activator
An agent that enables the flotation of a mineral or minerals.
Mining and extraction
350 terms in this trade.
afterdamp
Suffocating gases present in a coal mine after an explosion caused by firedamp, consisting of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, and sometimes hydrogen sulfide.
air-head
A horizontal channel providing ventilation in a mine.
airleave
An easement consisting of the right granted to a miner to ventilate onto a property.
airway
A roadway used for ventilation.
apex
The highest or the greatest part of something, especially forming a point.
attle
Rubbish or refuse consisting of broken rock inholding little or no ore; especially, the worthless rock left over once the ore has been selected.
auget
A priming tube connecting the charge chamber with the gallery, or place where the slow match is applied.
azogue
Silver ores suitable for treatment by amalgamation with mercury.
back
The roof of a horizontal underground passage.
back-overman
A person employed to superintend the pit during the "back" or afternoon shift, in the absence of the overman.
ball vein
A sort of iron ore, found in loose masses of a globular form, containing sparkling particles.
bandsman
A labourer (loader) working with a band of men.
bank
The face of the coal at which miners are working.
bar down
To loosen mined ore in a cart using a bar in order to enable it to move through a chute.
barring
Timber used for supporting the roof or sides of shafts.
barrow
A heap of rubbish, attle, or other such refuse.
barrowman
A putter: one who puts the tubs of coal from the workings to the cranes, flats, or stations, so that they can be conveyed to the surface.
basseting
The upward direction of a vein in a mine.
beamwork
A tin working where the lode was followed by digging down from the surface.
bedrock
The solid rock found at some depth below the ground surface.
beeline
A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly and at a specific known rate.
berm
One of the flat terraces on the slope of an open-pit mine.
black sand
Sand high in magnetite and other iron-rich ferrous minerals, frequently found associated with placer mining.
black tin
Tin ore (cassiterite), when dressed, stamped and washed, ready for smelting. It is in the form of a black powder, like fine sand.
blind level
A level or drainage gallery which has a vertical shaft at each end, and acts as an inverted siphon.
blower
A fissure from which firedamp issues, often in quantity for many years.
bluecap
A tiny blue-skinned fairy that inhabits a mine and helps the miners.
bord
The coalface parallel to the natural fissures.
borrasca
A mine that is no longer producing profitably.
bottomer
A person employed to attend to the bottom of the shaft.
brakeman
A person employed to work the steam engine or other machinery that raises the coal from the mine.
brat
A thin bed of coal mixed with pyrites or carbonate of lime.
brattice
A partition in a coal mine, made from wood or from canvas sheeting coated in tar.
brow
A gallery in a coal mine running across the face of the coal.
browman
The worker in charge of the cages at the pithead.
brusher
A person employed to cut or blast the roof or floor of a roadway and so give more height.
bump
A sudden movement of underground strata, preceded by a characteristic sound.
bunch
An unusual concentration of ore in a lode or a small, discontinuous occurrence or patch of ore in the wallrock.
bunny
A sudden enlargement or mass of ore, as opposed to a vein or lode.
burghmaster
An officer who directs and lays out the meres or boundaries for the workers.
buscon
A prospector (someone who searches for ore).
butterfly
A safety link or detaching hook above the cage attached to the winding rope to prevent the cage from being overwound.
buttocker
A worker who gets coal off at a longwall face.
butty
A miner who works under contract, receiving a fixed amount per ton of coal or ore.
bye-workman
An underground mine labourer.
cage
The drum on which the rope is wound in a hoisting whim.
cager
A person or machine responsible for managing a mineshaft cage.
canch
An upper or lower portion of stone that is removed to form a gradient between workings.
capel
A composite stone (quartz, schorl, and hornblende) in the walls of tin and copper lodes.
case
A small fissure which admits water into the workings.
chartermaster
A contractor for working a pit or part of a pit.
check viewer
A viewer employed by the lessor to see that the provisions of the lease are duly observed.
check weigher
A person employed by the miners to check the weight of the mined material and thus ensure the proper wages were paid.
checkweigh
To check the weight of the mined material and thus ensure the proper wages are paid.
chokedamp
A damp consisting chiefly of carbon dioxide, so called for its ability to asphyxiate.
clack door
The removable cover of the opening giving access to a pump valve.
coalface
The surface of coal exposed by mining, or a part of a coal seam that is currently being mined.
cobbing
The manual separation of minerals in ore using a hammer.
cockermeg
An arrangement of pit props used to support a coalface