Mining Engineering

Glossary of Terms
Below is a glossary of terms that gives you a basic explanation of terms discussed within this course. Term Beneficiation Deposit Disseminated ore Factor of Safety (FoS) Faults Flat deposit Flotation Footwall Gangue Geochemical exploration Hanging wall Hydrophobic Hydrophilic Inclined deposit Mine Mineral Explanation An industrial process carried out on a mined ore to increase its concentration and remove gangue. A mineral deposit is a natural geological occurrence of minerals in anomalously high concentrations, either as a body or disseminated. This is a deposit where the ore is spread throughout worthless rock, without forming a well-defined body. The FoS represents the ratio between the capacity of the slope to resist the driving forces acting on it (as gravity or water pressure) and the acting forces themselves. When the parts have moved relative to one another, the displacement can range from a few centimeters to kilometers. A mineral deposit occurring as a horizontal or gently dipping body, usually at an angle of less than 20 degrees. A process based on differences in surface chemistry. Flotation is a process where we use gas bubbles to separate hydrophilic and hydrophobic particles. The rock forming the lower boundary of an inclined ore body. Minerals of no value that occur mixed with the ore minerals Rock and soil is dominated by silicon, oxygen, aluminium, iron, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and carbon. The rock forming the upper boundary of an inclined ore body. This is water-fearing or water-repelling. These types of particles prefer to stick to air bubbles. This is water-loving. These types of particles attach to the air bubbles. A mineral deposit occurring as a dipping body separated into inclined between 20 and 50 degrees and steeply inclined (from 50 degrees to vertical). Excavation made in the ground to recover minerals or ores. Naturally occurring inorganic, geological substance with a defined chemical composition. This is the exploitation of a deposit outcropping to the surface or confined at shallow depths, where the waste rock lying above the deposit and at the sides (called overburden) is removed and transported away from the place of their deposition.

Open pit

Mining Engineering Glossary of Terms

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Ore Orebody Overburden Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Quarry Rock mass Surface mine

Tailings

Tensile Strength

UCS Underground mine

Waste

Minerals that can be mined, from which a commodity of value can be extracted. A deposit of ore (usually with gangue) with well-defined extent. Ore bodies can be of any shape, such as veins, layers, lenses and pipes. A rock which lies above an ore body, if the body is not exposed at the surface. This designed to protect employees from workplace hazards that could cause serious injuries or illnesses. Excavation made in the ground to obtain soils and rock materials for civil construction. As a whole, it is a combination of blocks of homogeneous rock, also called rock matrix, separated by discontinuities. A mine where the deposit is excavated directly at the ground surface, or else, the overburden is removed to expose the ore at the surface. Gangue and rock of no value that are separated from mined ore in a beneficiation process, and which usually contain residues of the extracted ore minerals. The tensile strength is the maximum value the specimen can handle when it is subjected to tension. Tensile strength is typically less than a tenth of the UCS. This is the maximum stress the rock specimen can handle when in simple compression. Typical values range from few tens of megapascals to few hundreds of megapascals. A mine where the deposit is worked from excavations beneath the ground surface. Rock material that must be removed with the minerals in order to recover them economically, but which has no economic value. Surface mines generally produce more waste than underground mines.

Mining Engineering Glossary of Terms

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