| 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. |
| 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. |
| Shoot |
A concentration of mineral values;
that part of a vein or zone carrying values of ore grade. |
| Shrinkage stoping |
A stoping method which uses part
of the broken ore as a working platform and as a support
for the walls of the stope. |
| Sill |
An intrusive sheet of igneous
rock of roughly uniform thickness that has been forced
between the bedding planes of existing rock. |
| Sodium cyanide |
A chemical used in the milling
of gold ores to dissolve gold and silver. |
| Stope |
An excavation in a mine from
which ore is, or has been, extracted. |
| Strike |
The direction, or bearing from
true north, of a vein or rock formation measured on a
horizontal surface. |
