Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms (US Bureau of Mines/ infomine.com)

http://www.abdurrahmanince.net/03_HuMinEngDic_6607s.pdf

AAA

abandoned mine/ workings
-Excavations, either caved or sealed, that are deserted and in which further mining is not intended and open workings that are not ventilated and inspected regularly

abime
-A large, steep-sided vertical shaft opening at the surface of the ground.

abraser
-A device for assessing the wear resistance of surfaces. The specimen to be tested is rubbed alternately by the flat faces of two weighted abrasive wheels that revolve in opposite directions through frictional contact with the specimen and exert a combined abrasive, compressive, and twisting action twice in each revolution of the specimen holder.

abrasion
a. The mechanical wearing away of rock surfaces by friction and impact of rock particles transported by wind, ice, waves, running water, or gravity. Syn:corrasion
b. The wearing away of diamonds, drill-bit matrices, and drill-stem equipment by frictional contact with the rock material penetrated or by contact with the cuttings produced by the action of the drill bit in drilling a borehole.

abrasion hardness
-Hardness expressed in quantitative terms or numbers indicating the degree to which a substance resists being worn away by frictional contact with an abrasive material, such as silica or carborundum grits. Also called abrasion resistance; wear resistance.

abrasion index 
-The percentage of a specially prepared 3-in by 2-in (76-mm by 51-mm) sample of coke remaining on a 1/8-in (3.2-mm) mesh British Standards test sieve after the sample of coke has been subjected to a standardized abrasion procedure in a rotating drum.

abrasive
a. Any natural or artificial substance suitable for grinding, polishing, cutting, or scouring. Natural abrasives include diamond, emery, garnet, silica sand, diatomite, and pumice; manufactured abrasives include esp., silicon carbide, fused alumina, and boron nitride.
b. Tending to abrade or wear away.

abrasive blasting respirator
-A respirator designed to protect the wearer from inhalation or impact of, and abrasion by, materials used or generated in abrasive blasting.

abrasive formation
-A rock consisting of small, hard, sharp-cornered, angular fragments, or a rock, the cuttings from which, produced by the action of a drill bit, are hard, sharp-cornered, angular grains, which grind away or abrade the metal on bits and drill-stem equipment at a rapid rate. Syn:abrasive ground

absolute atmosphere
-An absolute unit of pressure equal to 1 million times the pressure produced on 1 cm2 by the force of 1 dyn

absolute bulk strength 
-A measure of available energy per unit volume of explosive.

absolute ownership
-In law, an unqualified title to property and the unquestioned right to immediate and unconditional possession thereof. Applies to mining claims and properties.

absolute permeability
-A measure of possible flow of a standard liquid under fixed conditions through a porous medium when there is no reaction between the liquid and the solids. This measure is arbitrarily taken for isothermal viscous flow. It can be duplicated with gases if tests are so conducted that extrapolation to infinite pressure can be made; specific permeability.

absolute roof 
-The entire mass of strata overlying a coal seam or a subsurface point of reference. See also:nether roof

abutment
A surface or mass provided to withstand thrust, for example, the end supports of an arch or bridge.
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 (the solid coal ahead of the face) and the back abutment (the settled packs behind the face).
See also:overarching weight; pressure arch; load transfer. Syn:arch structure

abutment load
-In underground mining, the weight of rock above an excavation that has been transferred to the adjoining walls.

abutment pillars 
-Pillars intended to support vertical load in excess of the weight of the strata directly above them. Generally, these abutment pillars are large pillars adjacent to smaller pillars, sometimes called yield pillars, which are incapable of carrying the weight of the strata above them.

accelerometer 
-A seismometer with response linearly proportional to the acceleration of earth materials with which it is in contact.

acceptor
-A charge of explosives or blasting agent receiving an impulse from an exploding donor charge. Syn:receptor

accessory
a. Applied to minerals occurring in small quantities in a rock. The presence or absence of these minor minerals does not affect the classification or the naming of the rock.
b. Fragments derived from previously solidified volcanic rocks of related origin; i.e., the debris of earlier lavas and pyroclastic rocks from the same cone. See also:accessory mineral
c. Said of pyroclastics that are formed from fragments of the volcanic cone or earlier lavas; it is part of a classification of volcanic ejecta based on mode of origin, and is equivalent to resurgent ejecta. CF:auxiliary

accessory mineral 
-Any mineral the presence of which is not essential to the classification of the rock. Accessory minerals generally occur in minor amounts; in sedimentary rocks they are mostly heavy minerals. CF:essential mineral Syn:accessory

access road
-A route constructed to enable plant, supplies, and vehicles to reach a mine, quarry, or opencast pit. In remote and isolated regions, the provision of an access road may be very costly.

accordion roller conveyor
-A roller conveyor with a flexible latticed frame that permits variation in length.

accretion vein 
-A vein formed by the repeated filling of a channelway and its reopening by the development of fractures in the zone undergoing mineralization.

accumulator
a. A cylinder containing water or oil under pressure of a weighted piston for hydraulic presses, hoists, winches, etc. It is between the pumps and the presses, keeps a constant pressure on the system, and absorbs shocks.
b. A storage battery.
c. In oceanography, a spring of rubber or steel attached to a trawling warp, to lessen any sudden strain due to the trawl catching.

acetylene 
-The most brilliant of illuminating gases, C2 H2 . It may be produced synthetically from its elements, by incomplete combustion of coal gas, and commercially from calcium carbide, CaC2 . It also may be produced by reaction with water. Used in manufacturing explosives. Formerly used as an illuminating gas in mines and around drill rigs. When combined with oxygen, acetylene burns to produce an intensely hot flame and hence now is used principally in welding and metal-cutting flame torches.

acicular powder
-In powder metallurgy, needle-shaped particles

acid
a. A solution of pH less than 7.0 at 25 degrees C.
b. A substance containing hydrogen that may be replaced by metals with the formation of salts.

acid-dip survey/test
-A method of determining the angular inclination of a borehole in which a glass, test-tubelike bottle partly filled with a dilute solution of hydrofluoric acid is inserted in a watertight metal case. When the assemblage is lowered into a borehole and left for 20 to 30 min, the acid etches the bottle at a level plane from which the inclination of the borehole can be measured.

acid drainage 
-Water with a pH of less than 6.0 and in which total acidity exceeds total alkalinity; discharged from an active, inactive, or abandoned surface coal mine and reclamation operation.

aclinal
-A little-used term said of strata that have no inclination; horizontal.

activating agent
a. A substance that when added to a mineral pulp promotes flotation in the presence of a collecting agent. Syn:activator
b. Reagent used particularly in differential mineral flotation to help cleanse the mineral surface so that a collector may adhere to it and permit or aid its floatability. Frequently used to allow floating minerals that had been previously depressed.

activation
a. In the flotation process of mineral dressing, the process of altering the surface of specific mineral particles in a mineral pulp to promote adherence of certain reagents.
b. The changing of the passive surface of a metal to a chemically active state. CF:passivation
c. In the flotation process of ore beneficiation, the process of altering the surface of specific mineral particles in an ore pulp to promote adherence of certain reagents. Henderson d. The process of making a material radioactive by bombardment with neutrons, protons, or other nuclear particles. See also:activation analysis

activator 
a. In flotation, a chemical added to the pulp to increase the floatability of a mineral in a froth or to refloat a depressed (sunk) mineral. Also called activating reagent. CTD
b. A reagent that affects the surface of minerals in such a way that it is easy for the collector atoms to become attached. It has the opposite effect of a depressor. CF:depressor
c. A substance that is required in trace quantities to impart luminescence
d. Ions that are photon emitters.
e. Any agent that causes activation. See also:activating agent

active workings
-All places in a mine that are ventilated and inspected regularly.

actual breaking strength
-The breaking load obtained from a tensile test to destruction on a sample of rope.

adamantine 
a. Like the diamond in luster.
b. Diamond hard. A commercial name for chilled steel shot used in the adamantine drill, which is a core-barrel type of rock-cutting drill with a cutting edge fed by these shots.

adhesion 
a. The molecular force holding together two different substances that are in contact, as water in the pore spaces of a rock. CF:cohesion
b. Shearing resistance between soil and another material under zero externally applied pressure.
c. In the flotation process, the attachment of a particle to air-water interface or to a bubble.

adit
a. A horizontal or nearly horizontal passage driven from the surface for the working or dewatering of a mine. If driven through the hill or mountain to the surface on the opposite side, it would be a tunnel. Syn:drift; adit level. See also:tunnel
b. As used in the Colorado statutes, it may apply to a cut either open or undercover, or open in part and undercover in part, dependent on the nature of the ground.
c. A passage driven into a mine from the side of a hill.

adjutage
-Nozzle or tube from which hydraulic water is discharged.

adsorption
a. Adherence of gas molecules, or of ions or molecules in solution, to the surface of solids with which they are in contact, as methane to coal or moisture to silica gel. CF:absorption
b. The assimilation of gas, vapor, or dissolved matter by the surface of a solid or liquid.
c. The attachment of a thin film of liquid or gas, commonly monomolecular in thickness, to a solid substrate.

adularescence
a. A milky white to bluish sheen in gemstones.
b. The changeable white to pale bluish luster of an adularia cut cabochon.
c. A floating, billowy, white or bluish light, seen in certain directions as a gemstone (usually adularia) is turned, caused by diffused reflection of light from parallel intergrowths of another feldspar of slightly different refractive index from the main mass. Syn:schiller

aerosol 
a. A suspension of ultramicroscopic solid or liquid particles in air or gas, as smoke, fog, or mist.
b. Particles, solid or liquid, suspended in air.
c. A sol in which the dispersion medium is a gas (usually air) and the dispersed or colloidal phase consists of solid particles or liquid droplets, e.g., mist, haze, most smoke, and some fog.

affinity
-In ion exchange, relative strength of attachment of competing ions for anchorage on a resin

A-frame
a. Two poles or legs supported in an upright position by braces or guys and used as a drill mast. Long b. An open structure tapering from a wide base to a narrow load-bearing top.

afterblast
-During an explosion of methane and oxygen, carbon dioxide and steam are formed. When the steam condenses to water a partial vacuum is created, which causes an inrush or what is known as an afterblast.

afterblow
Continued blowing of air through Bessemer converter after flame has dropped, for removal of phosphorus in steel production.

agglomeration
-In beneficiation, a concentration process based on the adhesion of pulp particles to water. Loosely bonded associations of particles and bubbles are formed that are heavier than water; flowing-film gravity concentration is used to separate the agglomerates from nonagglomerated particles. Agglomeration also refers to briquetting, nodulizing, sintering, etc.

aggradation
a. The building up of the Earth's surface by deposition; specif., the upbuilding performed by a stream in order to establish or maintain uniformity of grade or slope. See also:gradation Syn:upgrading
b. A syn. of accretion, as in the development of a beach. The spread or growth of permafrost, under present climatic conditions, due to natural or artificial causes.

aggregate
a. A mass or body of rock particles, mineral grains, or a mixture of both.
b. Any of several hard, inert materials, such as sand, gravel, slag, or crushed stone, mixed with a cement or bituminous material to form concrete, mortar, or plaster, or used alone, as in railroad ballast or graded fill. The term can include rock material used as chemical or metallurgical fluxstone. See also:chippings; coarse aggregate;

A-horizon
-In a soil profile, the uppermost zone from which soluble salts and colloids have been leached and in which organic matter has accumulated.

air elutriation 
-Method of dividing a substance into various particle sizes by means of air currents.

air-operated winch
-A small, compressed-air drum haulage or hoist used for lifting, dragging, or skidding work in mines. With capacities ranging from 660 to 4,400 lb (300 to 2,000 kg), these winches have powerful piston motors and are capable of continuous operation. They are easy to move from job to job and are used for shaft sinking and moving wagon drills at quarry and opencast operations.

alcohol
C2 H5 OH ; made from grain. Not to be confused with methyl hydroxide or methanol. Syn:ethanol

alidade
a. In mine surveying, a movable arm used to read horizontal angular distances.
b. A device having a level bubble combined with a quarter or a half circle graduated in degrees that is used by drillers to determine the inclination of a drill stem and/or borehole at the collar of the borehole. Also called angle level; angle rule; clinometer; clinometer rule.
c. An instrument used in planetable surveying, consisting of a telescope or sighting device pivoted to swing through a vertical graduated arc atop a vertical stand attached to a steel rule, one edge of which is parallel with the sight line of the telescope.
d. Sometimes incorrectly used as a syn. for transit; theodolite.
e. A rule equipped with simple or telescopic sights, used for determining the directions of objects, specif., a part of a surveying instrument consisting of a telescope or other sighting device, with index and reading or recording accessories.
f. A surveying instrument used with a planetable for mapping; e.g., peep-sight alidade and telescopic alidade.

aliphatic 
-Of, relating to, or derived from fat; fatty; acyclic. Applied to a large class of organic compounds characterized by an open-chain structure and consisting of the paraffin, olefin, and acetylene hydrocarbons and their derivatives (as the fatty acids).

alkali
a. Any strongly basic substance, such as a hydroxide or carbonate of an alkali metal (e.g., sodium, potassium). Plural: alkalies. Adj. alkaline; alkalic. Said of silicate minerals that contain alkali metals but little calcium; e.g., the alkali feldspars.
b. Any substance having marked basic properties; i.e., being capable of furnishing to its solution or other substances the hydroxyl ion, OH