Mining_Terminology

Advance - Mining in the same direction, or order of sequence; first mining as distinguished from retreat.
Aerial Survey - A survey made from a flying aircraft, such as photographic, magnetometer, radioactivity, etc.
Adit - A nearly horizontal passage from the surface by which a mine is entered and dewatered. A blind horizontal opening into a mountain, with only one entrance.
Acid deposition or acid rain – Refers loosely to a mixture of wet and dry "deposition" (deposited material) from the atmosphere containing higher than "normal" amount of nitric and sulphuric acids. The precursors or chemical forerunners of acid rain formation result from both natural sources, such as volcanoes and decaying vegetation, and man-made sources, primarily emissions of sulphur and nitrogen oxides resulting from fossil fuel combustion.
Anticline - An upward fold or arch of rock strata.
Aquifer - A water-bearing bed of porous rock, often sandstone.
Arching - Fracture processes around a mine opening, leading to stabilization by an arching effect.
Autoclave system: an oxidation treatment in which high temperatures and pressures are applied to convert refractory goldbearing sulphide materials into amenable oxide ore.
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.
Autogenous grinding - The process of grinding in a rotating mill which uses a grinding medium of large ore pieces , instead of conventional steel balls or rods.
Area (of an airway) - Average width multiplied by average height of airway, expressed in square feet.
Assay laboratory - A laboratory in which the proportions of metal in ores or concentrates are determined using analytical techniques
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.
Assessment work - The amount of work specified by law, which must be done each year to retain legal control of mining lands.
Auger - A rotary drill that uses a screw device to penetrate, break, and then transport the drilled material (coal).
Anemometer - Instrument for measuring air velocity.
Anfo - Ammonium nitrate - fuel oil blasting agent.
Anodet Delay - A non-electric, millisecond delay unit which is i来自百度文库itiated with B-line detonating fuse.
Angle of repose - The maximum angle from horizontal at which a given material will rest on a given surface without sliding or rolling.
Anomaly - A term applied to a departure from the normal or field characteristic, commonly used in geophysical prospecting.
Angle of dip - The angle at which strata or mineral deposits are inclined to the horizontal plane
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.
Acid mine water - Mine water that contains free sulphuric acid, mainly due to the weathering of iron pyrites.
Active workings - Any place in a mine where miners are normally required to work or travel and which are ventilated and inspected regularly.
Alteration - Any physical or chemical change in a rock or mineral subsequent to its formation.
Alluvial - A sediment or gravel deposited by the action of a stream or river in a river bed, flood plain, lake, fan at the foot of mountain slopes, or in estuaries that may or may not contain diamonds or precious minerals or both.
Amalgam - An alloy of mercury with another metal.
Amalgamation - A process by which gold and silver are extracted from an ore by dissolving them in mercury.
Amex - Consists of free-flowing, carefully blended, plant mix of ammonium nitrate prills and oil to which special ingredients have been added for reducing the generation of static electricity during pneumatic loading operations and preventing caking of the blasting agent when in storage.
Air Blast - The sudden failure of walls or pillars in a mine causing a rush of air throughout the mine. Air split - The division of a current of air into two or more parts. Airway - Any passage through which air is carried. Also known as an air course.
MINING TERMINOLOGY 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.