Copy of `Liberty Star - Minerals glossary`

The wordlist doesn't exist anymore, or, the website doesn't exist anymore. On this page you can find a copy of the original information. The information may have been taken offline because it is outdated.

Liberty Star - Minerals glossary Category: Agriculture and Industry > Minerals terms Date & country: 10/11/2016, USA Words: 619

Flysch
Sediments produced by the erosion of uprising and developing fold structures, which are subsequently deformed by later stages in the development of these same fold structures.

Fold
Any bending or wrinkling of rock strata.

Footwall
The rock on the underside of a vein or ore structure.

Foreign purchase
A uranium purchase of foreign-origin uranium from a firm located outside of the United States.

Flux
A chemical substance that reacts with gangue minerals to form slags, which are liquid at furnace temperature and low enough in density to float on the molten bath of metal or matte.

Fluxgate magnetometer
An instrument used in geophysics to measure total magnetic field.

Flow-through shares
Shares in an exploration company that allow the tax deduction or credits for mineral exploration to be passed to the investor.

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

Float
Pieces of rock that have been broken off and moved from their original location by natural forces such as frost or glacial action.

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

Flowsheet
An illustration showing the sequence of operations, step by step, by which ore is treated in a milling, concentration, or smelting process.

Fissure
An extensive crack, break or fracture in rocks.

Feldspar
A group of common rock-forming minerals that includes microcline, orthoclase, plagioclase and others.

Felsic
Term used to describe light-colored rocks containing feldspar, feldspathoids and silica.

Ferrous
Containing iron.

Fine gold
Fineness is the proportion of pure gold or silver in jewelry or bullion expressed in parts per thousand. Thus, 925 fine gold indicates 925 parts out of 1,000, or 92.5% is pure gold.

Fault
A break in the Earth’s crust caused by tectonic forces that have moved the rock on one side with respect to the other.

Face
The end of a drift, crosscut or stope in which work is taking place.

Fabricated fuel
Fuel assemblies composed of an array of fuel rods loaded with pellets of enriched uranium dioxide.

Exploration drilling
Drilling done in search of new mineral deposits, on extensions of known ore deposits, or at the location of a discovery up to the time when the company decides that sufficient ore reserves are present to justify commercial exploitation. Assessment drilling is reported as exploration drilling.

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

Ex-dividend
On stocks selling `ex-dividend`, the seller retains the right to a pending dividend payment.

Escrowed shares
Shares deposited in trust pending fulfilment of certain conditions, and not ordinarily available to trading until released.

Equity financing
The provision of funds by buying shares.

Erratic
Either a piece of visible gold or a large glacial boulder.

Era
A large division of geologic time

Erosion
The breaking down and subsequent removal of either rock or surface material by wind, rain, wave action, freezing and thawing and other processes.

Epithermal deposit
A mineral deposit consisting of veins and replacement bodies, usually in volcanic or sedimentary rocks, containing precious metals, or, more rarely, base metals.

EM survey
A geophysical survey method that measures the electromagnetic properties of rocks.

En echelon
Roughly parallel but staggered structures.

Environmental impact study
A written report, compiled prior to a production decision, which examines the effects proposed mining activities will have on the natural surroundings.

Epigenetic
Ore bodies formed by hydrothermal fluids and gases that were introduced into the host rocks from elsewhere, filling cavities in the host rock.

Dump
A pile of broken rock or ore on surface.

Dyke
A long and relatively thin body of igneous rock that, while in the molten state, intruded a fissure in older rocks.

Electrolysis
An electric current is passed through a solution containing dissolved metals, causing the metals to be deposited onto a cathode.

Electrolytic refining
The process of purifying metal ingots that are suspended as anodes in an electrolytic bath, alternated with refined sheets of the same metal that act as starters or cathodes.

Due diligence
The degree of care and caution required before making a decision; loosely, a financial and technical investigation to determine whether an investment is sound.

Dry
A building where the miner changes into working clothes.

Drift
A horizontal underground opening that follows along the length of a vein or rock formation as opposed to a crosscut, which crosses the rock formation.

Drifter
A hydraulic rock drill used to drill small-diameter holes for blasting or for installing rock bolts.

Drill-indicated reserves
The size and quality of a potential orebody as suggested by widely spaced drill holes; more work is required before reserves can be classified as probable or proven.

Dore bar
The final saleable product of a gold mine. Usually consisting of gold and silver.

Drag fold
The result of the plastic deformation of a rock unit where it has been folded or bent back on itself.

Drawpoint
An underground opening at the bottom of a stope through which broken ore from the stope is extracted.

Domestic
Domestic means within the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and other U.S. Possessions. The word `domestic` is used also in conjunction with data and information that are compiled to characterize a particular segment or aspect of the uranium industry in the United States.

Domestic uranium industry
Collectively, those businesses (whether U.S. or foreign-based) that operate under the laws and regulations pertaining to the conduct of commerce within the United States and its territories and possessions and that engage in activities within the United States, its territories, and possessions specifically directed toward uranium exploration, development, mining, and milling; marketing of uranium materials; enrichment; fabrication; or acquisition and management of uranium materials for use in commercial nuclear power plants.

Disseminated ore
Ore carrying small particles of valuable minerals spread more or less uniformly through the host rock.

Dividend
Cash or stock awarded to preferred and common shareholders at the discretion of the company’s board of directors.

Dividend claim
Made when a dividend has been paid to the previous holder because stock has not yet been transferred to the name of the new owner.

Dip needle
A compass with the needle mounted so as to swing in a vertical plane, used for prospecting to determine the magnetic attraction of rocks.

Dipole-dipole induced polarization
A linear electrical induced polarization geophysical method in which measurements are collected along a straight line using an input of current electrode and a receiver dipole electrode—known as a dipole-dipole array.

Directional drilling
A method of drilling involving the use of stabilizers and wedges to direct the orientation of the hole.

Discount
The minimum price below the par value at which treasury shares may legally be sold.

Dip
The angle at which a vein, structure or rock bed is inclined from the horizontal as measured at right angles to the strike.

Diorite
An intrusive igneous rock composed chiefly of sodic plagioclase, hornblende, biotite or pyroxene.

Diabase
A common basic igneous rock usually occurring in dykes or sills.

Diamond
The hardest known mineral composed of pure carbon; low-quality diamonds are used to make bits for diamond drilling in rock. [more info]

Dilution
(mining) Rock that is, by necessity, removed along with the ore in the mining process, subsequently lowering the grade of the ore.

Dilution
(of shares) A decrease in the value of a company’s shares caused by the issue of treasury shares.

Development drilling
Drilling done to determine more precisely size, grade, and configuration of an ore deposit subsequent to the time the determination is made that the deposit can be commercially developed. .

Depreciation
The periodic, systematic charging to expense of plant assets reflecting the decline in economic potential of the assets.

Development
Underground work carried out for the purpose of opening up a mineral deposit. Includes shaft sinking, crosscutting, drifting and raising.

Deposits
A concentration of mineral matter or sediment in a layer, vein, or pocket: iron ore deposits; rich deposits of oil and natural gas.

Decline
A sloping underground opening for machine access from level to level or from surface; also called a ramp.

Deferred charges
Expenses incurred but not charged against the current year’s operation.

Depleted uranium tails
Uranium where the U-235 content is below the naturally occurring 0.71% as the result of the enrichment process.

Depletion
An accounting device, used primarily in tax computations. It recognizes the consumption of an ore deposit, a mine’s principal asset.

Deck
The area around the shaft collar where men and materials enter the cage to be lowered underground.

Debenture
see Bond

Debt financing
Method of raising capital whereby companies borrow money from a lending institution.

Day order
An order to buy or sell shares, good only on the day the order was entered.

Cyanide
A chemical species containing carbon and nitrogen used to dissolve gold and silver from ore.

Cutoff grade
The lowest grade, in percent U3O8, of uranium ore at a minimum specified thickness that can be mined at specified cost.

Cyanidation
A method of extracting exposed gold or silver grains from crushed or ground ore by dissolving it in a weak cyanide solution. May be carried out in tanks inside a mill or in heaps of ore out of doors.

Cut value
Applies to assays that have been reduced to some arbitrary maximum to prevent erratic high values from inflating the average.

Cut-and-fill stoping
A mining method similar to shrinkage stoping, except that as each cut of ore is removed, a layer of waste is placed in the the stope to support the stope walls and to serve as a platform for miners and their equipment. All ore is taken from the stopes as it is mined, through tightly timbered raises up through the fill, called ore chutes. Broken waste rock is commonly used for fill and usually comes from development headings elsewhere in the mine. This practice makes it possible to dispose of waste rock underground without the expense of hoisting it to the surface for dumping. Cut and fill stoping methods are used where one or both walls may be weak, so that they would collapse into the stope to mix with broken ore if not carefully supported.

Custom smelter
A smelter that processes concentrates from independent mines. Concentrates may be purchased or the smelter may be contracted to do the processing for the independent company.

Current liabilities
A company’s debts that are payable within a year’s time.

Cum-dividend
Buyer entitled to pending dividend payment.

Current assets
Assets of company, which can and are likely to be converted into cash within a year. Includes cash, marketable securities, accounts receivable and supplies.

CSAMT
Controlled source AMT. A type of AMT survey wherein the EM waves are generated by an electric generator, generally 3 to 5 miles distant from and at right angles to the survey line. see also NSAMT

Crust
The outermost layer of the Earth; includes both continental and oceanic crust.

Crosscut
A horizontal opening driven from a shaft and (or near) right angles to the strike of a vein or other orebody.

Country rock
Loosely used to describe the general mass of rock adjacent to an orebody. Also known as the host rock.

Cost model for undiscovered resources
A computerized algorithm that uses the uranium endowment estimated for a given geological area and selected industry economic indexes to develop random variables that describe the undiscovered resources ultimately expected to be discovered in that area at chosen forward-cost categories.

Core barrel
That part of a string of tools in a diamond drill hole in which the core specimen is collected.

Core
The long cylindrical piece of rock, about an inch in diameter, brought to surface by diamond drilling.

Cordillera
The continuous chain of mountain ranges on the western margin of North and South America.

Copper
A malleable, ductile, metallic element having a characteristic reddish-brown color: used in large quantities as an electrical conductor and in the manufacture of alloys, as brass and bronze. Symbol: Cu; atomic weight: 63.54; atomic number: 29; specific gravity: 8.92 at 20°C.

Controlled source audio-range magneto-telluric
see CSAMT

Conventional mill
(uranium) A facility engineered and built principally for processing of uraniferous ore materials mined from the earth and the recovery, by chemical treatment in the mill’s circuits, of uranium and/or other valued coproduct components from the processed ore.

Converter
1.)In copper smelting, a furnace used to separate copper metal from matte.

Controlled blasting
Blasting patterns and sequences designed to achieve a particular objective. Cast blasting, where the muck pile is cast in a particular direction, and deck blasting, where holes are loaded once but blasted in successive blasts days apart, are examples.

Contract-specified price
The delivery price determined when a contract is signed. It can be a fixed price or a base price escalated according to a given formula.

Contango
A situation in which the price of a metal for forward or future delivery stands at a premium over the cash or spot price of the metal.

Continuous miner
A piece of mining equipment, which produces a continuous flow of ore from the working face.

Contact metamorphism
Metamorphism of country rocks adjacent to an intrusion, caused by heat from the intrusion.

Contact
A geological term used to describe the line or plane along which two different rock formations meet.

Conglomerate
A sedimentary rock consisting of rounded, water-worn pebbles or boulders cemented into a solid mass.

Confirmation
A form delivered by a broker to the client, setting forth the details of stock sales or purchases for the client.