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Copper Fox Metals - Metals glossary Category: Agriculture and Industry > Metals mining Date & country: 07/03/2016, USA Words: 66

g
gram

g/t
unit of grade for precious metals: grams per tonne (= parts per million)

Mill
A processing plant in which ore is treated and metals are recovered or prepared for smelting; can also include equipment for grinding ores in preparation for floatation.

Mineable reserves
Ore reserves that are known to be extractable using a given mining plan.

Mineralized material
Mineralized material is the projection of mineralization in rock based on geological evidence and assumed continuity. It may or may not be supported by sampling but is supported by geological, geochemical, geophysical or other data. This material may or may not have economically recoverable mineralization.

Milling Ore
Ore that contains sufficient valuable mineral to be treated by milling process.

Massive sulphide
relatively dense, fine grained, sometimes bedded, sulphide mineralization, commonly lens-shaped and stratiform, i.e. restricted to a particular geologic horizon

Magnetometer
geophysical instrument used to measure the magnetic attraction of underlying rocks.

Metallurgy
The study of extracting metals from their ores.

Metallurgical test
studies pertaining to the production, purification and properties of metals and their extraction

In-fill Drilling
any method of drilling intervals between existing holes, used to provide greater geological detail and to help establish reserve estimates.

In-situ
in place.

Induced Polarization
a method of ground geophysical surveying employing an electrical current to determine indications of mineralization.

Intrusion
body of igneous rock that invades older rocks.

LIDAR Survey
Laser Induced Differential Absorption Radar (LIDAR) is a high-resolution digital elevation maps generated by airborne Lidar have led to significant advances in the ability to detect subtle topographic features. Very precise topographical map data is created through Lidar surveys.

Head Grade
The average grade of ore fed into a mill.

High grade
Rich ore. Refers to selective mining of the best ore in a deposit.

Hydrothermal
the name given to geological processes associated with heated or relating to heat derived from within the Earth, commonly related to igneous intrusions.

Geotechnical
diamond drilling targeted and utilized specifically for the collection of information used for mine stability purposes.

Geophysical prospecting
technique which measures the physical properties (chargeability, resistivity, magnetism etc) of rocks and define anomalies for further testing.

Geochemical prospecting
technique, which measures the content of specific metals in soils and rocks, geochemical sampling defines anomalies for further testing.

Grade
The amount of metal in each tonne of ore, expressed as troy ounces per tonne or grams per tonne for precious metals and as a percentage for most other metals.

Fire assay
assaying method commonly used for the determination of precious metal content.

Flotation
A milling process in which valuable mineral particles become attached to bubbles and float as others sink.

Footwall
the underlying side of a fault, ore body or mine working

Gangue
Non-profitable minerals in an ore deposit, often associated with the host rock.

Fixed Assets
Possessions such as buildings, machinery and land that are unlikely to be converted into cash during the normal business cycle.

Feasibility study
a detailed study of the economics of a project based on technical calculations and specific mine parameters to justify a decision on construction.

Fault
a fracture in a rock along which there has been relative displacement.

Exploration
Prospecting, sampling, mapping, diamond-drilling and other work involved in searching for ore.

Exploration Geophysics
the applied branch of geophysics which employs various methods to measure the physical properties of the earth's subsurface, in order to detect or infer the presence and position of valuable minerals, hydrocarbons, geothermal reservoirs, groundwater reservoirs, and other geological structures. Seismic, gravitational, magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic methods are often employed.

Drill Core Logging
the process of recording geological observations of drill core either on paper or on computer disk

Electromagnetic Survey
a geophysical survey method which measures the electromagnetic properties of rocks.

Drillhole Collar
identification post indicating past drill holes. Information about the hole will be indicated by a tag and will generally include: drillhole identification number (drilling log), location, depth, azimuth, and dip).

Dorè
unrefined gold, usually in bar form and consisting primarily of gold with smaller amounts of other base metals, which will be further refined to high purity gold bullion.

Diamond drilling
drilling method which obtains a cylindrical core of rock by drilling with an annular bit set with diamonds.

Diamond drill
A rotary type of rock drill that cuts a core of rock that is recovered in long cylindrical sections, two centimeters or more in diameter.

Dilution
The effect of waste or low-grade ore being included unavoidably in the mined ore, lowering the recovered grade.

Disseminated
fine grained material scattered quite evenly throughout the rock.

Cyanidation
A method of extracting gold, copper or silver by dissolving it in a weak cyanide solution.

Deposit
an anomalous occurrence of a specific mineral or minerals within the Earth's crust.

Definitions
The CIM Definition standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves provide as follows:

Dip
inclination of a geological feature/rock from the horizontal (perpendicular to strike).

Cut-off grade
the minimum metal grade at which an orebody can be economically mined (used in the calculation of ore reserves).

Cu
chemical symbol for copper.

Core Drilling
The process of obtaining cylindrical rock samples by means of annular-shaped rock-cutting bits rotated by a borehole-drilling machine.

Contained ounces
Represents ounces in the ground before reduction of ounces not able to be recovered by the applicable metallurgical process.

Concentrate
A very fine, powder-like product containing the valuable ore mineral from which most of the waste mineral has been eliminated.

By-product
A secondary metal or mineral product recovered in the milling process such as copper and silver.

Capitalization
A financial term used to describe the value financial markets put on a company. Determined by multiplying the number of outstanding shares of a company by the current stock price.

Chalcopyrite
A sulphide mineral of copper and iron; the most important indicator mineral for copper / gold mineralization.

Clay
A fine-grained material mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals and containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.

Backfill
Waste material used to fill the void created by mining an orebody.

Bench
Horizontal steps/increments mined as an open pit progresses deeper.

Blasthole
A drill hole in a mine that is filled with explosives in order to blast loose a quantity of rock.

Ball Mill
A Ball Mill is industrial equipment utilized in the grinding circuit of ore processing. Grinding is conducted using steel balls which crush the ore feed. This technology will be used in the primary and secondary crushing stages at the Ajax Project. A ball mill is an industrial machine containing steel alloy balls in large diameter drum tumblers. Ore, mixed with water, is passed through the ball mill where the balls pulverize the ore by tumbling onto the ore as the mill rotates.

Base metal
non-ferrous, non-precious metal, including copper, lead and zinc.

Assay
To analyze the proportions of metals in an ore; to test an ore or mineral for composition, purity, weight, or other properties of commercial interest.

Au
chemical symbol for gold

Average Grade
Percent of amount of ore found on average in a deposit. Copper is typically expressed as a percentage per tonne, while gold grades are denoted as percentage grams per tonne.

Agglomeration
A method of concentrating valuable minerals based on their adhesion properties.

Ag
chemical symbol for silver

Airborne survey
A survey made from an aircraft to obtain photographs, or measure magnetic properties, radioactivity, etc.

Alteration
changes in the chemical or mineralogical composition of a rock, generally produced by weathering or hydrothermal solutions.

Andesite
a variety of volcanic rock.

Anomalous
value of a given element that is deemed to be above the background or normal value.