Mining Industry and Techniques

Vocabulary flashcards covering key mining concepts, types of minerals, extraction techniques, mining infrastructure, and relevant historical events based on the lecture notes.

Mineral

A naturally occurring, pure, non-living substance found in the rocks of the Earth.

Metallic Mineral

A mineral that contains metal elements within its chemical composition, such as iron and copper.

Non-Metallic Mineral

A mineral that does not contain metals and is utilized in industries for its unique physical or chemical properties, such as silicon and carbon.

Potash

A mineral resource used heavily in industry for which Saskatchewan holds the world's largest and richest reserves, supplying 31% to 33% of global production and 100% of Canada's output.

Strip Mining

A surface mining method used to extract minerals—such as coal and oil sands—that are located in horizontal layers near the Earth's surface.

Overburden

The non-economic layer of trees, brush, topsoil, and rock that must be cleared and removed to access underlying mineral deposits.

Highwall

An exposed, steep vertical cross-section of the Earth's crust created during strip mining operations.

Spoil Bank

A long ridge or row of discarded overburden material piled up alongside a strip mine.

Area Stripping

A form of strip mining carried out on flat or gently rolling terrain.

Contour Stripping

A form of strip mining conducted along the topography of hilly or mountainous terrain.

Open-Pit Mining

A mining technique used to extract minerals located near the surface that can extend deep into the ground, involving step-like cutbacks and deep blasting holes.

Ekati Diamond Mine

Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine, located in the Northwest Territories, which produced over 4.5 million carats of rough diamonds annually.

Underground Mining

A mining method used to extract mineral ores located deep below the Earth's surface through a network of shafts, stopes, and elevators.

Cage (Underground Mining)

The elevator that travels down a mine shaft from the headframe to transport miners and supplies to the working stope.

Stope

The underground excavation area or working face where miners drill holes, place explosives, and blast mineral-bearing rock.

Muck

The term used for blasted, broken ore and rock created underground during mining operations.

Ore Pass

A large vertical or inclined opening underground down which broken rock (muck) is dumped to reach the crusher.

Skip

A specialized hoist mechanism or bucket used to lift crushed ore from underground shafts up to the surface.

Headframe

The structural tower above an underground mine shaft that supports the hoist machinery for the cage and skip.

San José Mine

The copper-gold mine near Copiapó, Chile, where a catastrophic cave-in trapped 33 miners underground for 69 days in 2010.

Subsidence (Mining)

The sinking or ground collapse of the surface landscape, representing a significant geotechnical risk associated with underground mining.