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.