Do You Know What These Mining Terms Mean?

Chemical assay data is used to guide mining operations during every step of the exploration and mining process. Obtaining accurate geochemical data quickly in order to guide operations is one of the biggest obstacles to high-productivity operations. To help ensure that your data is accurate, everyone involved in the mining and assaying process should have the same definition of certain terms.  Here is a short list of common mining and exploration terms and their meanings. Mining and Exploration Terms

• Assay Qualitative or quantitative analysis of a metal or ore to determine its components
• Coal quality analyzer Equipment that accepts feed from a sample system, controls the flow through the analyzer and measures the major coal quality parameters of interest to coal producers and coal-fired power generators
• Cross Belt analyzer Equipment that provides minute-by-minute quality analysis of critical process streams to facilitate sorting, blending and out-of-seam dilution control
• Drill core A “cylinder” of material taken as a sample form
• Downstream The oil and gas operations that take place after the production phase (e.g. refining crude oil)
• Fracking Hydraulic fracturing — using high-pressure water, sand, and chemicals to obtain hard-to-reach natural gas and oil from rocks deep underground
• Geochemical mapping Mapping based on elemental concentration
• Geochemistry Chemical composition of the earth’s crust and the chemical changes that occur there; in particular “the study of the absolute and relative abundances of chemical elements in the minerals, soils, ores, rocks, water, and atmosphere of the earth and the distribution and movement of these elements from one place to another as a result of their chemical and physical properties.” [http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/geochemistry]
• GIS (global information system) / GPS (global positioning system) Tools used in field mapping systems. With these tools, users can plot geochemical data on maps in real time and make more informed decisions.
• Grade control The measurement and adjustment of mined materials to keep the elements of interest within a specific concentration range
• Infilling Taking readings at a closer spacing to more closely define the boundaries of an anomaly; an exploration technique
• Mill heads and tails Used in mills and refineries – feedstocks (heads), concentrates, and tailings (finely ground rock separated from the ore minerals)
• Ore A mineral or an aggregate of minerals from which a valuable constituent, especially a metal, can be profitably mined or extracted
• Outcrop A portion of bedrock or other stratum protruding through the earth’s surface, i.e., the soil level
• Pathfinder elements Elements with better geochemical or analytical characteristics (mainly higher concentration) than the target metal, e.g., in some deposits, As can be used as a pathfinder for Au.
• Platinum group elements (PGE) / platinum group metals (PGM) A group of 6 precious metals (Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, and Pt) all having similar chemical and physical properties
• Rare earth elements (REE) Elements with atomic numbers from 57 (La) to 71 (Lu). Commonly they are associated with Sc (21) and Y (39).
• TestAll™ Geo  Unique technology feature of Thermo Scientific portable XRF mining analyzers.  TestAll Geo automatically determines the correct analytical test mode for rapid analysis of major and trace elements in geological samples.
• Upstream The oil and gas operations that involve exploration and production.
• X-ray fluorescence (XRF) 1. the emission of x-rays from a substance during exposure to an external source of x-rays. 2. the process by which a nondestructive test for material composition is performed.

  These are just a few key terms that are used in the mining industry.  Can you come up with others?  Let us know in the comment field and we’ll add them to our list.