Gold Mining Terminology

Gold Mining Terminology

Adamantine
Having diamond luster.
Adit
A horizontal tunnel from the surface draining a mine.
Alluvium
Deposit by streams.
Amalgamation
Combining mercury with another metal.
Analysis
A chemical search whereby the nature (qualitative) and amount (quantitative) of the components of a substance are found out.
Aqua regia
A mixture of 3 parts hydrochloric acid with 1 part strong nitric acid.
Arenaceous
Sandy.
Argentiferous
Silver-bearing.
Argillaceous
Clay-bearing.
Arrastra
A rotary and primitive mill.
Assay
A test.
Assay-ton
29.166 2-3 grammes.
Auriferous
Gold-bearing.
Bar
Obstruction in the bed of a river.
Bar-diggings
Claims in the shallows of streams.
Base Metals
Those not classed as precious.
Batea
Mexican gold-washing dish.
Battery
A set of stamps for crushing.
Bed
A seam or deposit.
Bed-rock
Solid stratum below porous material.
Bench
Old river bed; also called a terrace.
Booming
The sudden discharge of accumulated water.
Bort
Black diamond.
Calcite
Carbonate of lime.
Canon
Pronounced canyon; a gorge.
Carat
About 4 grains Troy.
Cement
Compacted gravel.
Color
A speck of gold.
Country Rock
The rock enclosing a vein.
Cradle
A mining apparatus; also called a rocker.
Cupriferous
Copper-bearing.
Decrepitate
Crackling when hot.
Development
Work done in opening a mine.
Dip
The inclination of a vein at right angles to its length.
Dolly
A primitive stamp-mill.
Drift
A horizontal gallery in a mine; or the rubbish left by the last ice age.
Drifting
Driving a tunnel.
Dump
A heap of vein stuff, etc.
Exploitation
The actual mining following exploration.
Fathom
Six feet.
Fault
A break in a vein or bed.
Float-gold
Fine grains that do not sink in the water.
Float
Veinstone or ore by which a vein is traced.
Flume
Wooden troughs carrying water.
Flux
Material added to help fusion.
Foliated
In thin layers.
Gangue
Veinstone.
Gouge
A selvage of clay between vein and country rock.
Grade
The inclination of a ditch, etc.
Grating
Perforated iron sheet, or bars with spaces.
Gravel
Broken down, rounded rock fragments.
Ground Sluice
A gutter in which gold is washed.
Iridescent
Showing the hues of the rainbow.
Litharge
Proto oxide of lead.
Long Tom
A machine for saving alluvial gold.
Marl
Clay containing lime.
Miner's Inch
An arbitrary measure of water regulated by local custom.
Mundic
Iron pyrites.
Open Cut
A surface working.
Outcrop
That part of a vein showing on the surface.
Oxidation
A chemical union with oxygen.
Oxide
Combination of a metal with oxygen.
Panning
Washing gravel, or crushed rock, in a gold-miner's pan to detect gold, etc.
Peroxide
The oxide of any substance that is richest in oxygen.
Placer
A deposit of valuable metal in gravel.
Plat
A map from an original survey.
Plumbago
Graphite or black lead.
Precipitate
Matter separated from a solution.
Pulp
Pulverized ore mixed with water.
Quarry
An open working.
Quartz
Silica.
Quartzose
Containing a large proportion of quartz.
Reduce
To turn ore into metal by taking away oxygen.
Riffle
A groove or strip to catch gold and mercury in a sluice.
Roasting
Heating in contact with air.
Shaft
A pit giving access to a vein or working.
Stratum
Bed or layer.
Striated
Marked with parallel workings.
Strip
To remove overlying material from a vein.
Sulphate
A salt containing sulphuric acid.
Sulphide
A combination of sulphur and a metal.
Sulphurets
When the miner employs this term he usually means pyrites.
Tailings
The refuse matter after ore has been crushed.
Throw
The movements of vein caused by a fault; it may be up or down.
Translucent
If light passes through a mineral, it is translucent; if you can see the details of an object through it, it is transparent.
Underlie
The same thing as dip.
Unstratified
Without stratification or bedding.
Wash Dirt
Auriferous gravel or clay.
Whim
A machine for hoisting by a revolving drum.
Winze
An interior shaft connecting the levels.
Zinc
White oxide of zinc.

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