shaft made for the storage and handling of equipment and for
driving drifts at that elevation.

Steeply inclined Said of deposits and coal seams with a dip of from 0.7 to 1 rad (40 degrees
to 60 degrees).

Stemming The noncombustible material used on top or in front of a charge or explosive.

Step-out drilling Holes drilled to intersect a mineralization horizon or structure along strike or
down dip.

Stock exchange An organized market concerned with the buying and selling of com mon and
preferred shares and warrants by stock brokers who own seats on the exchange and meet
membership requirements.

Stockpile Broken ore heaped on surface, pending treatment or shipment.

Stope An excavation in a mine from which ore is being or has been extracted.

Stope - An underground working area where ore is mined..

Stop-loss order An arrangement whereby a client gives his broker instructions to sell a stock
if and when it drops to a specified figure on the market.

Stratified A formation having banded layers, or beds.

Stratigraphy Strictly, the description of bedded rock sequences; used loosely, the sequence
of bedded rocks in a particular area.

Streak A physical characteristic of minerals determined by scratching a sample of the mineral

on a piece of unglazed porcelain.

Street certificate A certificate representing ownership in a specified number of shares that is

registered in the name of some previous owner who has endorsed the certificate so that it may be
transferred to a new owner without referral to transfer agent.

Striations Prominent scratches left on bedrock by advancing glaciers.

Strike The direction, or bearing, from true north of a vein or rock formation measured on a
horizontal surface.

Stringer A narrow vein or irregular filament of mineral traversing a rock mass.

Strip To remove the overburden or waste rock overlying an orebody in preparation for mining
by open pit methods.

Strip mine An open pit mine, usually a coal mine, mined by removing overburden, excavating
the coal seam, then returning the overburden.

Stripping ratio The ratio of tonnes removed as waste relative to the number of tonnes of ore
removed from an open pit mine.

Structure The general form and type of rock formation.

Stump Any small pillar.

Subbituminous Coal of a rank intermediate between lignite and bituminous.

Sub-bituminous A black coal, intermediate between lignite and bituminous.

Sublevel A level or working horizon in a mine between main working levels.

Subsidence The gradual sinking, or sometimes abrupt collapse, of the rock and soil layers
into an underground mine. Structures and surface features above the subsidence area can be
affected.

Subsidiary company A company in which the majority of the shares (a controlling position) is
held by another company.

Sulphide A compound of sulphur and some other element. Example: iron sulphide.

Sulphide dust explosions An underground mining hazard involving the spontaneous

combustion of airborne dust containing sulphide minerals.

Sulphur dioxide A gas liberated during the smelting of most sulphide ores; either converted
into sulphuric acid or released into the atmosphere in the form or a gas.

Sump An underground excavation where water accumulates before being pumped to surface.
Or The bottom of a shaft, or any other place in a mine, that is used as a collecting point for
drainage water.
Sumping To force the cutter bar of a machine into or under the coal. Also called a sumping
cut, or sumping in.

Support The all-important function of keeping the mine workings open. As a verb, it refers to
this function; as a noun it refers to all the equipment and materials--timber, roof bolts, concrete,
steel, etc.--that are used to carry out this function.

Surf washer A small sluice that is placed so that the incoming surf can run up and down the
trough, washing material from a hopper down over riffles.

Surface mine A mine in which the coal lies near the surface and can be extracted by removing
the covering layers of rock and soil.

Suspension Weaker strata hanging from stronger, overlying strata by means of roof bolts.

Sustainable development Industrial development that does not detract from the potential of
the natural environment to provide benefits to future generations.

Syenite An intrusive igneous rock composed chiefly of orthoclase.

Sylvite The principal ore of potassium.

Syncline A down-arching fold in bedded rocks.

Syncline A fold in rock in which the strata dip inward from both sides toward the axis. The
opposite of anticline.

Syngenetic A term used to describe when mineralization in a deposit was formed relative to
the host rocks in which it is found. In this case, the mineralization was formed at the same time as
the host rocks. (The opposite is epigenetic).

T
Tabular A plate-like structure in certain minerals.

Taconite A highly abrasive iron ore.

Tail section A term used in both belt and chain conveyor work to designate that portion of the
conveyor at the extreme opposite end from the delivery point. In either type of conveyor it consists
of a frame and either a sprocket or a drum on which the chain or belt travels, plus such other
devices as may be required for adjusting belt or chain tension.

Tailgate A subsidiary gate road to a conveyor face as opposed to a main gate. The tailgate
commonly acts as the return airway and supplies road to the face.

Tailings Material rejected from a mill after most of the recoverable valuable minerals have
been extracted. Normally consists of ground up rock in the sand to silt size range.

Tailings pond A low-lying depression used to confine tailings, the prime function of which is to
allow enough time for heavy metals to settle out or for cyanide to be destroyed before water is
discharged into the receiving watershed.

Tailpiece Also known as foot section pulley. The pulley or roller in the tail or foot section of a
belt conveyor around which the belt runs.

Talus A heap of broken, coarse rock found at the base of a cliff or mountain.

Tamping Or stemming. The act of packing a substance in behind an explosive to make it air
tight and therefore work more efficiently.

TBM See Tunnel Boring Machine

Telluride A chemical compound consisting of tellurium and another element, often gold or
silver.

Tenor The relative value or mineral content of an ore.

Tension The act of stretching.

Terrace A relatively fiat area lying between the various levels of bench gravels.

Tertiary Lateral or panel openings (e.g., ramp, crosscut).

Thermal coal Coal burned to generate the steam that drives turbines to generate electricity.

Thickener A large, round tank used in milling operations to separate solids from liquids; clear
fluid overflows from the tank and rock particles sink to the bottom.

Through-steel A system of dust collection from rock or roof drilling. The drill steel is hollow,
and a vacuum is applied at the base, pulling the dust through the steel and into a receptacle on the
machine.
Till An unstratified and unconsolidated sediment deposited by glaciers.

Timber A collective term for underground wooden supports.

Timber set A timber frame to support the roof, sides, and sometimes the floor of mine
roadways or shafts.

Timbering The setting of timber supports in mine workings or shafts for protection against falls
from roof, face, or rib.

Tip Spider (bitten by) rocks falling out of mine truck or bucket. Been bitten by a tip spider if
you get you finger caught between rocks.

Tipple Originally the place where the mine cars were tipped and emptied of their coal, and still
used in that same sense, although now more generally applied to the surface structures of a mine,
including the preparation plant and loading tracks.

Ton A short or net ton is equal to 2,000 pounds; a long or British ton is 2,240 pounds; a metric
ton is approximately 2,205 pounds.

Tonnes-per-vertical-metre Common unit used to describe the amount of ore in a deposit -

ore length is multiplied by the width and divided by the appropriate rock factor to give the amount
of ore for each vertical metre of depth.

Top A mine roof; same as "back."

Topography The physical features of the surface in an area.

Torque wrench A wrench that indicates, as on a dial, the amount of torque (in units of foot-
pounds) exerted in tightening a roof bolt.

Total Cash Cost Per Ounce - The cash cost per ounce, plus royalties and production taxes
divided by the total ounces of the primary metals produced.

Total Production Cost Per Ounce - The total cash cost per ounce, plus the per ounce
equivalent of depreciation, depletion, amortization and reclamation accruals relating to each
operating mine.

Tractor A battery-operated piece of equipment that pulls trailers, skids, or personnel carriers.
Also used for supplies.

Trading floor The area of a stock exchange building where shares are bought and sold.

Trading post An area on the trading floor of a stock exchange where current stock prices are
listed and where the floor traders (representatives of brokerage firms) meet to buy or sell the
stocks listed at that particular post.

Tram To haul cars of ore or waste in a mine. Or Used in connection with moving self-propelled
mining equipment. A tramming motor may refer to an electric locomotive used for hauling loaded
trips or it may refer to the motor in a cutting machine that supplies the power for moving or
tramming the machine.

Transfer A vertical or inclined connection between two or more levels and used as an ore
pass.

Transfer point Location in the materials handling system, either haulage or hoisting, where
bulk material is transferred between conveyances.

Transfer taxes Taxes imposed on stock transfers for transactions within Ontario and Quebec;
the tax is charged to the seller of the stock.

Treasury shares The unissued shares in a company's treasury.

Trench A long, narrow excavation dug through overburden, or blasted out of rock, to expose a
vein or ore structure.
Trend Direction or bearing of any rock formation.

Trip A train of mine cars.

Trommel A heavy-duty revolving drum and screen, utilized for washing, breaking up, and
removing larger rocks and retrieving the sands and pebbles for processing in other placer recovery
equipment.

Troughing idlers The idlers, located on the upper framework of a belt conveyor, which
support the loaded belt. They are so mounted that the loaded belt forms a trough in the direction of
travel, which reduces spillage and increases the carrying capacity of a belt for a given width.

Troy Ounce - Unit of weight measurement used for all precious metals. The familiar 16-ounce
avoirdupois pound equals 14.583 troy ounces.

Tube mill An apparatus consisting of a revolving cylinder about half-filled with steel rods or
balls and into which crushed ore is fed for fine grinding.

Tuff Rock composed of fine volcanic ash.

Tunnel A horizontal, or near-horizontal, underground passage, entry, or haulageway, that is

open to the surface at both ends. A tunnel (as opposed to an adit) must pass completely through a
hill or mountain.

Tunnel-boring-machine A machine used to excavate a tunnel through soil or rock by

mechanical means as opposed to drilling and blasting.

U
Ultimate analysis Precise determination, by chemical means, of the elements and
compounds in coal.

Ultra basic Igneous rocks containing less than 35% silica.

Umpire sample or assay An assay made by a third party to provide a basis for settling
disputes between buyers and sellers of ore.

Uncut value The actual assay value of a core sample as opposed to a cut value which has
been reduced by some arbitrary formula.

Undercut To cut below or undermine the coal face by chipping away the coal by pick or mining
machine. In some localities the terms "undermine" or "underhole" are used.

Underground mine Also known as a "deep" mine. Usually located several hundred feet below
the earth's surface, an underground mine's coal is removed mechanically and transferred by
shuttle car or conveyor to the surface.

Underground station An enlargement of an entry, drift, or level at a shaft at which cages stop
to receive and discharge cars, personnel, and material. An underground station is any location
where stationary electrical equipment is installed. This includes pump rooms, compressor rooms,
hoist rooms, battery-charging rooms, etc.

Underwrite A firm commitment made by a broker or other financial institution to purchase a

block of shares at a specified price.

Unit train A long train of between 60 and 150 or more hopper cars, carrying only coal between
a single mine and destination.

Universal coal cutter A type of coal cutting machine which is designed to make horizontal
cuts in a coal face at any point between the bottom and top or to make shearing cuts at any point
between the two ribs of the place. The cutter bar can be twisted to make cuts at any angle to the
horizontal or vertical.

Unpatented claim Usual lode, placer or millsite claim located under the mining laws.

Upcast shaft A shaft through which air leaves the mine.

Upper lead Pay gravel of pay streak in a gravel deposit that lies in strata well above bedrock.

Uraninite A uranium mineral with a high uranium oxide content. Frequently found in pegmatite
dykes.

Uranium A radioactive, silvery-white, metallic element.

V
Valuation The act or process of valuing or of estimating the value or worth; appraisal.

Values The valuable minerals contained in a deposit, usually refers to the precious metal
content.

Vein A mineralized zone having a more or less regular development in length, width and depth
which clearly separates it from neighboring rock.

Vendor A seller. In the case of mining companies, the consideration paid for properties
purchased is often a block of treasury shares. These shares are termed vendor shares and are
normally pooled or escrowed.

Ventilation The provision of a directed flow of fresh and return air along all underground
roadways, traveling roads, workings, and service parts.

Visible gold Native gold which is discernable in a hand specimen by the unaided eye.

Void A general term for pore space or other openings in rock. In addition to pore space, the
term includes vesicles, solution cavities, or any openings either primary or secondary.

Volatile matter The gaseous part, mostly hydrocarbons, of coal.

Volcanic rocks Igneous rocks formed from magma that has flowed out or has been violently
ejected from a volcano.

Volcanogenic A term used to describe the volcanic origin of mineralization.

Volume A measurement of the amount of material in a placer, usually stated in cubic

outwards.

Volume factor A factor which takes into account the swell of loosened gravels after the
material has been excavated. Most intact gravels swell at least 25 percent when they have been
loosened.

Voting right The stockholder's right to vote in the affairs of the company. Most common
shares have one vote each. Preferred stock usually has the right to vote when preferred dividends
are in default.

Vug A small cavity in a rock, frequently lined with well-formed crystals. Amethyst commonly
forms in these cavities.

W
Wall The sides of a mine working; rock on either side of an ore body.

Wall rocks Rock units on either side of an orebody. The hangingwall and footwall rocks of an
orebody.

Warrant See rights.

Washing Up Recovering the gold at the end of the day from an alluvial gold machine.

Waste Barren rock in a mine, or mineralized material that is too low in Grade to be mined and
milled at a profit.
Water Gauge (standard U-tube) Instrument that measures differential pressures in inches of
water.

Water table The underground level at which the ground is saturated with water. The level at
which water will stand in an excavation.

Wedge A technique of directing a diamond drill hole in a desired direction away from its
current orientation.

Wedge A piece of wood tapering to a thin edge and used for tightening in conventional
timbering.

Weight Fracturing and lowering of the roof strata at the face as a result of mining operations,
as in "taking weight".

Whinze See winze

White damp Carbon monoxide, CO. A gas that may be present in the afterdamp of a gas- or
coal-dust explosion, or in the gases given off by a mine fire; also one of the constituents of the
gases produced by blasting. Rarely found in mines under other circumstances. It is absorbed by
the hemoglobin of the blood to the exclusion of oxygen. One-tenth of 1% (.001) may be fatal in 10
minutes.

Width The thickness of a lode measured at right angles to the dip.

Winning The excavation, loading, and removal of coal or ore from the ground; winning follows
development.

Winze Secondary or tertiary vertical or near-vertical opening sunk from a point inside a mine
for the purpose of connecting with a lower level or of exploring the ground for a limited depth below
a level.

Wire rope A steel wire rope used for winding in shafts and underground haulages. Wire ropes
are made from medium carbon steels. Various constructions of wire rope are designated by the
number of strands in the rope and the number of wires in each strand. The following are some
common terms encountered: airplane strand; cablelaid rope; cane rope; elevator rope; extra-
flexible hoisting rope; flat rope; flattened-strand rope; guy rope; guy strand; hand rope; haulage
rope; hawser; hoisting rope; lang lay rope; lay; left lay rope; left twist; nonspinning rope; regular
lay; reverse-laid rope; rheostat rope; right lay; right twist; running rope; special flexible hoisting
rope; standing rope; towing hawser; transmission rope.

Witness post A claim post situated on a claim line used to take the place of a corner post that
cannot be placed because of terrain.

Working When a coal seam is being squeezed by pressure from roof and floor, it emits
creaking noises and is said to be "working". This often serves as a warning to the miners that
additional support is needed.

Working capital The liquid resources a company has to meet day-to-day expenses of
operation; defined as the excess of current assets over current liabilities.
Working face Any place in a mine where material is extracted during a mining cycle.
Working place From the outby side of the last open crosscut to the face.

Working section From the faces to the point where coal is loaded onto belts or rail cars to
begin its trip to the outside.

Workings The entire system of openings in a mine for the purpose of exploitation.

Writeoffs Amounts deducted from a company reported profit for depreciation or preproduction
costs. Writeoffs are not an out-of- pocket expense but reduce the amount of taxable profit and are
intended to reimburse the company for money previously expended.

X
Xenolith A rock fragment of different composition enclosed in an igneous rock.

Y
Yardage The number of cubic yards of gravel contained in a placer deposit; also the number
of cubic yards mined and processed per hour or per day.

Yield The current annual dividend rate expressed as a percentage of the current market price
of the stock.

Z
Zircon A durable, crystalline form of zirconium silicate that is commonly found in placer
deposits.

Zone An area of distinct mineralization.

Zone of oxidation The upper portion of an orebody that has been oxidized.