| Term | Explanation | Editorials |
| BACK | Back Re fers to the roof or upper part of an underground mining cavity. | Search Editorials |
| BACKFILL | Backfill A term used to describe a process where the use of mine waste is filled back into a void that was previously mined out of quality ore. The backfill process is used to support the roof of the void. This process is one way of disposing of waste and is also a way of creating a base for mining the next level above the void. | Search Editorials |
| BACK SAMPLE | Back Sample A term for collecting rock samples from the roof or back wall of an underground mine in order to determine the quality or the grade of ore being mined. | Search Editorials |
| BACTERIAL LEACHING | Bacterial Leaching acterial leaching or 'bio-oxidation' is a process that uses bacteria to sulphide minerals. s ee also biological leaching | Search Editorials |
| BALL MILL | Ball Mill large rotating cylinder used to break the ore into smaller pieces using metal balls. As the cylinder rotates, the ore and the metal ball rotate together similar to the inside of a washing machine. Large mining companies usually have several ball mills of different sizes and a process of stages of breaking football size rocks down to small particles, which is the grindingprocess. | Search Editorials |
| BAR | Bar ld and silver bars are always quoted in troy ounces or in grams/kilograms for international acceptance or delivery weight. for a bar of ld or silver. Typically 400 oz ld or 1,000 oz silver, but can come in various sizes. ld is marketed in a wide range of bars, some of which are particular to individual countries. Their weight is always quoted in troy ounces or in grams (kilograms). For international acceptance or delivery, however, they must conform to specific standards set by the London Bullion Market Association or futures exchanges and bear the marks of recognized melters and assayers. The main bars traded internationally are the 400 troy ounce (12.5 kilogram) od delivery bar or the 1 kilogram (32.15 troy ounces), such bars normally being 995 fine or 999.9 fine. American futures exchanges usually accept 100 troy ounce (3.11 kilogram) for delivery. Other bars traded regionally include: Tael (Hong Kong) = 1.2 troy ounce or 37.3 grams, Ten Tolas (Indian sub-continent/Arabian Gulf) = 3.75 troy ounces or 116.6 grams, and Baht (Thailand) = 0.47 troy ounces or 15.4 grams. A variety of small bars, ints and wafers are also marketed in weights ranging from 1 gram to 500 grams. Many of these are special brands or designs, such as the Fortuna. Fortuna source: www.pamp.com | Search Editorials |
| BASE METAL | Base Metal Typically, a metal from the group; Copper, Aluminium, Nickel, Tin, Zinc & Lead. | Search Editorials |
| BASIC ROCK | Basic Rock n igneous rock (solidification of molten rock) composed of dark coloured minerals. | Search Editorials |
| BATTERY | Battery This was the earliest method of crushing ld ore. Stamp batteries or stamp mill is a machine which has a metal trough where ore and water is placed, then heavy iron pestles are continuously dropped into the trough, which breaks up the ore until it is fine enough to filter through mesh screens. Ball mills are now more commonly used. courtesy www.ghosttown.com | Search Editorials |
| BENCHES | Benches Steps cut back into the walls of an open pit mine to provide working areas and to allow a safe and accessible pit wall angle to be achieved. | Search Editorials |
| BIOLOGICAL LEACHING | Biological Leaching Biological leaching, or bio-oxidation, was pioneered in copper mining and has been adapted for ld. It is a low temperature, aqueous method of treating refractory sulphide ore through pre-treatment with bacterial cultures. The bacteria catalyse the oxidation of the ore. The activity is stimulated within process tanks known as bio-reactors, in which temperature, oxygen and nutrients create the right conditions for the micro-organisms to flourish. Only naturally occurring strains of bacteria are currently used but in the future, genetically engineered bacteria may be developed. One of the most recent projects is Newmont Mining's bio-leach facility at its Carlin operations in Nevada, USA. Looking at the top of a bioleach plant. Looking into Bioleach facility. A n example of bioleaching on copper. | Search Editorials |
| BLOCK CAVING | Block Caving An inexpensive method of mining large blocks of ore bodies when there is a consistent grade throughout. The process is done by digging channels under the ore body, by using gravity as the main tool. The weight of the ore body causes the lower section of the block to become stressed. Once the ore breaks up into smaller fragments, it falls through a chute which is then hauled away. | Search Editorials |
| BOREHOLE | Borehole A small diameter hole drilled with a diamond-impregnated drill-bit which recovers a core from the rock strata it passes through to provide geological information. This process is used mainly in exploration in identifying the pattern of an ore body, bore holes are also used to make holes in rock to plant explosives ?blast? to break up the ore. A small diameter hole drilled with a diamond-impregnated drill-bit which recovers a core from the rock strata it passes through to provide geological information. This process is used mainly in exploration in identifying the pattern of an ore body, bore holes are also used to make holes in rock to plant explosives ?blast? to break up the ore. | Search Editorials |
| BREASTING | Breasting mining method used to remove ore from the top as illustrated below. | Search Editorials |
| BROKEN RESERVES | Broken Reserves that has been broken by blasting from the internal section of the mine, but has not yet been transported to the surface. | Search Editorials |
| BRUSHING | Brushing A term used to make a brow or low access (area with limited head room) larger by digging out the floor or taking out the top to increase the working space. | Search Editorials |
| BULK MINING | Bulk Mining ny large scale mining method that brings thousands of tonnes of ore to the surface per day. | Search Editorials |
| BULK SAMPLE | Bulk Sample large quantity of mineralised rock, often hundreds of tonnes, that is selected to provide information about the overall characteristics of an ore body. ly used to determine metallurgical characteristics. | Search Editorials |
| BULLION | A generic term for ld & silver of 22/24 carat rating. Precious metals in bulk form are known as bullion and are traded on commodity markets. Bullion metals may be cast into ints, or minted into coins. The defining attribute of bullion is that it is valued by its mass and purity rather than by a face value as money. Many nations mint bullion coins, of which the most famous is probably the ld South African Krugerrand . Although nominally issued as legal tender, these coins' face value as currency is far below that of their value as bullion. For instance, the United States mints a "10-dollar" ld coin (an "Eagle") containing 1/4 ounce (7.776 g) of ld ? as of January 2004, this coin is worth over $100 as bullion. Bullion coins' minting by national vernments gives them some numismatic value in addition to their bullion value, as well as certifying their purity. The level of purity varies from country to country, with some bullion coins of as pure as .9999 available (the Canadian "Maple" meets this standard.) Note that a 100% pure bullion coin is not possible. One of the largest bullion coins in the world is a 10,000 dollar coin minted in Australia which consists of a full kilogram of 0.999 pure ld, however China has produced coins in very limited quantities (less than 20 pieces minted) that exceed 260 troy ounces (8 kg) of ld. Tangible investments in bullion are often seen as a hedge against both inflation and economic downturn. ld in particular has retained its value well over long periods of time. Meanwhile, silver bullion coins have become popular with coin collectors due to their relative affordability, and unlike most ld and platinum issues which are valued based upon the markets, silver issues are more often valued as collectables, far higher than their actual bullion value source: Wikipedia | Search Editorials |
| BY-PRODUCT | Occurs when a mine's primary source of production is one metal eg ld, but also produces a lesser amount of silver, for example. Therefore silver becomes a by-product of the mine's production. | Search Editorials |