The Elements Unearthed

Mining terminology, at the Creede Underground Mining Museum

As mentioned in my last post, I am embarking on a two-week tour of Colorado mining towns. Before I go, there are some basic mining terms that any greenhorn or tenderfoot like me should know before venturing into a mine. Many of these terms come from the Cornish miners who came to America to work when the tin mines in Cornwall played out in the 1800’s.

First, the basic parts of a mine: you always refer to a mine as if you are facing into it. The part of the mine you are working to drill, load, and blast is called the “face.” The left-side wall is the “left rib” and the right-side wall is the “right rib.” The ceiling is the “back” and the floor is the “foot.” The back is also called the “hanging wall” and the floor the “foot wall” depending on the orientation of the ore vein.

Diagram of the original ore body.

A “tunnel” is horizontal and must see daylight at both ends. If it only opens to the outside on one end, it is called an “adit.” If it doesn’t connect to the outside at all, it is a “level.” Levels are like the various floors of a building, only underground in a mine, and they provide access to the ore body. A vertical hole that connects with the surface is a “shaft.” If it is a hole that is dug down from a level or an adit, it is a “winze,” and if it is dug upward it is a “raise.” A hole dug to follow a vein horizontally away from a level or an adit is called a “drift” and to dig out a large ore body going up or down is called a “stope.”

The valuable mineral that you are trying to dig out is the “ore,” along with useless rock called “tailings.” Usually the ore is injected as a hydrothermal body along a fault or other natural zone of weakness in the rock, and the entire mineralized zone is called the “ore body” or “lode.” If it is found as a large vertical mass with branches, it is an “ore chimney” and if it is a thin line following any direction it is a “vein.” Sometimes ore is found as crystals deposited along the walls of a natural chamber. This is called a “vug.” When a vein reaches the surface, it is an “outcrop,” and when parts of the outcrop erode away and are carried down into river valleys by water, avalanches, and gravity it will pile up in still areas of the stream, such as the inner parts of meanders along with gravel. These are called “placer” deposits (pronounced “plah-cer” and not “play-cer”).

Prospectors mine the placers and conduct exploratory mining

The first miners in a new mining district are prospectors, because they are looking to find, develop, and sell a good “prospect.” Typically the first discoveries are placer deposits, because they are easy to find and work using pans, rockers, and sluices. Once the placers are played out, the prospectors head upslope to find the source outcroppings, or the “Mother Lode.” Once they find evidence of ore (such as associated minerals like iron pyrite or chalcopyrite, quartz, etc.) they will “stake a claim” by pounding stakes in the corners of the land and starting to dig exploratory shafts or adits using hand tools such as picks and shovels. They will use a windlass to haul the “muck” or loose rock out of a developing shaft with a bucket. Claims have to be an allowed size (a long, thin swath of land) and registered in the county mine office to be legal. It’s good to set up with a partner so that when one of you leaves to register a claim, the other can guard it from “claim jumpers.”

Samples of the ore are taken to an “assay” office where they are analyzed chemically to see how much valuable metals are actually in the ore. If the ore is rich, or “high grade” or if the vein widens and appears to continue, the prospector will usually sell out to a mining company with the resources and capital needed to further develop the mine.

Once the mining company buys out the prospectors, it starts to build the infrastructure needed to enlarge the mine. The irregular prospector shafts and adits are enlarged and shored up with timbers. The top of a shaft is boxed in with a “collar” and an adit’s entrance is shored up and extended outward to prevent loose rock from falling into it. This becomes a “portal.” At the top of a shaft, a “headframe” or “gallows frame” is erected out of large timbers or steel with pulleys called “sheave wheels” at the top. A braided rope or cable is brought over the sheave wheel and attached to a metal cage called a “skip” which can carry men or ore buckets in and out of the shaft. The other end of the cable is brought to a “hoist,” which is an electric or diesel winch. As the skip is raised and lowered in the mine, a series of electric bell chimes are used to signal the “hoistman” how far to raise and lower the skip. A mark on the cable tells the hoistman when the skip is “on the level.”

After a mining company buys the prospect, it expands the mine and adds infrastructure

As the mine deepens, it will usually encounter underground aquifers or water tables which become a major problem as they start to flood the lower mine shafts. The main shaft must be dug lower than the lowest level and a pump installed to remove the water. This low-lying shaft is called a “sump” and the pumps used ran on steam, diesel, electricity, or compressed air. The biggest of these were the famous Cornish pumps found in some mines.

Eventually the shafts are too deep to economically raise all ore cars, sump water, and men to the top of the shaft. A drainage and ore removal adit is sometimes dug at the bottom of the mine that will drain out the waste water and allow easy passage of ore cars out of the side of the mountain. These adits usually have a slight downward slope to the outside so the loaded ore cars can be more easily moved. Waste rock was simply dumped out of the shaft or portal and created a “tailings pile” downslope from the mine or mill.

Integrated mine and mill. As the mine develops, drainage adits, interior shafts, reduction mills, smelters, and other structures are built.

As the mine gets bigger, with additional levels every 100 feet and a complex set of drifts, adits, winzes, raises, interior shafts, stopes, etc. it becomes advantageous for the owners to build their own mill instead of sending their ore elsewhere for processing. A mill is built on the side of the mountain below the lowest portal. It first sorts, then pulverizes the ore into powder, then concentrates the ore mechanically or chemically. The concentrate is then shipped by rail to a smelter for final processing and purification. Sometimes the concentrated ore is heated in a retort or furnace but not separated into its final constituent metals. This combination of metals is poured into bar-shaped or cone-shaped molds and cooled, creating “dore bars” or “buttons” which contain gold, silver, and other metals.

Once the mine is exhausted of ore, or the shaft extends down below where it can be economically drained of groundwater, or the price of the final metal drops so the mine can no longer turn a profit, it is closed down (sometimes temporarily). Today, mines have to post bonds that force them to reclaim the mine and make it safe once mining has concluded. But in the old west, the mines simply shut down and left everything where it was. Tailings piles are the most obvious evidence of mining, and the rocks are often stained a yellow, orange, or reddish brown color from iron sulfides and sulfates. Rotting timbers poke from the ground, and rusted metal scraps adorn the slopes. Drainage water still seeps from adits, often contaminated with metals or other effluents. And the shafts and portals remain, too often a temptation for the unwise to explore. A few people die each year from cave ins while exploring old mines, or get killed by handling old dynamite left in mines. In some states, such as Utah, a concerted effort is underway to close all of these abandoned mines in the name of public safety but at the expense of history. Other states, such as Colorado, seem to strike a better balance between history and safety.

More mining vocabulary terms. From the Creede Underground Mining Museum.

Now there are many more terms, such as how a typical miner spends his shift to drill, load, shoot, and muck the face. We’ll talk about these later as they come up on my journey. I’m amazed at how many mining terms have made it into general vocabulary, such as “big shot” [blasting out a large section of the face], “hang-up” [when ore is blasted to fall into a lower chute but gets stuck], “getting the shaft” [to buy a worthless mine], etc. For better or worse, hard-rock mining has had a big impact on our history and our culture.

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