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Glossary of Mining Terms: S-Z
- SAG Mill
- Semi-autogenous grinding. A type of mineral processing equipment in which steel balls and the ore itself is used to reduce the particle size of the ore
- Schist
- Metamorphic rock type with a characteristic layered fabric
- Sediment
- An accumulation of solid matter usually transported by and deposited from water
- Selective mining
- Preferentially mining higher-grade material from within a lower-grade mineral deposit
- Sericitation
- Introduction of sericite into a rock via groundwater or fluids of igneous origin
- Sericite
- A fine-grained white micaceous mineral often the product of alteration processes
- Shrinkage stoping
- Underground mining method where the broken ore is used to provide temporary support to the walls of the stope
- Silification
- Introduction of silica into a non siliceous rock via groundwater or fluids of igneous origin
- Stibnite
- The major ore mineral of antimony
- Stockwork
- Mineral deposit formed of a network of small, irregular veins
- Stope
- Progressively extract blocks of ore in an underground mine. It can also refer to openings left after complete or partial orebody extraction
- Stratigraphic control
- Control on the deposition of ore minerals by rocks of a particular sequence or age
- Strike
- Direction taken by a structural surface such as an ore body, fault or bedding plane as it intersects a horizontal plane
- Stringer
- Narrow quartz vein/veinlet
- Sulphide
- Metalliferous minerals formed with sulphur and often iron
- Tailings
- Waste product from mineral processing operations
- Trenching
- A means of exposing and sampling near surface geology by digging a trench
- Tuff
- Rock formed from volcanic ash fall deposits
- TSF
- Tailings storage facility
- Underhand
- Where excavation is carried downslope from access level (see cut and fill)
- Volcanic
- Pertaining to igneous rocks which have been erupted from volcanoes
- Weathering
- Degradation of rocks at the Earth's surface by climatic forces
- Whittle Optimisation
- A computerised method of determining the amount of material economically extractable by open pit methods
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