Specimens starting at 3 inches across the primary display face and larger.

 

A steel cable, capable of withstanding tens of tonnes, cemented into a drillhole to lend support in blocky ground.

 

A stone or precious gem cut in a convex shape, polished but not faceted. This is one of the oldest and simplest cuts. This style is commonly used with opaque to translucent stones such as opal, moonstone, jade and turquoise or stones with unusual optical properties, such as chrysoberyl cat's-eyes. Less expensive transparent stones such as amethyst and garnet, are also sometimes fashioned as cabochons.

 

The conveyance used to transport men and equipment in a shaft.

 

A layer of rock lying on top of another type of rock.

 

Hair-like habit.

 

A stope that is accessible only through a manway.

 

Unit of weight used for precious stones, equal to 3.2 grains.

 

Refers to rocks containing carbon.

 

Minerals containing the carbonate (CO₃) radical as a major component.

 

An underground chamber or cavity created by natural means with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea.

 

Collapse of mine workings.

 

A mining method where or is purposely caved.

 

(Metaphysical) A sanskrit term denoting one of seven major energy centers situated along the spine, plus scores of minor centers throughout the body. These correspond roughly to the nerve junctions ('little brains') where nerves from every part of the body join the spinal cord. Many Indian and Chinese modalities, especially acupuncture, focus on re-establishing the free flow of energy throughout the chakras.

 

Represents the many forms of cryptocrystalline silica. They consist of microscopic crystals of silica and pores. They vary in color. Some prefer to use chalcedony to denote cryptocrystalline silica with uniform color, while referring to banded forms as agate. Opaque dark grey to black varieties are usually called flint.

A sulphide mineral of copper and iron. A common ore mineral of copper.

 

A special building, constructed at a mine site, where the miner changes into work clothes; also known as the "dry".

 

A property of some minerals to exhibit a wavy, luminous band with a silky lustre, reminiscent of the eye of a cat, in the centre of a cabochon-cut (polished, with a rounded, unfaceted convex surface) stone. The effect, caused by parallel fibres or by oriented imperfections or inclusions within the stone, is typical of cat's-eye, tigereye, satin spar, and bronzite.

 

A type of stony meteorite made mostly of iron- and magnesium-bearing silicate minerals that have remained little changed from the dawn of the Solar System, over 4.5 billion years ago. Chondrites are the most common kind of meteorite, accounting for about 86% of falls, and, because they come from asteroids that never melted or underwent differentiation, have, except for the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium, the same elemental composition as the original solar nebula.

 

Steeply inclined rectangular or cylindrical opening used for ventilation or for conveying ore, miners or equipment. The slope is generally 45 degrees but varies up to 90 degrees.

 

A portion of land held either by a prospector or a mining company under federal or provincial law. The common size is 1,320 ft. (about 400m) square, containing 40 acres (about 16 ha).

 

Refers to the attribute of a crystal splitting along specific planes when smoothly broken, creating an even crystal form. Cleavage is further characterized from poor (rough jagged surfaces) to perfect (smoothly edged face).

 

A face on a specimen caused by cleavage, rather than natural growth.

 

The term applied to the timbering or concrete around the mouth of a shaft; also used to describe the top of a mill hole.

 

Like a column. Usually referred to in groups of parallel, rod-shaped crystals.

 

Shell-shaped breakage pattern, as in glass or quartz.

 

Have a planar composition surface separating two individual crystals. These are usually defined by a twin law that expresses a twin plane (an added mirror plane).

 

Very malleable and ductile red metal that is a good conductor of electricity.

 

Timbering used to support shafts in wet or loose gravels.

 

Tabular crystals in groups, which form ridges.

 

Having the shape of a cross.

 

Having crystals too small to be seen without a microscope and thus is always opaque or translucent.

 

Solids that form by a regular repeated pattern of molecules connecting together. In crystals a collection of atoms called the Unit Cell is repeated in exactly the same arrangement over and over throughout the entire material.

 

The therapeutic application of crystals and gemstones for healing the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies. Most crystal healers work with and cleanse the Chakras to ease physical ailments.

 

Crystals are formed by a unit cell which repeats in 3 dimensions. The symmetry of this cell occurs in 7 distinct systems, depending the cell shape and symmetry. Symmetry is influenced by the cell shape (eg. a non-cubic cell will never have cubic symmetry) and the layout of the atoms within the cell. Small (but regular) displacements of atoms within a cell due to temperature and/or pressure, can and do change the symmetry of a mineral. The cell dimensions are usually named "a,b,c". Where one is of different length to the other or is otherwise "special", this is usually labelled "c".

 

A crystal system where the cell dimensions are equal, and all inter-axis angles are 90deg. It is characterised by 3 tetrads (axes of 4-fold rotational symmetry) and 4 triads (axes of 3-fold rotational symmetry) plus associated diads (2 -fold symmetry) and mirror planes. This has the highest form of symmetry possible.

 

A method of stoping in which ore is removed in slices, or lifts, following which the excavation is filled with rock or other waste material known as backfill, before the subsequent slice is mined; the backfill sup- ports the walls of the stope.

 

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