Salting - The act of introducing metals or minerals into a deposit or samples, resulting in false assays. Done either by accident or with the intent of defrauding the public. Sample - A small portion of rock or a mineral deposit taken so that the metal content can be determined by assaying. Sampling - Selecting a fractional but representative part of a mineral deposit for analysis. Sandstone - A sedimentary rock consisting of grains of sand cemented together. Scaling - The act of removing loose slabs of rock from the back and walls of an underground opening, usually done with a hand-held scaling bar or with a boom-mounted scaling hammer. Scarp - An escarpment, cliff or steep slope along the margin of a plateau, mesa or terrace. Schist - A foliated metamorphic rock the grains of which have a roughly parallel arrangement; generally developed by shearing. Scintillation counter - An instrument used to detect and measure radioactivity by detecting gamma rays; more sensitive than a geiger counter. Secondary enrichment - Enrichment of a vein or mineral deposit by minerals that have been taken into solution from one part of the vein or adjacent rocks and redeposited in another. Sedimentary rocks - Secondary rocks formed from material derived from other rocks and laid down under water. Examples are limestone, shale and sandstone. Seismic prospecting - A geophysical method of prospecting, utilizing knowledge of the speed of reflected sound waves in rock. Self-potential - A technique, used in geophysical prospecting, which recognizes and measures the minute electric currents generated by sulphide deposits. Semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) - A method of grinding rock into fine powder whereby the grinding media consist of larger chunks of rocks and steel balls. Serpentine - A greenish, metamorphic mineral consisting of magnesium silicate. Shaft - A vertical or inclined excavation in rock for the purpose of providing access to an orebody. Usually equipped with a hoist at the top, which lowers and raises a conveyance for handling workers and materials. Shale - Sedimentary rock formed by the consolidation of mud or silt. Shear or shearing - The deformation of rocks by lateral movement along innumerable parallel planes, generally resulting from pressure and producing such metamorphic structures as cleavage and schistosity. Shear zone - A zone in which shearing has occurred on a large scale. Sheave wheel - A large, grooved wheel in the top of a headframe over which the hoisting rope passes. Shoot - A concentration of mineral values; that part of a vein or zone carrying values of ore grade. Short selling - The borrowing of stock from a broker in order to sell it in the hope that it may be purchased at a lower price later on. Short ton - 2,000 lbs. avoirdupois. Shrinkage stoping - A stoping method which uses part of the broken ore as a working platform and as sup port for the walls of the stope. Siderite - Iron carbonate, which when pure, contains 48.2% iron; must be roasted to drive off carbon dioxide before it can be used in a blast furnace. Roasted product is called sinter. Silica - Silicon dioxide. Quartz is a common sample. Siliceous - A rock containing an abundance of quartz. Sill - An intrusive sheet of igneous rock of roughly uniform thickness that has been forced between the bedding planes of existing rock. Sill - Muddy deposits of fine sediment usually found on the bottoms of lakes. Sinter - Fine particles of iron ore that have been treated by heat to produce blast furnace feed. Skarn - Name for the metamorphic rocks surrounding an igneous intrusive where it comes in contact with a limestone or dolostone formation. Skip - A self-dumping bucket used in a shaft for hoisting ore or rock. Slag - The vitreous mass separated from the fused metals in the smelting process. Slash - The process of blasting rock from the side of an underground opening to widen the opening. Slate - A metamorphic rock; the metamorphic equivalent of shale. Slickenside - The striated, polished surface of a fault caused by one wall rubbing against the other. Sludge - Rock cuttings from a diamond drill hole, sometimes used for assaying. Sodium cyanide - A chemical used in the milling of gold ores to dissolve gold and silver. Solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) - A metallurgical technique, so far applied only to copper ores, in which metal is dissolved from the rock by organic solvents and recovered from solution by electrolysis. Spelter - The zinc of commerce, more or less impure, cast from molten metal into slabs or ingots. Sphalerite - A zinc sulphide mineral; the most common ore mineral of zinc. Split - The shareholder-approved division of a company’s outstanding common shares into a larger number of new common shares. Spot price - Current delivery price of a commodity traded in the spot market. Station - An enlargement of a shaft made for the storage and handling of equipment and for driving drifts at that elevation. Step-out drilling - Holes drilled to intersect a mineralization horizon or structure along strike or down dip. Stock exchange - An organized market concerned with the buying and selling of common and preferred shares and warrants by stockbrokers who own seats on the exchange and meet membership requirements. Stockpile - Broken ore heaped on surface, pending treatment or shipment Stope - An excavation in a mine from which ore is, or has been, extracted. Stop-loss order - An arrangement whereby a client gives his broker instructions to sell a stock if and when its price drops to a specified figure on the market. Stratigraphy - Strictly, the description of bedded rock sequences; used loosely, the sequence of bedded rocks in a particular area. Streak - A diagnostic characteristic of minerals, where scratching a sample on a piece of unglazed porcelain leaves powder of a characteristic color. Street certificate - A certificate representing ownership in a specified number of shares that is registered In the name of some previous owner who has endorsed the certificate so that it may be transferred to a new owner without referral to transfer agent. Striations - Prominent parallel scratches left on bedrock by advancing glaciers. Strike - The direction, or bearing from true north, of a vein or rock formation measured on a horizontal surface. Stringer - A narrow vein or irregular filament of a mineral or minerals traversing a rock mass. Strip - To remove the overburden or waste rock overlying an orebody in preparation for mining by open pit methods. Stripping ratio - The ratio of tonnes removed as waste relative to the number of tonnes of ore removed from an open-pit mine. Strip mine - An open-pit mine, usually a coal mine, operated by removing overburden, excavating the coal seam, then returning the overburden. Sub-bituminous - A black coat, inter mediate between lignite and bituminous. Sublevel - A level or working horizon in a mine between main working levels. Subsidiary company - A company in which the majority of shares (a controlling position) is held by another company. Sulphide - A compound of sulphur and some other element. Sulphide dust explosions - An under ground mining hazard involving the spontaneous combustion of air borne dust containing sulphide minerals. Sulphur dioxide - A gas liberated during the smelting of most sulphide ores; either converted into sulphuric acid or released into the atmosphere in the form of a gas. Sump - An underground excavation where water accumulates before being pumped to surface. Sustainable development - Industrial development that does not detract from the potential of the natural environment to provide benefits to future generations. Syenite - An intrusive igneous rock composed chiefly of orthoclase. Sylvite - potassium chloride, the principal ore of potassium mined for fertilizer manufacturing. Syncline - A down-arching fold in bedded rocks. Syngenetic - A term used to describe when mineralization in a deposit was formed relative to the host rocks in which it is found. In this case, the mineralization was formed at the same time as the host rocks. (The opposite is epigenetic.)   Prospecting &  Mining Basics