N
Nugget
A small piece of precious metal.
O
Ore
A rocks that contains a mineral which can be extracted economically.
Open-pit Mining
The extraction of minerals from an open surface.
Overburden
The earth layers covering rocks or coal.
Ore Body
A large concentration of ore within the Earth.
P
Pit
An open area from which minerals have been extracted.
Placer Mining
The extraction of minerals from river or sea deposits.
Panning
The process of separating heavy minerals by washing sand.
R
Room and Pillar Mining
The extraction of minerals by creating rooms and leaving pillars to support the roof.
Reef
A rock formation containing valuable minerals.
Run-of-Mine
Materials extracted without any preliminary processing.
Renewing
The restoration and renewal of an area after mineral extraction.
Reserve
A known quantity of mineral can be economically extracted.
Refining
The process that mined material undergoes so as to remove all undesirable minerals and separate the desired elements.
S
Subsidence
The sinking of the Earth's surface due to collapses in lower layers.