seat earth
A bed of clay that underlies a coal seam.
Mining and extraction
591 entries in this trade.
seatearth
The layer of sedimentary rock underlying a coal seam.
selvage
That part of a lode adjacent to the walls on either side.
semi
An intermediate in the production of end-use goods.
shackler
A person who couples wagons together.
shaken
adjectiveMining and extraction
Of something mined such as coal or ore: broken into pieces.
shamble
One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level.
shear-cake
A counterweighted refractory slab used as a gate or door to a small furnace or oven.
shearing
The process of making a vertical side cutting in working into a face of coal.
shield
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
shifter
A person employed to repair the horseways and other passages, and keep them unobstructed.
shoad
Loose fragments (often of metal ore) mixed with earth.
shortwall
A short wall of coal that is mined in a single slice.
shotfirer
A person employed to prepare, position and detonate explosives to demolish buildings and structures, or dislodge rocks and soil.
shotfiring
The work of preparing, positioning and detonating explosives to demolish buildings and structures, or dislodge rocks and soil.
show
A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp.
sialic
adjectiveMining and extraction
Composed predominantly of silica- and alumina-bearing minerals such as quartz and feldspar.
sidetrack
A smaller tunnel or well drilled as an auxiliary off a main tunnel or well.
simatic
adjectiveMining and extraction
Composed predominantly of silica-bearing, magnesia-bearing, and ferriferous minerals such as olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite.
sink
An excavation smaller than a shaft.
sit
Subsidence of the roof of a coal mine.
size
To sift (pieces of ore or metal) in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.
skiffling
Rough dressing by knocking off knobs or projections; knobbing.
skim pit
An open-air pit into which a mixture of oil and water is pumped and left to separate so that the oil can be extracted.
skip
A transportation container in a mine, usually for ore or mullock.
skipman
The man who loads and operates the skip in a mine.
slackline
A length of cable, rope, or webbing that hangs loosely from its points of suspension.
slant
A run: a heading driven diagonally between the dip and strike of a coal seam.
sleeping table
A stationary inclined platform on which pulverized ore is washed.
sloam
A layer of earth between coal seams.
slocking stone
A rich piece of ore displayed in order to tempt people to embark in a mining enterprise.
sluice
A long box or trough through which water flows, used for washing auriferous earth.
small leader
A boy employed to put small coals to a stowboard.
Smallman clip
A clip used to connect a rope to a tub of coal in order to haul it.
smasher
A person employed to break up waste rock.
smut
Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.
snap tin
A miner's metal lunchbox.
soam
A short rope used to pull the tram in a coal-mine.
sole
The seat or bottom of a mine; applied to horizontal veins or lodes.
sollar
A platform in a shaft, especially one of those between the series of ladders in a shaft.
spad
A nail one or two inches long, of iron, brass, tin, or tinner iron, with a hole through the flattened head, used to mark stations in underground surveying.
spake
A type of wagon on rails used for carrying workers in and out of a colliery.
spavin
The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.
spend
To break ground; to continue working.
spill
One of the thick laths or poles driven horizontally ahead of the main timbering in advancing a level in loose ground.
spinifex
adjectiveMining and extraction
Composed of dendritic plates, which present as the scored texture of bundled, spine-like structures typical of komatiites.
spire
A tube or fuse for communicating fire to the charge in blasting.
spurn
A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.
squeeze
The gradual closing of workings by the weight of the overlying strata.
stall
The space left by excavation between pillars.
stallman
A subcontractor in charge of a stall or working place.
standage
A reservoir of water accumulated at the bottom of a mine.
stank
To seal off an area of the mine in which a fire has started.
staple
A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.
station
An enlargement in a shaft or galley, used as a landing, or passing place, or for the accommodation of a pump, tank, etc.
stempel
A shelf set into a mineshaft for storing waste material, or for use as a step or support.
stockpile
A pile of coal or ore heaped up on the ground after it has been mined.
stockwork
A system of working in ore, etc., when it lies not in strata or veins, but in solid masses, so as to be worked in chambers or stories.
stoneman
A miner who makes excavations in hard strata other than coal.
stope
To excavate in the form of stopes.