TERMS USED IN MINING

ACCEPTABLE REQUIREMENT: The minimal amount of gold that you need to recover on an average daily basis to make a certain area worth dredging or working on a production basis. See my tips on successful dredging.

ACCESSIBILITY: 1) Having legal rights to bring your equipment into a location and mine it. 2) Being able to get your equipment into a location without a great deal of trouble.

ADIT: In underground mining, a horizontal opening driven from the surface which gives access to the ore body and so broken material can easily be removed by gravity. The term "tunnel" is frequently used in place of Daito, but technically, a tunnel is open to the surface at both ends.

ALASKAN DAMPER: A device that attaches to a sluice box usually made of rubber, which rides along the surface of the water as it moves over the box. The "damper" does various things to improve the recovery of the sluice box, including smoothing out the flow of water over the box, and breaking the surface tension of the water.

ALLUVIAL: Generally pertains to loose gravel and / or mud that has been deposited by water. An example of this would be stream gravel.

ALTERED ROCK OR MINERAL: A rock that has undergone chemical change since its deposition or emplacement.

AMALGAM: An alloy of mercury with another metal or metals. Amalgamation is the process of recovering gold and silver with the use of mercury. If you want to use mercury to recover gold, see my "Using Mercury to Recover Gold Page". Mercury is dangerous, and if you would like to avoid it's use, see my "How to Recover Gold without Mercury Page".

ANALYSIS: The determination of one or more constituents of a substance either as to kind or amount.

ANCIENT MATERIALS: Are streambed materials that are either located over virgin ground, or are materials which have been swept away from virgin ground during a major storm to be redeposited elsewhere.

ANCIENT STREAMBED: For our purposes would be natural streambed which has been in place since before the old timers arrived on the scene. Those gravels, and that area, have never been mined before. Sometimes this is called "virgin ground".

APEX: (vein) This term is used in mining law to denote the outcrop of a vein which is exposed on the surface, or the upper most limit of a blind vein which does not outcrop.

ASSAY: An analysis of an ore sample, streambed sample, or a gold sample to determine the proportions of gold, silver, platinum, and other valuable metals, to the amount of waste material present in the sample.

ATTITUDE: The direction and degree of strike and dip of a vein or bed.

AURIFEROUS: Gold containing or bearing.

BACKPRESSURE: When you see water moving backwards against the main flow in a back eddy, you are looking at a backpressure area.

BACK SIGHT: A term used in surveying for any sight taken in a backward direction.

BACK TRACKING: Following the gold back through the shallow material of a paystreak in an effort to find the tail end.

BAILING OUT: To drop the weights, which hold a diver underwater in order to quickly, get to the water surface.

BAR (MINING): A long steel bar, usually 5 feet, with a sharp point on one end and a chisel point on the other end. Used to pull down loose rocks. Some people call this a "gad".

BAR (PLACER): A bank of gold bearing sand or gravel usually found in the slack or quieter part of a stream.

BEDROCK (PLACER): Any solid rock underlying gold bearing gravels. This is the base rock of the earth and is usually where the larger gold lies.

BEDROCK STRINGER: A paystreak that is lying right on the bedrock.

BENCHES: Also known as "terrace placers." Sections of old streambed that have been left high and dry by the present stream of water are referred to as "benches." Many benches still contain large paying quantities of gold. I refer to "terraces" and benches in my gold location pages many times.

BENCHES (PLACER): Step or terrace deposits of rock or gravel.

BENCHES (OPEN PIT): Step or terrace-like working areas on the sides of a pit to keep the sides from becoming too high.

BLACK SAND: Grains of heavy, dark minerals, magnetite, limonite, chromate, etc. found in streams which commonly collect in sluice boxes. It may gold and platinum. Learn how to get gold out of black sand on my "GET GOLD OUT OF BLACK SAND WITHOUT MERCURY" Page.

BLEEDING OFF: Natural erosion of bench gravels into a present stream of water.

BLM MARKER: This is usually a solid brass spike, placed permanently in the bedrock. The BLM marker is usually identified on USGS maps.

BOIL OUT: If too much force of water is moved over top of a back pressure area, the force of the flow being pulled into the vacuum becomes so turbulent that even most of the heavier materials, gold included, will be "boiled out."

BONANZA: A very rich gold deposit, whether it be a lode or placer, is often referred to as a "bonanza."

BOULDER BOUND: A hole which has so many boulders at the bottom that it is almost impossible to get a boulder harness around any of them because they are packed so close together.

BOWLINE KNOT: An easy to tie and untie sailor's knot, which has a non-slipping loop. There are many uses for this type of knot in a dredging operation.

BREAST: The vertical end surface of a working heading. Sometimes called "face".

BRUNTON COMPASS: A special compass used in surveying with an attached inclinometer and sighting device.

CALICHE: Brown or white material, usually containing rocks and gravel that are cemented together tightly with calcium carbonate. Commonly encountered in dry, desert placers. Gold is usually on top or in this material.

CHAMMY: Chamois cloth used to strain amalgam through.

CHUTE: An opening in the ground where ore is allowed to pass from one level to another. It is the structure built to load cars from a stope or ore pass.

CLAIM: A portion of land claimed by a prospector and marked out by stakes. Maximum size of a placer claim for single person is 20 acres.

CLASSIFICATION: The process of screening out the larger sized materials from a body of ore, streambed gravels, or a set of concentrates. Classification is usually done with the use of one or more sizes of mesh screening.

CLASSIFIER: A screening device itself is often referred to as a "Classifier". There is a classifier commonly found at the head of most sluice boxes on gold dredges.

CLEAN MINING: A system of mining where the ore is not diluted by waste rock.

CLEAN UP: The action of removing the gold from a set of concentrates and then cleaning the gold so it takes on its natural look. This is often a term used in dredging.

COBBLETS: Rocks that are too large to go through the suction hose intake nozzle, yet smaller than a boulder. Cobbles need to be removed from a hole by hand.

COLLAR: The immediate surface at the top of a shaft, or the start of a drill hole.

COLORS: Small specks of gold.

COMMON GOLD PATH: Because gold is six or seven times heavier than the average of other streambed materials that get swept down river during a major storm, it tends to follow and be deposited along a common path. For the most part, this path seems to follow to the inside of the bends and the shortest route between the bends.

CONCENTRATE: The valuable material produced from an ore by a separating or concentrating process. Placer concentrate refers to the mixture of black sands and gold.

CONTACT: The surface between two different types or ages of rocks.

CONTOUR LINE: Lines connecting points of equal elevation.

COUNTRY ROCK: a) The rock enclosing or traversed by a mineral deposit; b) The rock intruded by and surrounding an igneous intrusion.

CREVICE: A split, crack, or open fissure in the bedrock surface. Those crevices that are likely to trap gold out of the material as it passed over during a large storm.

CRIB: A system of timbering where the members are laid upon one another to form a rectangular opening in the center.

CROSSCUT: A horizontal tunnel driven at a large angle to the strike of a vein, connecting drifts.

CYANIDATION: The process in which a solution of potassium cyanide is passed through crushed ore to remove the gold. This process is not used when the ore contains copper.

DIP: The maximum angle of inclination downward that a vein or bed makes with a horizontal plane.

DREDGING: The process of using a floating machine for scooping up or excavating material from the bottom of a body of water, raising the material to the top, and processing the material to remove the gold. Today it refers to suction dredges.

DRIFT: A horizontal underground opening driven along the course of a vein.

DRIVING: The process of advancing a mine working, usually a drift or rise.

DUMPING OFF: The act of removing the concentrates from a sluice box.

DUST: Extremely fine particles of gold are referred to as "gold dust". A good recovery system being used in some areas will recover a considerable quantity of "dust". Often enough to pay all of the operating expenses, sometimes more. In the earlier days of mining, a pinch of gold dust was worth a dollar. Today, the same pinch is worth about $25 dollars.

END LINES: The end boundary lines of a mining claim which cross the vein. They should be parallel.

EROSION: The weathering of rocks. May produce both physical and chemical changes in the material.

EXTRALATERAL RIGHT: The right of a mine owner to follow a vein down beyond his side lines under a neighbor's ground if he has the apex on his claim, and his end lines are parallel.

FAST WATER STABILIZERS: Extra floatation attached securely to each side of a dredge in order to increase its stability when moving the dredge out into fast water. Fast water stabilizers prevent your dredge from being capsized or swamped by the swifter moving water. Also used as support on smaller dredges, so you can climb up on the dredge to fill the gas tanks.

FAULT: A fracture in the earth along which there has been displacement. This displacement may range from a few inches to a few miles.

FELSIC: An adjective used to describe a rock in which light colored minerals predominates.

FILLER MATERIAL: Material that works its way down between the major rocks of a streambed as it forms. Filler material usually tends to harden over a period of time and cement the rocks together to a degree.

FINDER'S FEE: A percentage of the recovery given to a person because he helped to locate a paying deposits for an operation.

FINE GOLD: Those particles of gold that are small enough to pass through 40-mesh screen are known as "fine gold."

FINENESS: A system that is used to indicate the purity of a gold sample or specimen. A specimen having a fineness of .900 would be 90% gold: a fineness of .650 would be 65% gold, and so on.

FLOOD LAYERS: Sometimes a streambed will have different layers of material that were laid down during different storms at different periods of time. Sometimes each separate layer contains its own gold in varying amounts. These different layers are called "flood layers.

FLOTATION: A process of mineral separation in which water, oil, and chemicals are combined to make a froth of air bubbles to which certain minerals adhere and can be collected in a trough.

FLOUR GOLD: Same as GOLD DUST.

FLOURED MERCURY: Mercury that has been broken down into thousands of tiny bubbles.

FOOL'S GOLD: Iron Pyrite, biotite or any other mineral that has an appearance that looks like gold.

FOOTWALL: The bottom or lower enclosing wall of a vein.

FORWARD-TRACKING: Dredging a narrow path forward at the upper end of a paystreak along the line of where it paid the best, in an effort to find an extension of the paystreak if it is there.

FREE GOLD: Those particles of gold in an ore or in a set of concentrates that are not chemically locked in with the other elements.

GEOLOGY: A science dealing with the formation of the earth and ore deposits.

GIRT (timbering): The upper horizontal member of a timber set, parallel to t the direction of the drift or strike of a vein, which holds the posts and caps in position.

GLORY HOLE: A bedrock hole that contains large amounts of gold.

GOLD FEVER: A term to describe me. It is when a person is obsessed with gold.

GRAIN: A term used to label a small particle of gold, and also as a unit of weight in the troy system of measurement. In which 24 grains equals 1 pennyweight. One grain also equals 64.8 milligrams. See my "Weight Conversion Table" Page for more information

GREENHORN: Someone that is inexperienced at mining.

GRIZZLY: A metal grate that screens the large rocks out of a sluice box.

GRUBSTAKE: The practice of a storekeeper extending credit or another person putting up money for the purpose of outfitting a prospector and keeping him supplied until he makes a strike. In exchange, that person then receives an agreed upon percentage of the find.

GUT: The river main channel is often referred to as the "gut."

HARD PAN: The bottom of a flood layer and top of the layer just below is called a hard pan. The layer just below the flood layer is usually hard packed enough that the flood did not wash it away too. The hard pan often contains the flood gold that was riding at the bottom of the flood layer.

HANGING WALL: The top or upper enclosing wall of a vein.

HEADER BOX: The forward most section of the sluice box upon most suction gold dredges today is designed to slow the materials down and spread them out evenly over a classifier as they enter. This upper section is referred to as the "header box."

HEADFRAME: A structure erected over a shaft to support the sheave wheel for hoisting purposes.

HEADING: Any part of the mine where work is under way. Usually confined to development workings only.

HEMATITE: An iron ore (Fe203) which is of reddish brown color. Hematite is one of the main non-magnetic minerals that comprise black sand concentrates.

HIGH GRADING: Is when a person is stealing the higher-grade gold specimens from a mining operation.

HIGHGRADE ORE: An ore that yields a large margin of profit per ton.

HITCH: A depression or hole cut into the rock to hold timbers in place. Stilts are commonly put in a hitch so that they will stay in position.

HOOKA AIR SYSTEM: Air breathing system used on most gold dredges in which the air is pumped from the surface down to the divers through an extended air line.

HORSE: A mass of waste rock in the ore or in a vein.

HOT WATER SYSTEM: Water can be heated up at the surface and pumped down through a hose to pour into a protective suit. In this way even an old wetsuit can be made to keep a diver comfortable when dredging in cold water. Usually water is pumped over a copper tube wrapped around the muffler on the engines running the dredge.

HYDDRAULIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM: A means of material classification in which water (hydraulics) is used to wash the materials over top of classification screens. Double and triple sluices are examples of hydraulic classification systems.

HYDRAULIC MINING: (Hydraulicing) A method of above water gold mining in which a large volume of water is directed at gold bearing streambed, so its materials can be washed down through sluice boxes, where the gold can be recovered.

IGNEOUS ROCK: Rock that has solidified from a molten state.

JET: Is that component on a suction dredge that water is pumped into, and which creates suction up through the suction hose. The jet is designed so that streambed material can be pumped directly to the recovery system without having to be rum through the water pump.

LAGGING: Planks or split-round timber placed around timbered sets to keep material from falling into the opening. Also used for flooring.

LATERAL: A horizontal mine working. A drift in the footwall of a vein is often called a lateral.

LEASE: A contract by which one conveys real estate for life, for a term of years, or at will, usually for a specific rent. Also, the act of conveyance, or the term for which it is made.

LEDGE: A horizontal layer, but often a vein or lode is referred to as a "ledge" of ore.

LESSEE: A person who obtains a lease on mining land.

LESSOR: The grantor of a lease.

LEVEL: All the connected horizontal mine openings at a certain elevation. Generally levels are 100 or 200 feet apart, and are designated by their distance from the collar of a shaft or some other point of reference.

LODE: Veins that contain valuable minerals are referred to as "lodes." Gold, in hardrock form, (lode) is commonly associated with quartz veins that protrude through the general country rock that makes up the earth's crust. Lodes are the original source of placer a deposits. Lodes can also be open pit mines from gold tellurides.

LOW-GRADE ORE: Ore that yields a low margin of profit per ton.

LOW/BACK PRESSURE AREA: Any area in a river or stream of water in which the water force slows down or reverses direction due to some sudden change in the bedrock, some kind of obstruction, or some change in the direction of flow. Gold tends to concentrate in the low/back pressure areas that lie along the common gold path.

MAFIC: An adjective used to describe a rock in which dark colored minerals predominates.

MAGNETITE: Fe304 The heavy magnetic black sands (iron) that is found in the heavy concentrates that collect in the recovery system.

MALLEABILITY: Is the ability of a mineral to be shaped into different forms.

MATRIX: The fine-grained interstitial material of an igneous rock or the smaller, fine-grained particles of sediment that occupy the spaces between the larger particles.

MERCURY: ("Quick silver") A heavy, silvery colored, liquid type of metal which has a tremendous affinity for gold, silver and many other metals. Mercury is often used amongst gold miners to collect the fine gold values out of a set of heavy concentrates that have been taken from a recovery system. The procedure is called amalgamation. Learn how to use Mercury on my "HOW TO USE MERCURY TO RECOVER GOLD" Page

METAMORPHISM: The mineralogical and structural adjustment of solid rocks to physical and chemical conditions that differ from those under which the rocks originally formed.

MILLING ORE: Ore that must be concentrated at or near the mine before it is shipped. Free-milling ore refers to roe, containing gold in free form, that is, not in chemical combination, which, when crushed and milled can be separated by mechanical processes.

MINERAL: A homogenous substance of fairly definite chemical composition and physical properties found in nature and not directly a product of life or the decay of a living thing.

MINERALOGY: The science of minerals and their identification.

MINING: The extraction and recovery of valuable minerals.

MUCK: A common term for any broken ore or waste underground.

MUCKER: A shoveler, or one who handles muck.

NATIVE GOLD, COPPER, ETC.: Any element (gold, copper, etc.) found uncombined with other elements.

NITRIC ACID: A clear, fuming, highly corrosive liquid that is often used clean gold of various impurities.

ORE: The naturally occurring material from which a mineral or minerals of economic value can be extracted.

ORE BODY: The part of a vein that carries ore. Generally all parts of a vein are not ore.

ORE SHOOT: The valuable parts of a vein. Same as ore body.

OUTCROP: The outcrop is the edge or surface of a mineral deposit or sedimentary bed that appears upon the surface.

OVERBURDEN: The valueless dirt and material overlying the pay zone in a placer deposit or the valueless solid outcrop of an ore body. In dredging, the overburden must be removed first, before processing of the paystreak is possible.

PATENT: A written title to land granted by the government after filling certain obligations. A mining claim can be patented after $500 worth of work, plus many other requirements.

PAYSTREAK: A paystreak is a concentration of gold that has formed in a section of river or stream because of a lessening of water force in during a storm.

PENNYWEIGHT: A unit of the troy system of weight measurement. One pennyweight equals 24 grains, and is 1/20th of a troy ounce. See my "Weight Conversion Table " page for more information

PINCH: A thinning or squeezing of a rock layer or vein.

PLACER DEPOSITS: Free gold that has eroded away from its original lode and which has been swept into a stream of running water will tend to accumulate in certain common locations. These accumulations are called "placer deposits."

PLATINUM: Is a family of 6 rare and valuable metals that are usually silvery white in color. Because platinum is sometimes recovered along with gold, it's a good idea for the placer miner to know what it looks like so he does not discard it along with the waste materials from his recovery system.

PLAYED OUT: All gold deposits whether placer or lode will run out sooner or later. When all of the known about paying quantities of gold or other valuable minerals have been mined out of such a deposit, it is said to have "played out."

PLUGGER POLE: A long thin rod made of metal or PVC piping that is used to tap the plug ups out of the jet on a dredge from the surface when they occur.

PLUTON: An igneous intrusion.

POKE: A mineral container of gold.

PRIMER: The device on a suction dredge which connects the water pump to the water, which is also designed to be manually filled with water so the pump can be easily primed from the surface.

PROSPECETING: Locating and evaluating the quantity and worth of potentially valuable minerals. Prospecting includes panning, which often determines gold content in placer or crushed lode gold ore.

PUMPING MATERIAL: The action of feeding material into the suction nozzle. The material rides up through the suction hose and up into and over the sluice box where the gold is recovered from the material.

QUALITATIVE (ORE TESTING): The kind of valuable minerals or elements that are present in a sample of ore.

QUANTITATIVE (ORE TESTING): How much valuable mineral or element is present in a sample of ore.

R: Range, refers to range on USGS maps.

RAISE: In underground mining, vertical or inclined openings driven upward to connect workings from level to level.

RAKE: The trend of the ore body within the vein.

RANGE: Range, refers to range on USGS maps.

RECOVERY SYSTEM: The part of a mining operation or mining equipment which is designed to recover the gold from the material which you are running through the system. The recovery system on most dredges consists of a sluice box.

RESIDUAL DEPOSIT: The residue formed by weathering in place. The weathered material that has not been moved from the site where it formed.

RIFFLE: Grooves, channels, slats, or wire screens in a sluice box or rocker to catch gold or other valuable minerals.

ROCKER: A device used for concentrating gold in small-scale placer mining operations work. The rocker is usually hand operated and is used by shoveling gravel into a hopper, bailing water into the honker and rocking the device from side to wash the gravel and concentrate the gold.

ROLLING HITCH: (Winching) A rolling hitch is done by slinging the boulder backwards and then running the chain or pull cable over top of the boulder. This will usually free the boulder up by rolling it.

ROYALTIES: Royalties means payment. A claim owner usually receives a percentage of what an operation finds on his claim. A grubstaker may also receive a percentage. These payments are often referred to as royalties."

SALTING: The practice of adding gold to a claim to convince someone it is rich, so they will buy it.

SAMPLING: Basically consists of exploratory testing in an effort to locate acceptable paying ground prior to starting a production mining operation. This is usually done by dredging sample holes in the likely spots to find gold deposits, should they be present within that general area. The material from each sample hole is tested to check the gold content. The prospector continues to make sample holes until a sufficient paystreak or deposit is located, at which time mining activities are begun with the intention of recovering the gold out of the deposit. For more information on sampling see my "Successful Dredging Techniques Page".

SAPROLITE: A soft, earthy, clay rich thoroughly decomposed rock formed in place by chemical weathering of igneous and metamorphic rocks.

SCUBA: Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (scuba tank, etc.) was used during the earlier days of suction dredging, but has since past on to the Hooka air breathing systems which are more efficient for most of today's dredging activities.

SEC: Section, refers to the section on USGS maps. There are 36 sections in one township.

SECTION: Section, refers to the section on USGS maps. There are 36 sections in one township

SHAFT: A vertical or inclined opening sunk from the surface of the ground into or body. It is often used in finding ore, draining water, ventilation, lowering and hoisting men, and lowering materials.

SILICOSIS: Lung trouble caused by silica or quartz dust.

SILL: A tabular igneous intrusion that parallels the planar structure of the surrounding rock.

SILVER: A shiny metallic element that is usually found in close association with gold to some degree. Silver is also considered to be a precious metal and is superior to any other metal in its ability to conduct electricity and heat.

SINKING: The driving or excavating of a shaft or winze.

SINKER: A hand-held drill primarily designed to drill down holes.

SINGLE DEPOSIT: A single deposit of gold can form anywhere along the general path in the river which gold follows, where an obstruction, a small change in bedrock, or a crevice is located.

SKIP: In underground mining, a container used to carry ore to the surface of the ground.

SLIP: A small fault.

SLUICE BOX: A trough with riffles through which gravel and wash from placer mining operations is passed so the gold and other valuable minerals will be caught and saved.

SMELTING: The process of melting ores in furnaces.

SNATCH BLOCKS: (Winching) A type of pulley which can easily be attached or unattached to a cable.

SPECIFIC GRAVITY: The ratio of the weight of any substance to an equal volume of water.

STEMMING (TAMPING): The material tamped in a drill hole after the dynamite has been placed. This increases the effectiveness of the blast.

STOPE: Any underground mining, the area from which the ore is removed.

STOPER: A type of drill used in stoping and raising operations.

STRIKE: The bearing of a horizontal line in the plane of a vein, bed, or fault with respect to the cardinal points of the compass.

STRIPPING: Removing the overburden from a placer deposit or the barren outcrop of an ore deposit.

SCULL: A timber used to support loose rocks or slabs. It may also be used to support a platform in a working place.

SUMP: A hole or excavation used to collect water on a level or at the bottom of a shaft.

SWELL: A thickening or enlarged place in an ore body or vein.

SYNCLINE: A fold in rocks, it is concave upward, down folded layers.

T: Township, is the township coordinates on the USGS maps.

TAILINGS: The material that washes out from the end of the sluice box.

TAMPING: The gentle forcing and compaction of dynamite by packing material into the drill hole above the dynamite.

TOWNSHIP: Township, is the township coordinates on the USGS maps.

TREND: The general direction or bearing of a vein, or shoot, fault or rock outcrop.

TROMMEL: A revolving screen used in placer mining.

TROY SYSTEM: Is a system of weight measurement that is commonly used amongst miners and gold dealers. 24 grains =1 pennyweight 20 pennyweight =1 troy ounce 12 troy ounces =1 troy pound. See my "Weight Conversion Table" Page for more information.

UPCROPPING: An extension of bedrock that extends up out of the foundation of a streambed. Upcropping can be the cause of single deposits or paystreaks when they lie along the common gold path.