Snailbeach Lead Mine List of Mining Terms

ADIT - horizontal tunnel driven for access or drainage.

AIR DOOR - door fixed across a level to direct flow of air for ventilation.

ARCHING - roof supports in a level built of stone, wood, concrete or iron.

BACKFILL - waste rock packed into a disused passage or stope.

BARRACKS - building where miners lodged at the mine during the week.

BUDDLE - trough or circular pit where ore was separated from waste.

CROSS CUT - access tunnel driven to cut the lode.

CRUSHER - machine to crush rock into smaller pieces to separate the ore .

DAN – short drill rod for starting off shothole with a pneumatic drill

DEADS - waste rock stacked in the roof or walls.

DRESSING - the process of separating ore from waste material or producing slates.

ENGINE SHAFT - shaft fitted with pumping equipment.

FATHOM - 6ft unit of measurement.

FIRESETTING - method of breaking up rock by heating with fire and then quenching it with water.

FLAT RODS - iron or wooden rods transmitting motion from an engine to pumps.

GANGUE - crystalline minerals found with ore.

GINGING - stone lining to a shaft.

HOPPER - wooden storage bin holding rock thrown down from a stope.

KIBBLE - iron or wooden bucket for raising ore.

LAUNDER - wooden trough for conveying water.

LEAT - surface channel for conveying water.

LEVEL - see ADIT.

LODE - fissure containing a deposit of ore.

OLD MAN - the old miners or their workings.

ORE - material from which metal could be extracted by smelting.

PACK WALL - waste rock stacked as a wall along side of level.

POWDER HOUSE - explosive store.

RISE - underground shaft driven upwards.

SETT - area of a mining lease.

SHAFT - vertical or slightly inclined entrance for access, haulage or pumping.

SHEAVE - grooved pulley wheel.

SHOTHOLE - small diameter hole drilled into rock for inserting gunpowder.

SPOIL - area of waste rock.

STEMPLE - wooden bar jammed between rock walls for climbing or supporting deads.

STOPE - cavity created by removal or ore.

SUMP - underground shaft driven downwards.

VEIN - see LODE.

WHIM - winding engine powered by horse, steam or water.

WINCH - portable device for raising loads, either hand, steam or air powered.

WINZE - see SUMP.

Last revised: 18 July 2008