fire damper
A mine worker who detects and clears a mineshaft of firedamp by intentionally burning or blowing it up.
Mining and extraction
591 entries in this trade.
firedamp
A flammable gas (mostly methane) found in coal mines; forms an explosive mixture with air.
firesetting
The use of fire to soften or crack the working face of a lode, to facilitate excavation; later superseded by the use of explosives.
flat
A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.
flat lad
A craneman working with tubs and flats.
flint mill
An obsolete appliance for lighting a miner at his work, in which flints on a revolving wheel were made to produce a shower of sparks, which gave light without igniting the firedamp.
floor
A horizontal, flat ore body; the rock underlying a stratified or nearly horizontal deposit.
flotation
A process of separating minerals by agitating a mixture with water and detergents etc; selected substances being carried to the surface in air bubbles.
flush
To fill underground spaces, especially in coal mines, with material carried by water, which, after drainage, constitutes a compact mass.
foal
A young boy who assisted the headsman by pushing or pulling the tub.
foothole
A hole into which the foot can be wedged to aid in climbing; a foothold.
footwall
The under wall of an enclosed vein.
fore-overman
A supervisor in charge of overmen.
fork
The bottom of a sump into which the water of a mine drains.
fret
The worn sides of riverbanks, where ores or stones containing them accumulate after being washed down from higher ground, which thus indicate to miners the locality of veins of ore.
Frue vanner
A kind of conveyor belt on which ore is concentrated by a current of water; a kind of buddle.
fubarite
A rock that has been brecciated, metamorphosed, or otherwise transformed to the point where its origin cannot be recognized.
funnel box
An apparatus for collecting finely crushed ore from water.
fuze
Synonym of detonator, an auxiliary device used to ignite an explosive substance or device.
gadder
A drilling or perforating machine or apparatus for mining and mineral exploration.
galamander
A customized horse- or ox-drawn stoneboat or wagon once used for hauling stone from quarries, with smaller front wheels and larger rear ones, and a derrick to lift blocks of stone on and off the vehicle.
gang-rider
A worker riding upon, and in charge of, a train of underground wagons in a mine.
gangue
The earthy waste substances occurring in metallic ore.
garland
A metal gutter placed round a mineshaft on the inside, to catch water running down inside the shaft and run it into a drainpipe.
gatewayman
A kind of road repair worker in coal mines.
geoengineering
The subfield of engineering concerned with designing and constructing tunnels, mines, and other human-designed geologic structures within and on earth.
Geordie lamp
A miners' lamp or safety lamp used in coal mines to prevent explosions.
get to grass
To leave a mine and get to the surface, particularly to escape an underground disaster.
getter
A miner who dug coal, contrasted with the putter, who took it to the surface.
gin
A hoisting drum, usually vertical; a whim.
ginging
The lining of a mineshaft with stones or bricks to prevent collapse.
girdle
A thin bed or stratum of stone.
glebe
A piece of earth containing ore.
glut
A piece of wood used to fill up behind cribbing or tubbing.
goaf
That part of a mine from which the mineral has been partially or wholly removed.
gob
Waste material in old mine workings, goaf.
gob up
To pack or fill with waste material.
gobbin
Waste material in old mine workings.
gobbing
The refuse thrown back into the excavation after removing the coal; gob stuff.
gobline
The outer extent of the gob (waste material) in an old mine.
gouge
Soft material lying between the wall of a vein and the solid vein of ore.
granophyric
adjectiveMining and extraction
Having a texture resembling that of classic granophyre.
grizzly
A grating used to sieve stones by size, so as to keep stones out of the sluices (in hydraulic mining) or to control stone size in the feed to the ore crusher.
grizzlyman
A worker who sieves stones using a grizzly.
ground bailiff
A superintendent of mines.
growan
A decomposed granite, forming a mass of sandy gravel, found in tin lodes in Cornwall.
grubstake
Money, materials, tools, food etc. provided to a prospector in return for a share in future profits.
gulf
A large deposit of ore in a lode.
gumming
The manual removal of clay, or "gum", from cut coal.
gunnie
The space left by the removal of ore, defined by some as being equivalent to a yard.
gunnies
A vacant space left in the ground after a lode has been mined.
gurt
A gutter or channel for water, hewn out of the bottom of a working drift.
hade
To slope or incline from the vertical.
half-marrow
Either of a pair of young boys employed as putters, pushing wagons in the mine, and dividing their earnings.
hanging side
the overhanging side of an inclined or hading vein
hanging wall
the upper wall of inclined vein, or that which hangs over the miner's head when working in the vein.
hardground
A hard stratum of rock other than coal.
hardrock
Rock containing ore from which minerals are extracted.
hatch
An opening into, or in search of, a mine.
haul road
A road designed for heavy or bulk transfer of materials by haul trucks.