Glossary

Blster copper: An impure intermediate product in the refining of copper, produced by blowing copper matte in a converter. Crush: Breakage of supports of underground workings under roof pressure. Froth flotation 1. A flotation process in which the minerals floated gather in and on the surface of bubbles of air or gas driven into or generated in the liquid in some convenient manner. 2. The separating of finely crushed minerals from one another by causing some to float in a froth and others to remain in suspension in the pulp. Oils and various chemicals are used to activate, make floatable, or depress the minerals. 3. A process for cleaning fine coal, copper, lead, zinc, phosphate, kaolin, etc. with the aid of a reagent; the coal or minerals become attached to air bubbles in a liquid medium and float as a froth. Gangue: 1. (Metallurgy) valueless and undesirable material, such as quartz in small quantities, in an ore 2. (Mining & Quarrying) valueless and undesirable material, such as quartz in small quantities, in an ore. Grinding: 1. Size reduction into fine particles; comminution. See also: dry grinding; wet grinding 2. The process of erosion by which rock fragments are worn down, crushed, sharpened, or polished through the frictional effect of continued contact and pressure by larger fragments. Quarry: An open or surface mineral working, usually for the extraction of building stone, as slate, limestone, etc. It is distinguished from a mine because a quarry usually is open at the top and front, and, in ordinary use of the term, by the character of the material extracted. Layer: A bed or stratum of rock. Molten: (Especially of materials with a high melting point, such as metal and glass) liquefied by heat. Ore: 1.- a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit. 2.- a mineral or natural product serving as a source of some nonmetallic substance, as sulfur. Scrap: Discarded metallic material, from whatever source, which may be reclaimed through melting and refining.

Sedimentary: adj. Pertaining to or containing sediment; e.g., sedimentary deposit or a sedimentary complex. Shaft: excavation in the earth from which ores and minerals are extracted. Roasting: 1. Heating an ore to effect some chemical change that will facilitate smelting. 2. The operation of heating sulfide ores in air to convert to oxide or sulfate. 3. Calcination, usually with oxidation. Good, dead, or sweet roasting is complete roasting; i.e., it is carried on until sulfurous and arsenious fumes cease to be given off. Kernel roasting is a process of treating poor sulfide copper ores, by roasting in lumps, whereby copper and nickel are concentrated in the interior of the lumps. 4. The heating of solids, frequently to promote a reaction with a gaseous constituent in the furnace atmosphere. See also: magnetizing roast