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Junior resource glossary
The terms you will meet in a company announcement or a drill result, explained in plain English. 220 terms.
A
- Adit Mining #
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A horizontal or near-horizontal tunnel driven into a hillside to reach an underground deposit. Adits are used for exploration, mining, drainage or ventilation.
- Aeromagnetic survey Geophysics #
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An airborne survey measuring variations in the Earth's magnetic field. Those variations help identify buried rock types, structures and features associated with mineral deposits.
- AISC Economics #
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All-in Sustaining Cost. Intended to capture what it costs to keep existing production going, not just to dig the rock. Common in gold reporting, and defined slightly differently by different companies, so compare with care.
- Alteration Geology #
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A change in a rock's mineral composition caused by fluids, heat or chemical processes. Certain alteration patterns are among the better clues that a mineralising system is nearby.
- Anomaly Exploration #
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A measurement that stands out from the surrounding background. Geochemical, geophysical and geological anomalies are what exploration companies chase, and most of them come to nothing.
- Anticline Geology #
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An upward-folding structure. Anticlines can steer mineralising fluids and sometimes help control where a deposit forms.
- Assay Sampling #
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A laboratory analysis determining how much of a metal or element a sample contains. The assay, not the eye, is what settles whether rock is mineralised.
- Assay grade Sampling #
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The concentration an assay reports. Gold is usually given in grams per tonne, base metals such as copper and zinc as a percentage.
B
- Backfill Mining #
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Material placed into an underground void after ore has been removed. It supports the surrounding rock and often allows more of a deposit to be mined safely.
- Base metals Commodities #
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The common industrial metals: copper, zinc, lead, nickel, aluminium. The term exists mainly to separate them from the precious metals.
- Battery metals Commodities #
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A market term rather than a geological one, covering metals used in batteries and storage. Which metals qualify depends on the chemistry: lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite and copper all appear.
- Bench Mining #
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A horizontal working level in an open pit. Large pits are developed as a series of stepped benches.
- Breccia Geology #
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Rock made of broken angular fragments cemented back together. Hydrothermal breccias can be important hosts for mineralisation.
- Brownfield exploration Exploration #
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Exploration around an existing mine, known deposit or established district. Existing geology and infrastructure make it less speculative than starting somewhere new, though the upside is usually smaller too.
- Bulk density Resources #
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Mass of rock per unit volume. It is how the physical volume of a mineralised body becomes an estimate of tonnes, which makes it quietly one of the most important numbers in a resource estimate.
- Burn rate Corporate #
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How fast a company is spending its cash. For an explorer with no revenue, the burn rate against the treasury is roughly how long it has before it needs to raise again.
- By-product Economics #
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A secondary commodity recovered while producing the main one. Much of the world's silver, for instance, comes out of lead-zinc mines.
C
- Capex Economics #
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Capital expenditure: what it costs to build or materially expand a mine, including processing plant, infrastructure, equipment and mine development.
- Carbon-in-leach (CIL) Processing #
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A gold recovery process where activated carbon is added into the leaching circuit itself, capturing gold as it dissolves.
- Carbon-in-pulp (CIP) Processing #
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A gold recovery method where activated carbon recovers dissolved gold from the slurry after leaching has finished.
- Cash cost Economics #
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A measure of the direct operating cost of producing a commodity. Definitions vary between companies, so it is worth reading the note beneath the number.
- Chalcocite Minerals #
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A copper sulphide mineral, Cu2S, unusually rich in copper. Often found in supergene enriched zones.
- Chalcopyrite Minerals #
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CuFeS2, and the most important copper mineral in the world. Common in porphyry and volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits.
- Channel sample Sampling #
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A continuous sample cut across exposed rock, normally at right angles to the structure. More representative than picking out individual pieces, which tends to flatter the result.
- CIM Reporting #
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The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. Its definitions underpin Canadian resource and reserve reporting.
- Claim Legal #
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A defined area over which someone holds exploration or mining rights. What a claim actually confers varies by jurisdiction.
- Collar Drilling #
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The surface point where a drill hole starts.
- Competent Person Reporting #
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The qualified professional who takes responsibility for a resource statement under JORC. They must have relevant experience in the style of mineralisation being reported and belong to a recognised professional body.
- Concentrate Processing #
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A processed product far richer in the valuable mineral than the rock that went in. It normally travels to a smelter or refinery from there.
- Conductivity Geophysics #
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How readily material conducts electricity. Sulphide bodies and graphite conduct well, which is what electromagnetic surveys exploit.
- Contained metal Resources #
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Total metal in a resource, calculated as tonnage multiplied by grade. It is a geological figure. It is not what would be produced, because recovery, dilution and mining losses all take their share.
- Core Drilling #
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The cylinder of rock recovered by diamond drilling. It lets a geologist look directly at what is underground rather than infer it.
- Core recovery Drilling #
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The percentage of a drilled interval actually recovered as core. Poor recovery makes both geological interpretation and grade estimation less reliable, and is worth checking when a result looks unusual.
- Critical minerals Commodities #
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Minerals judged economically important and vulnerable to supply disruption. The lists are political as much as geological and differ between countries.
- Cross-section Geology #
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A vertical slice through the geology, used to show drill holes, rock units, structures and interpreted mineralisation. Most drill result diagrams are cross-sections.
- Cut-off grade Resources #
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The lowest grade of material worth processing. It is set by costs and the metal price, so the same deposit can carry a different resource at a different price. Always check the cut-off used before comparing two resources.
D
- Decline Mining #
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A sloping tunnel giving access to deeper parts of a mine, usually driveable, so vehicles can go straight down it.
- Deposit Geology #
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A natural concentration of minerals. A deposit is not automatically economic, and most are not.
- DFS Studies #
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Definitive or Bankable Feasibility Study. The most detailed study, precise enough that lenders will use it. A DFS is normally what a board needs before committing to build.
- Diamond drilling Drilling #
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Drilling that recovers a continuous cylinder of rock. More expensive and slower than RC, but the core can be logged, photographed and re-examined, which matters for understanding structure.
- Dilution Mining #
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Waste rock that gets mined along with the ore, lowering the grade that reaches the plant. Narrow or irregular orebodies dilute more.
- Dilution (corporate) Corporate #
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What happens to your percentage of a company when it issues new shares and you do not take part. Junior explorers raise money regularly, so this is a recurring feature of holding them rather than an occasional event.
- Dip Geology #
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The angle at which a geological feature slopes away from horizontal.
- Discovery hole Drilling #
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The hole considered to have made the first significant intersection in a previously unknown system. A discovery hole is a beginning, not a conclusion.
- Down-dip Geology #
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The direction in which an inclined body continues deeper underground.
- Downhole Drilling #
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Anything measured, observed or done inside a drill hole.
- Downhole width Drilling #
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The length of an intersection measured along the hole. It is not the thickness of the body unless the hole happened to cut it at right angles, and it usually did not.
- Drill core Drilling #
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The cylindrical rock recovered by diamond drilling, and the physical record of what the hole passed through. It can be re-logged and re-examined years later, which chips cannot.
- Drill intercept Drilling #
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The length of mineralised rock a drill hole passed through, with its grade. Reported as something like 40 metres at 1.2 g/t gold. Read it alongside the true width and the depth before drawing conclusions.
- Drill programme Drilling #
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A planned series of holes designed to test targets, extend known mineralisation or gather what a resource estimate needs.
- Drill spacing Drilling #
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The distance between holes or intersections. Resource confidence generally rises as well-placed drilling gets closer together, which is what moves material between resource categories.
E
- Earn-in Corporate #
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An arrangement where one company acquires a stake in another's project by spending money on it, usually on exploration, over an agreed period. It lets a junior advance ground it could not fund alone.
- Electromagnetic survey (EM) Geophysics #
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A survey measuring the ground's electromagnetic response. Particularly good at finding conductive bodies such as massive sulphides.
- End of hole (EOH) Drilling #
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The final depth a drill hole reached.
- Enterprise value Corporate #
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Market capitalisation adjusted for cash and debt. More useful than market cap alone when comparing companies whose balance sheets differ.
- Epithermal deposit Deposit types #
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A hydrothermal deposit formed relatively close to surface. Epithermal systems are an important source of gold and silver, sometimes at very high grades.
- Exploration licence Legal #
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The legal right to explore for minerals within a defined area, on whatever terms the jurisdiction sets.
- Exploration result Reporting #
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Information produced by exploration: assays, drilling, geophysics, sampling. A strong exploration result does not by itself establish a Mineral Resource, and the distinction matters.
- Exploration target Reporting #
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A conceptual statement of the potential quantity and grade of mineralisation in an area not yet drilled enough to define a resource. It is deliberately expressed as a range, and it is not a resource.
- Extension drilling Drilling #
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Drilling to find out whether known mineralisation carries on past its current limits.
F
- Farm-in Corporate #
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An arrangement where one party earns an interest in another's project, usually by funding exploration or making agreed payments.
- Fault Geology #
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A fracture along which rock has moved. Faults matter to explorers because they provide pathways for mineralising fluids.
- Feasibility study Studies #
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A detailed technical and economic assessment covering mining method, processing, infrastructure, capital and operating costs, and whether the whole thing works. See DFS for the definitive stage.
- Flotation Processing #
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Separating valuable minerals from waste using differences in how their surfaces behave in water. The workhorse process for copper, lead, zinc and nickel sulphides.
- Fold Geology #
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A bend in rock layers produced by deformation. Folding can control where a deposit sits and what shape it takes.
- Footwall Geology #
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The rock beneath an inclined body, fault or vein.
- Free cash flow Economics #
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Cash left after operating and capital spending. Company definitions differ, so check which costs are inside the number.
- Free-carried interest Corporate #
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An interest whose holder does not have to fund its share of certain costs, for an agreed period or up to an agreed stage. Common where a government or a vendor retains a stake.
- From Drilling #
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The depth down the hole at which a reported interval starts.
- From surface Drilling #
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Depth measured from the drill collar along the hole, rather than vertically beneath the ground. In an angled hole the two are different.
G
- g/t Units #
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Grams per tonne, the standard unit for gold and silver grades. One gram per tonne is one part per million.
- Gabbro Geology #
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A coarse-grained igneous rock. Some gabbroic intrusions carry nickel, copper, platinum-group elements and titanium.
- Geochemical survey Exploration #
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Measuring the chemistry of soils, rocks, sediments, vegetation or water to find unusual concentrations that point at mineralisation.
- Geochemistry Exploration #
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The study of how chemical elements are distributed and behave in rocks, soils and water.
- Geophysics Geophysics #
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Using physical measurements to see geology you cannot dig up: magnetic, electromagnetic, gravity, induced polarisation and seismic surveys.
- Gneiss Geology #
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A high-grade metamorphic rock, recognisable by its banding.
- Grade Geology #
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How much metal a given weight of rock contains. Reported as grams per tonne for precious metals and as a percentage for base metals. Grade alone does not determine value: depth, width, metallurgy and location all matter.
- Grade control Mining #
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Sampling and modelling done during mining to decide, hole by hole and blast by blast, what is ore and what is waste.
- Grade-tonnage Resources #
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The relationship between how much mineralised material there is and how good it is. A very large low-grade deposit can hold far more metal than a small high-grade one, which is why neither number means much alone.
- Graphite deposit Deposit types #
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A natural concentration of crystalline carbon. Quality depends on far more than grade: flake size, purity, mineralogy and whether a saleable concentrate can actually be made.
- Gravity survey Geophysics #
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A survey detecting small variations in gravity caused by differences in rock density. Useful for dense sulphide bodies and for mapping structure.
- Greenfield exploration Exploration #
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Exploration where little detailed work has been done before. The discovery potential is larger and so is the uncertainty.
H
- Hanging wall Geology #
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The rock above an inclined body, vein or fault.
- Hard-rock lithium Deposit types #
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Lithium held in solid rock, most often in pegmatites containing spodumene. A different business from brine in cost, timeline and processing.
- Head grade Processing #
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The grade of material actually entering the processing plant, after mining and any dilution.
- Heap leaching Processing #
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Stacking crushed or run-of-mine material on lined pads and irrigating it with a solution that dissolves the target metal. Cheap, slow, and only suitable for some ores.
- High-grade Resources #
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A relative description, not a threshold. What counts as high-grade differs enormously between commodities and deposit types, so the word means little without the comparison.
- Hydrothermal Geology #
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Relating to hot, mineral-rich fluids moving through rock. Hydrothermal processes formed a large share of the deposits worth mining.
I
- Including Drilling #
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Used when a company highlights a higher-grade section inside a wider intersection. The narrower interval is part of the wider one, not additional to it.
Example20 m at 1.2% Cu, including 5 m at 2.8% Cu. The 5 m sits inside the 20 m.
- Indicated Resource Resources #
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Enough drilling and sampling to assume geological and grade continuity with reasonable confidence. Indicated material can support a preliminary feasibility study and can convert to a probable reserve.
- Induced polarisation (IP) Geophysics #
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A method measuring how rocks briefly hold an electrical charge. The standard tool for finding disseminated sulphides, which conduct too poorly for EM.
- Inferred Resource Resources #
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The lowest confidence resource category. Grade and tonnage are estimated from limited sampling, and geological continuity is assumed rather than demonstrated. Inferred material cannot be used in the economic studies that support a reserve.
- Infill drilling Drilling #
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Drilling between existing holes to raise confidence in an area already known to be mineralised. Infill work usually moves material up a resource category rather than adding tonnes.
- Intersection Drilling #
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The section of a drill hole containing the geology or mineralisation being reported.
- Interval Drilling #
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The measured length along a drill hole between two stated depths.
- Intrusion Geology #
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A body of magma that pushed into existing rock and cooled underground. Intrusions and their margins host several important deposit types.
- Intrusive complex Geology #
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A group of related intrusive rocks formed during one or more episodes of magmatic activity.
- IOCG Deposit types #
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Iron Oxide Copper Gold. A broad family characterised by abundant iron oxides, and capable of carrying substantial copper and gold.
- IRR Studies #
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Internal Rate of Return. The annual return a project would generate at the assumed prices and costs. Like NPV, it is only as good as its assumptions.
J
- Joint venture Corporate #
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A shared ownership arrangement over a project, with each party holding a defined percentage and contributing to costs. Failing to contribute usually means dilution of the stake.
- JORC Code Reporting #
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The Australasian code for reporting exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves. It sets out what a company must disclose and requires a suitably qualified person to sign off. A JORC resource is not a statement that mining will be profitable, only that the material has been estimated to a defined standard.
K
- Karst Geology #
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Ground formed by dissolution of soluble rock such as limestone. It creates cavities and awkward groundwater, which matters for both drilling and mine planning.
- Kimberlite Deposit types #
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An igneous rock, and the main primary host for diamonds.
L
- Laterite Geology #
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Deeply weathered near-surface material formed in warm wet climates. Laterites host nickel, cobalt and bauxite.
- Lateritic nickel Deposit types #
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Near-surface nickel produced by intense weathering of ultramafic rock. Processing routes and economics differ substantially from nickel sulphide.
- Leach Processing #
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Dissolving valuable metal out of ore with a chemical solution.
- Licence area Legal #
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The ground covered by an exploration or mining licence.
- Lithium brine Deposit types #
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Lithium dissolved in saline groundwater, typically in closed basins in arid country. Extracted as brine, then concentrated, which is a wholly different business from mining hard rock.
- Lithology Geology #
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The rock type and physical character of a geological unit. Logging lithology is one of the first things done with drill core.
- Lode Geology #
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A mineralised body, vein or zone within rock.
- Logging Drilling #
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Systematically recording what drill core, chips or trenches show: rock type, alteration, mineralisation, structure. It is the raw material of every geological interpretation that follows.
- LOI Corporate #
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Letter of Intent. Like an MOU, an early-stage indication that two parties intend to reach an agreement. Read carefully for whether any part of it actually binds anyone.
M
- Magnetic survey Geophysics #
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A survey measuring variations in the magnetic field, used to map structures, intrusions and magnetic minerals beneath cover.
- Magnetite Minerals #
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Fe3O4, a strongly magnetic iron oxide. Its presence produces distinctive responses in magnetic surveys, which cuts both ways when interpreting them.
- Market capitalisation Corporate #
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Share price multiplied by shares in issue. The market's price for the whole company, before any adjustment for cash or debt.
- Measured Resource Resources #
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The highest confidence category, where sampling is close enough to confirm continuity of both geology and grade. Measured material can convert to a proved reserve.
- Metallurgical testwork Metallurgy #
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Laboratory or pilot testing of how ore behaves in processing: recoveries, concentrate quality, reagent needs and which route might work. Difficult metallurgy has killed more projects than poor grade.
- Metallurgy Metallurgy #
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How the rock behaves when you try to get the metal out of it. Difficult metallurgy can render a high grade deposit uneconomic, and good metallurgy can rescue a modest one.
- Mill Processing #
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The plant where mined material is crushed, ground and treated to separate the valuable minerals.
- Mine life Economics #
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How long a mine is expected to operate at its planned production rate, given the mineable material available.
- Mineral Resource Resources #
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A concentration of material in or on the earth's crust in a form and quantity that gives reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. It is a geological estimate. It says nothing on its own about whether a mine would make money.
- Mineral rights Legal #
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The legal rights governing exploration for and extraction of minerals over a defined area.
- Mineralisation Geology #
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The natural process by which minerals of possible economic interest become concentrated in rock, and the rock that results.
- Mineralised envelope Resources #
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The interpreted three-dimensional boundary drawn around a zone of mineralisation. Where that boundary is drawn affects the resource, which is why the cut-off used matters.
- Mineralised interval Drilling #
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A section of drill hole carrying the target mineral or metal.
- Molybdenum Commodities #
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An industrial metal often found with large porphyry copper systems, and sometimes a valuable by-product of them.
- MOU Corporate #
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Memorandum of Understanding. A statement of intent to work together. An MOU is usually not binding, and the distance between an MOU and a signed contract can be considerable.
- MVT Deposit types #
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Mississippi Valley-Type. Carbonate-hosted lead-zinc deposits formed by mineral-rich fluids moving through sedimentary rock.
N
- Native metal Minerals #
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A metal occurring naturally in elemental form rather than combined with other elements. Native gold, silver and copper all occur.
- NI 43-101 Reporting #
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The Canadian equivalent of JORC, used by companies listed in Canada. The two codes are broadly comparable but not identical, and figures reported under one are not automatically compliant under the other.
- Nickel sulphide Deposit types #
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Nickel held in sulphide minerals, usually with mafic or ultramafic rocks and often with copper. Geologically and metallurgically quite different from lateritic nickel.
- NPV Studies #
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Net Present Value. What a project's future cash flows are worth today, at a chosen discount rate. Always check the discount rate and the metal price assumed, because both change the answer enormously.
- NSR royalty Corporate #
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Net Smelter Return. A royalty paid as a percentage of revenue after smelting and refining charges. It is taken off the top, so it is paid whether or not the mine is profitable.
O
- Offtake agreement Corporate #
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A commitment by a buyer to purchase future production, often agreed long before a mine is built. Offtakes can help finance construction, and they can also fix the price a producer receives.
- Open pit Mining #
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Surface mining from a progressively deepening excavation, used where a deposit sits close enough to surface to reach economically.
- Opex Economics #
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Operating expenditure: the ongoing cost of running a mine, covering mining, processing, labour, power, maintenance, consumables and administration.
- Option agreement Corporate #
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An agreement giving a company the right, but not the obligation, to acquire a project or an interest in it once it meets set conditions.
- Ore Resources #
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Material that can be mined and processed at a profit under the assumptions being used. Mineralised rock is not automatically ore, and the word gets used loosely.
- Ore Reserve Resources #
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The part of a measured or indicated resource that a study has shown could be mined economically, after allowing for mining losses, dilution, processing recovery, costs and permitting. The step from resource to reserve is where economics enter.
- Orebody Resources #
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A defined body of economically mineable material.
- Orogenic gold Deposit types #
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Gold associated with major deformation and mountain building, usually in structurally controlled quartz-carbonate veins and shear zones.
- Outcrop Geology #
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Rock exposed naturally at surface. Where there is no outcrop, exploration gets considerably harder and more expensive.
- Oxide Geology #
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Rock or mineralisation altered by near-surface oxidation. Oxide ore often processes quite differently from the fresh sulphide beneath it.
P
- Pathfinder element Exploration #
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An element associated with a mineralising system that is easier to detect or more widely dispersed than the metal you actually want. Arsenic for gold is the classic case.
- Payback period Economics #
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How long a project is estimated to take to recover its initial capital from operating cash flow.
- PEA Studies #
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Preliminary Economic Assessment, also called a scoping study. The earliest economic look at a project. It may include inferred material, which is precisely why its conclusions are preliminary.
- Pegmatite Geology #
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A very coarse-grained igneous rock. Some pegmatites host economically important lithium, tantalum and caesium minerals.
- Percentage grade Units #
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A grade expressed as a percentage by mass. One per cent copper is roughly ten kilograms of contained copper per tonne of rock, before any recovery loss.
- PFS Studies #
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Pre-Feasibility Study. More detailed than a PEA and based on indicated or measured material. A positive PFS is the first point at which a resource can convert to a reserve.
- Pit shell Studies #
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A computer-generated outline of a pit that could be economic under stated technical and economic assumptions. Change the assumptions and the shell changes.
- Placing Corporate #
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An issue of new shares to raise money, usually at a discount. Explorers have no revenue, so placings are how they fund themselves, and each one dilutes anyone who does not take part.
- Platinum-group elements (PGE) Commodities #
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Platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium. Usually found together, often with nickel and copper in mafic and ultramafic intrusions.
- Porphyry deposit Geology #
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A large, low grade deposit associated with intrusive rock, and the source of most of the world's copper. Big tonnages at modest grades, which makes scale and cost the deciding factors.
- ppm Units #
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Parts per million. One ppm is the same as one gram per tonne. Ten thousand ppm is one per cent.
- Pre-production capex Economics #
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The capital needed before commercial production can start. Usually the largest single number in a feasibility study and the hardest to fund.
- Probable reserve Resources #
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Economically mineable material supported by an appropriate level of technical and economic study, at lower confidence than a proved reserve.
- Proved reserve Resources #
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The highest confidence reserve category, under codes that use the term.
- Pyrite Minerals #
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FeS2, and the reason for the phrase fool's gold. Pyrite often occurs alongside valuable mineralisation, but its presence is not evidence that anything economic is there.
- Pyrrhotite Minerals #
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An iron sulphide, often magnetic, and common in nickel-copper sulphide systems.
Q
- QA/QC Sampling #
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Quality assurance and quality control: the standards, blanks and duplicates used to check that sampling and laboratory work are reliable. A results announcement without any QA/QC statement is worth less than one with it.
- Qualified Person Reporting #
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The NI 43-101 counterpart of a Competent Person. Their name on a technical report is what makes the numbers in it reportable.
- Quartz vein Geology #
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A fracture filled mostly with quartz. Quartz veins host gold and other metals, though the overwhelming majority of quartz veins carry nothing economic.
R
- RC drilling Drilling #
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Reverse circulation drilling, which returns rock chips rather than a solid core. Faster and cheaper than diamond drilling and good for grade, but it gives less geological detail.
- Recovery Metallurgy #
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The proportion of metal in the rock that the processing plant actually captures. A ninety per cent recovery means a tenth of the contained metal is lost. Contained metal and recoverable metal are not the same thing.
- Refractory ore Metallurgy #
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Ore that does not give up its metal by conventional processing, usually because the metal is locked inside sulphide minerals. Treating it needs extra steps such as roasting or pressure oxidation, which cost money.
- Rehabilitation Mining #
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Restoring land affected by exploration or mining: reshaping ground, replacing soil, managing water, re-establishing vegetation. Usually a bonded obligation rather than a choice.
- Resource estimate Resources #
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A geological estimate of the quantity, grade and distribution of mineralised material, prepared to the requirements of the relevant reporting code.
- Resource expansion Exploration #
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Exploration aimed at growing an existing resource by finding extensions to known mineralisation.
- Rock chip sample Sampling #
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Pieces of rock collected from an exposure or outcrop. Useful for reconnaissance, and easy to bias by picking the best-looking rock, so read grab-sample grades cautiously.
- Royalty Corporate #
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A contractual right to payments linked to production, revenue or another agreed measure. It comes off the top, whether or not the mine makes money.
- Run-of-mine (ROM) Mining #
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Material straight from the mine, before any significant processing.
S
- SAMREC Reporting #
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The South African Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves.
- Sandstone-hosted uranium Deposit types #
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Uranium in permeable sandstone. Some of these can be produced by in-situ recovery rather than conventional mining.
- Scoping study Studies #
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An early technical and economic look at development options. What the term means formally depends on the jurisdiction and code; in Canadian reporting it is broadly the PEA.
- SEDEX Deposit types #
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Sedimentary Exhalative. Large sediment-hosted systems capable of holding substantial zinc and lead, often with silver.
- Sedimentary-hosted deposit Deposit types #
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A deposit hosted in sedimentary rock. A broad family covering important copper, zinc, lead and uranium types.
- Sensitivity analysis Studies #
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An analysis showing how a project's economics move when assumptions change: commodity price, costs, grade, recovery. Often the most informative table in a study, because it shows how much has to go right.
- Shaft Mining #
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A vertical or steeply inclined excavation giving access to an underground mine.
- Shear zone Geology #
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A zone of strongly deformed rock. Shear zones both channel mineralising fluids and trap them, which makes them important hosts for gold.
- Skarn deposit Geology #
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Mineralisation formed where an intrusion alters surrounding carbonate rock. Skarns can be high grade and are an important source of tungsten, as well as copper, zinc and gold.
- Soil sampling Exploration #
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Systematic collection and analysis of soil to find geochemical anomalies pointing at mineralisation under cover.
- Spodumene Minerals #
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A lithium mineral found in lithium-rich pegmatites, and the principal hard-rock source of lithium.
- Step-out drilling Drilling #
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Drilling beyond the known limits of mineralisation to test whether it continues. Step-outs are how a deposit grows, and how it is shown not to.
- Stockpile Mining #
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Mined material stored for later processing or disposal, often separated by grade or type.
- Stockwork Geology #
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A dense network of mineralised veinlets. Common in large bulk-tonnage systems, where no single vein matters but the whole volume does.
- Strategic investor Corporate #
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An investor whose interest goes beyond the share price: future supply, processing, technical collaboration or a commercial relationship.
- Strike Geology #
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The horizontal direction of a geological feature such as a vein, fault or mineralised zone.
- Strike length Geology #
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How far a mineralised body extends horizontally along its trend. A long strike length suggests scale, though it says nothing about grade or thickness.
- Strip ratio Mining #
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How much waste has to be moved for each unit of ore in an open pit. A rising strip ratio is one of the commonest ways an open pit becomes uneconomic at depth.
- Sulphide Minerals #
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A mineral combining sulphur with one or more metals. Most of the world's copper, nickel, lead and zinc is mined as sulphide.
- Supergene enrichment Geology #
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Near-surface processes that redistribute and sometimes concentrate metals, producing zones considerably richer than the primary mineralisation below. Worth recognising, because the enriched zone can flatter early drilling.
- Sustaining capital Economics #
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Capital needed to keep an operation going once production has started, as opposed to building it in the first place.
T
- Tailings Processing #
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What is left after the valuable minerals have been taken out. Stored and managed in engineered facilities, and one of the industry's most significant liabilities.
- Target Exploration #
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A geological, geochemical or geophysical feature picked out for further work because it might be mineralisation.
- Tenement Legal #
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A general term, common in Australia, for an exploration or mining right over a defined area.
- Tonnage Resources #
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The estimated quantity of material in a deposit, resource, reserve or operation.
- Tonne Units #
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A metric tonne, 1,000 kilograms. Not the same as a short ton, which matters when reading ounces per ton.
- Tonnes per annum (tpa) Units #
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How much material is mined, processed or produced in a year.
- Tonnes per day (tpd) Units #
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How much material is mined or processed each day.
- Treasury Corporate #
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The cash and liquid assets a company actually has. Read alongside the burn rate.
- Trenching Exploration #
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Digging shallow trenches to expose bedrock under soil or cover, so it can be mapped and sampled properly.
- True width Drilling #
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The actual thickness of a mineralised zone measured perpendicular to it. A drill hole that cuts a zone at an angle reports a longer interval than the zone is thick, so a headline interval without a true width can overstate the find.
- Twinned hole Drilling #
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A new hole drilled close to an existing one, usually to check historical drilling or compare sampling methods. A standard step before relying on someone else's old data.
U
- Unconformity-related uranium Deposit types #
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A uranium type associated above all with Canada's Athabasca Basin, capable of exceptionally high grades.
- Underground mining Mining #
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Mining below surface through shafts, declines and tunnels, rather than from an open excavation.
- Uraninite Minerals #
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A uranium-rich mineral and a principal primary ore of uranium, essentially UO2.
- Uranium equivalent Reporting #
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A calculated figure expressing radiometric readings or combined mineralisation in uranium-equivalent terms. Check how it was calculated before treating it as a grade.
V
- Vein Geology #
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A mineral-filled fracture, anywhere from millimetres to a major structure. Veins host gold, silver, tungsten and much else.
- Vein system Geology #
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A network of related veins within a larger structure or mineralising system.
- VMS deposit Geology #
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Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide. Metal-rich sulphide bodies formed on the sea floor by hydrothermal activity. Typically polymetallic, often copper and zinc with precious metal credits, and they tend to occur in clusters.
W
- Waste Mining #
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Material mined but not processed as ore under the mine plan.
- Waste rock Mining #
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Non-economic rock removed to reach the ore.
- Weathering Geology #
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Physical and chemical breakdown of rock near surface. It obscures primary geology, and it also creates some of the most useful exploration indicators.
- Weighted average grade Sampling #
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An average grade calculated with each sample weighted by the length or amount it represents. A straight arithmetic average of assays overstates narrow high-grade samples.
- Width Drilling #
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The thickness, or apparent thickness, of a mineralised intersection. Reported widths need care, because they are downhole lengths unless the announcement says otherwise.
- Working capital Corporate #
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Funds available to meet short-term operational needs.
X
- XRF Sampling #
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X-ray fluorescence, used to identify and estimate elements in a sample. Portable XRF is a common field tool, though its readings are an indication rather than a substitute for a laboratory assay.
Y
- Yield Processing #
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A general term for how much product a process recovers. Its precise meaning depends on the context it is used in.
Z
- Zinc equivalent (ZnEq) Reporting #
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A calculated grade expressing several metals as an equivalent zinc grade. It depends on assumed prices and recoveries, so read the assumptions rather than treating ZnEq as assayed zinc.
- Zone Geology #
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A defined area of geology or mineralisation sharing particular characteristics. A project often contains several separately named zones.
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