Back -

• Back -The ceiling or roof of an underground opening.
• Backfill - Waste material used to fill the void created by mining an ore- body.
• Background -Minor amounts of radioactivity due not to abnormal amounts of radioactive minerals nearby, but to cosmic rays and minor residual radioactivity in the vicinity.
• Back sample -Rock chips collected from the roof or back of an underground opening for the purpose of determining grade.
• Backwardation - A situation when the cash or spot price of a metal stands at a premium over the price of the metal for delivery at a forward date.
• Balance sheet -A formal statement of the financial position of a company on a particular day, normally presented to shareholders once a year.
• Ball mill -A steel cylinder filled with steel balls into which crushed ore is fed. The ball mill is rotated, causing the balls to cascade and grind the ore.
• Banded iron formation -A bedded deposit of iron minerals.
• Basalt -An extrusive volcanic rock composed primarily of plagioclase, pyroxene and some olivine.
• Basal till - Unsorted glacial debris at the base of the soil column where it comes into contact with the bedrock below.
• Basement rocks -The underlying or older rock mass. Often refers to rocks of Precambrian age which may be covered by younger rocks.
• Base camp -Center of operations from which exploration activity is conducted.
• Base metal -Any non-precious metal (eg. copper, lead, zinc, nickel, etc.).
• Basic rocks -Igneous rocks that are relatively low in silica and composed mostly of dark-colored minerals.
• Batholith -A large mass of igneous rock extending to great depth with its upper portion dome-like in shape. Similar, smaller masses of igneous rocks are known as bosses or plugs.
• Bauxite -A rock made up of hydrous aluminum oxides; the most common aluminum ore.
• Bear market -Term used to describe market conditions when share prices are declining.
• Bedding -The arrangement of sedimentary rocks in layers.
• Beneficiate -To concentrate or enrich; often applied to the preparation of iron ore for smelting.
• Benlonite -A clay with great ability to absorb water and which swells accordingly.
• Bessemer -An iron ore with a very low phosphorus content.
• Bio-leaching -A process for recovering metals from low-grade ores by dissolving them in solution, the dissolution being aided by bacterial action.
• Biotite -A platy magnesium-iron mica, common in igneous rocks.
• Bit -The cutting end of a drill frequently made of an extremely hard material such as industrial diamonds or tungsten carbide.
• Blackjack -A miners term for sphalerite (zinc sulphide).
• Black smoker -Volcanic vent found in areas of active ocean floor spreading, through which sulphide-laden fluids escape.
• Blaster -A mine employee responsible for loading, priming and detonating blastholes.
• Blast furnace -A reaction vessel in which mixed charges of oxide ores, fluxes and fuels are blown with continuous blast of hot air and oxygen-enriched air for the chemical reduction of metals to their metallic state.
• Blasthole -A drill hole in a mine that is filled with explosives in order to blast loose a quantity of rock.
• Blister copper -A crude form of copper (assaying about 99%) produced in a smelter, which requires further refining before being used for industrial purposes.
• Block caving -An inexpensive method of mining in which large blocks of ore are undercut, causing the ore to break or cave under its own weight.
• Board lot -One hundred shares.
• Bond -An agreement to pay a certain amount of interest over a given period of time.
• Boom -A telescoping, hydraulically powered steel arm on which drifters, manbaskets and hydraulic hammers are mounted.
• Box hole -A short raise or opening driven above a drift for the purpose of drawing ore from a stope, or to permit access.
• Break -Loosely used to describe a large-scale regional shear zone or structural fault.
• Breast-A working face in a mine, usually restricted to a stope.
• Breccia -A rock in which angular fragments are surrounded by a mass of fine-grained minerals.
• Broken reserves -The ore in a mine which has been broken by blasting but which has not yet been transported to surface.
• Brunton compass -A pocket compass equipped with sights and a reflector, used for sighting lines, measuring dip and carrying out preliminary surveys.
• Bulk mining -Any large-scale, mechanized method of mining involving many thousands of tonnes of ore being brought to surface per day.
• Bulk sample -A large sample of mineralized rock, frequently hundreds of tonnes, selected in such a manner as to be representative of the potential orebody being sampled. Used to determine metallurgical characteristics.
• Bullion -Metal formed into bars or ingots.
• Bull market -Term used to describe financial market conditions when share prices are going up.
• Bull quartz -A prospectors term for white, coarse-grained, barren quartz.
• Byproduct -A secondary metal or mineral product recovered in the milling process.

Fusion by Means of Blowpipe Flame The Apatite Group – Apatite Composition, Crystallization & Structure Carbonate-Hosted Deposits Symons cone crushers Metals and their Ore Minerals Rhodochrosite Composition, Crystallization & Structure Galena, Galenite Composition, Crystallization and Structure Andalusite - Chiastoline Composition, Crystallization & Structure Strontianite Composition, Crystallization & Structure Gold Element, Alloys and Symbols Manufactured Sand Identifying Bismuth Minerals Best Crushing Action: Impact and Attrition What is Xanthates How to do Exploration Prospecting