GLOSSARY OF SELECTED MINING TERMS
Breccia |
Broken sedimentary and volcanic rock fragments cemented by a fine-grained matrix. |
Clastic Rock |
Fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals. |
Cutoff Grade: |
The minimum mineral content included in mineral and ore reserve estimates and that may be economically mined and or processed. |
Detachment Fault: |
A regionally extensive, gently dipping normal fault that is commonly associated with extension in large blocks of the earth’s crust. |
Exploration Stage: |
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s descriptive category applicable to public mining companies engaged in the search for mineral deposits and ore reserves and which are neither in the development or production stage. |
Metamorphic Rock: |
Rock that has transformed to another rock form after intense heat and pressure. |
Miocene |
A geologic era that extended form 5 million to 23 million years ago. |
Net Smelter Royalty: |
A percentage payable to an owner or lessee from the production or net proceeds received by the operator from a smelter or refinery, less transportation, insurance, smelting and refining costs and penalties as set out in a royalty agreement. For gold and silver royalties, the deductions are relatively low while for base metals the deductions can be substantial. |
Paleozoic: |
A geologic era extending from 230 million to 600 million years ago. |
Photogrammetry: |
The science of making measurements from photographs. The output is typically a map or a drawing. |
Protozeroic: |
A geologic era extending from 540 million years to 2,500 million years ago. |
Reserves: |
That part of a mineral deposit that can be economically and legally extracted or produced at the time of the reserve estimate |
Reverse Circulation (RC): |
A drilling method whereby drill cuttings are returned to the surface through the annulus between inner and outer drill rods, thereby minimizing contamination from wall rock. |
Rhyolite |
An igneous, volcanic extrusive rock containing more than 69% silica. |
Schist |
A group metamorphic rocks that contain more than 50% platy and elongated minerals such as mica. |
Siliciclastic Rock: |
Non-carbonate sedimentary rocks that are almost exclusively silicas-bearing, either as quartz or silicate minerals. |
Tertiary |
A geologic era from 2.6 million to 65 million years ago. |
(0)
(0)