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Calc-silicate Rock
A metamorphic rock consisting mainly of calcium-bearing silicates such as diopside and wollastonite, and formed by metamorphism of impure limestone or dolomite.
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Capital Assets
Assets, purchased as a long term investment for generating profit, such as buildings, plant and machinery and fixtures etc.
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Carbon Columns
Any vertical cylindrical vessels used to contain granules of activated carbon for processes such as the extraction of gold from solution, elution or acid treatment.
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Carbonaceous
Said of a rock or sediment that is rich in carbon; coaly.
Said of a sediment containing organic matter.
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Carbonate
A mineral compound containing a fundamental carbonate ion.
A sediment formed by the organic or inorganic precipitation from aqueous solution of carbonates of calcium, magnesium, or iron; e.g. limestone and dolomite.
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Carbon-in-column
CIC, a carbon adsorption technology to recover gold and silver from heap leach solutions. During this process, the heap leach solution containing ore flows through a series of fluidized bed carbon columns. The process is highly effective for removing gold and silver from low grade ore. It is followed by treatment to reverse the adsorption process and electrowinning to remove the gold and silver.
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Carbon-in-leach
CIL, a recovery process in which a slurry of gold ore, carbon granules and cyanide are mixed together. The cyanide dissolves the gold content and the gold is adsorbed on the carbon: the carbon is subsequently separated from the slurry for further gold removal.
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Carbon-in-pulp
CIP, a precious metals leaching technique in which granular activated carbon particles much larger than the ground ore particles are added to the cyanidation pulp after the precious metals have been solubilized. The activated carbon and pulp are agitated together to enable the solubilized precious metals to become adsorbed onto the activated carbon. The loaded activated carbon is mechanically screened to separate it from the barren ore pulp and processed to remove the precious metals and prepare it for reuse. Similar to carbon-in-leach process.
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Carlin–type gold deposits
Carlin–type gold deposits are sediment-hosted disseminated gold deposits. These deposits are characterized by invisible (typically microscopic and/or dissolved) gold in pyrite and arsenopyrite. This dissolved kind of gold is called "Invisible Gold", as it can only be found through chemical analysis. The deposit is named after the Carlin mine, the first large deposit of this type discovered in the Carlin Trend, Nevada.
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Cash Operating Cost
Include site costs for all mining (excluding deferred stripping costs), processing and administration, but are exclusive of royalties, production taxes, depreciation, reclamation, financing costs, capital costs and exploration costs.
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Chalcopyrite
A bright brass-yellow tetragonal mineral. It is generally found massive and constitutes the most important ore of copper.
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Channel Width
The total thickness of all reef bands, including internal waste mined as one unit.
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Clastic
Denoting rocks composed of broken pieces of older rocks.
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Collar
The mouth or upper end of a mineshaft.
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Composite grade
A grade average-weighted by the length intervals of its component grades.
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Compression
A system of forces or stresses that tends to decrease the volume or to shorten a substance, or the change of volume produced by such a system of forces.
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Concentrates
The valuable fraction of an ore that is left after worthless material is removed in processing.
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Concentrator
A plant where ore is separated into values (concentrates) and rejects (tails). An appliance in such a plant, e.g., flotation cell, jig, electromagnet, shaking table. Also called mill; reduction works; cleaning plant.
An apparatus in which, by the aid of water, air, and/or gravity, mechanical concentration of ores is performed.
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Contained Gold
The total gold content of the orebody (tons multiplied by grade), irrespective of economic potential and without deduction for mining and processing losses prior to recovery.
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Contained Ounces
Represents ounces in the ground without the reduction of ounces not recovered by the applicable metallurgical process.
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Contango
Contango on gold is the positive difference between the spot market gold price and the forward market gold price. It is often expressed as an interest rate and is the difference between inter-bank deposit rates and gold lending rates.
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Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color. Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and in various metal alloys.
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Core
A core or core sample is a cylindrical section into material such as rock. Core samples are often obtained by drilling into the material using a hollow steel tube (a core drill).
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Core Hole
Any hole drilled for the purpose of obtaining cores.
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Core length (CL)
Apparent thickness of a structure or bed, measured as it is intersected along a borehole.
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Crustiform
Term analogous to crustification banding, it describes a texture involving successive, narrow (up to a few centimeters), subparallel bands which are distinguished by differences in texture, mineral proportions, and/or color.
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Cu
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color. Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and in various metal alloys.
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Cut & Fill
A stoping method in which the ore is excavated by successive flat or inclined slices, working upward from the level. However, after each slice is blasted down, all broken ore is removed, and the stope is filled with waste (backfill) up to within a few feet of the back before the next slice is taken out, just enough room being left between the top of the waste pile and the back of the stope to provide working space. The term cut-and-fill stoping implies a definite and characteristic sequence of operations:
breaking a slice of ore from the back;
removing the broken ore; and introducing filling.
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Cut Off Grade
The lowest grade of mineralized material that qualifies as ore in a given deposit; ore of the lowest assay value that is included in an ore estimate.
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Cyanidation
A process of extracting gold and silver as cyanide slimes from their ores by treatment with dilute solutions of potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide. The slimes are subsequently fused and cast into ingots or bullion.