A train of powder enclosed in cotton, jute yarn, or waterproofing compounds, which burns at a uniform rate; used for firing a cap containing the detonation compound which in turn sets off the explosive charge.

 

A white, friable mineral that is highly soluble in water.

 

Cutting a representative part of a mineral deposit, which should truly represent its average value.

 

A crystal in the hexagonal system displaying irregular triangular faces.

 

Removal of loose rock from the roof or walls. This work is dangerous and a long bar (called a scaling bar) is often used.

 

A compound crystal where a larger crystal has grown atop a smaller prismatic crystal.

 

An irridescent luster, as in some feldspar.

 

Thinly layered, as in schist rocks.

 

Capable of being cut with a knife.

 

Formation of sediment. A sediment is a natural deposit created by the action of dynamic external agents such as water, wind and ice.

 

The object of selective mining is to obtain a relatively high-grade mine product; this usually entails the use of a much more expensive stopping system and high exploration and development costs in searching for and developing the separate bunches, stringers, lenses, and bands of ore.

 

The separation of a mineral interest from other interests in the land by grant or reservation. A mineral dead or grant of the land reserving a mineral interest, by the landowner before leasing, accomplishes a severance as does his execution of a mineral lease.

 

A primary vertical or non-vertical opening through mine strata used for ventilation or drainage and/or for hoisting of personnel or materials; connects the surface with underground workings.

 

An underground mine in which the main entry or access is by means of a vertical shaft.

 

A rock formed by consolidation of clay, mud, or silt, having a laminated structure and composed of minerals essentially unaltered since deposition.

 

Sacred oval-shaped stones originating from the Narmada River high in the mountains of Mandhata, India. They are said to represent the enlightenment of the whole body, Shiva Lingams symbolize the perfect balance of male and female energy and are known for their effect on environments. These stones consist of cryptocrystalline quartz such as jasper in which the crystals are microscopic in size and thus is always opaque or translucent. It occurs in a huge array of colors and patterns and, like crystalline quartz, occurs in myriad locations.

 

An underground mining method in which small areas are worked (15 to 150 feet) by a continuous miner in conjunction with the use of hydraulic roof supports.

 

A fibrous sort of luster, often display chatoyancy.

 

Mineral containing silicon and oxygen, along with other elements.

 

A very malleable metal found naturally in an uncombined state or with other metals.

 

The process by which a shaft is driven.

 

A contact metamorphic rock, often containing well-formed crystals of silicate and other minerals.

 

Crystal habit showing hollowed out faces caused by uneven growth.

 

A container used in the mine shaft to vertically transport the ore up the mine shaft to the surface.

 

Vitreous materials containing impurities from the ore and forming on the surface of molten metals.

 

A miner's term for any shale or slate accompanying coal. Geologically, it is a dense, fine-textured, metamorphic rock, which has excellent parallel cleavage so that it breaks into thin plates or pencil-like shapes.

 

A subclass of the silicates characterized by isolated double silicate tetrahedra that share an oxygen.

 

Knocking on a roof of a mine to see whether it is sound and safe to work under.

 

The 230 unique combinations of the 14 space lattices and the 32 3-D point groups. In addition to glide planes representing the combination of reflection and translation, some of the space groups have one or more screw axes representing the combination of rotation and translation. You can reduce the space group notation to one of the 32 translation-free point groups by discarding the lattice type designation and replacing glide planes by mirrors and screw axes by their isogonal rotation axes.

 

The three-dimensional lattice of atoms making up the structure of a crystal.

 

The weight of a substance compared with the weight of an equal volume of pure water at 4° Celsius. A mineral with a Specific Gravity of 5, for instance, is five times more dense than water. Specific Gravity is used to compare one mineral with another mineral. The Specific Gravity of most surface rocks is about 2.75. The general Specific Gravity range is from 1-2, very light, all the way to 10-20, heavy metallic.

 

Brilliantly reflective, mirror-like.

 

Cave formations: secondary mineral deposits formed in caves, caused by the dissolution of minerals (such as calcite) and their subsequent deposition in crystalline form in growing layers in a variety of shapes.

 

Brightly shining.

 

Having a star-shaped habit.

 

Area of mine from which ore is or has been extracted.

 

An icicle-shaped mineral deposit that hangs from the roof of a cave or speleothem.

 

Cave or rock void concretionary aggregates that have formed from evaporated mineral precipitation whose circular cross sections generally resemble tree rings.

 

A conical mineral deposit that extends up from the floor of a cave or speleothem.

 

Refers to the residual powder or streak that remains after a mineral has been rubbed across an unglazed white surface. Streak testing is one way to tell similar looking stones apart. Galena and Hematite are both outwardly gray but Galena's streak is lead gray while Hematite's is blood red. The streak for Gold is yellow while the streak for Pyrite is black.

 

Having parallel lines on the surface.

 

A chemical-structural mineral classification system. All minerals are apportioned into one of ten classes according to their principal anionic constituents (Elements, Sulfides and sulphosalts, Halides, Oxides, Carbonates, Borates, Sulfates, Phosphates, Arsenates and Vanadates, Silicates and finally Organic compounds).

 

The gradual sinking, or sometimes abrupt collapse, of the rock and soil layers into an underground mine. Structures and surface features above the subsidence area can be affected.

 

Minerals containing the sulfate (S0₄) radical as a major component.

 

Minerals which are compounds of a metallic element with sulfur.

 

Minerals which are a combination of a semi-metal, such as arsenic, and sulfur, along with a metallic element.

 

Element that occurs in a nature state or in compounds such as sulphides.

 

1. Symmetry about a center point - Will retain the same shape even if inverted over both the x and y axes. Can be rotated 90° and will still retain the same shape.
2. Symmetry about the x axis - Will retain the same shape if inverted over the the x axis.
3. Symmetry about the y axis - Will retain the same shape if inverted over the the y axis.

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