Terms and abbreviations used regularly in MiningBusiness.net:

2D: two dimensional

3D: three dimensional

3E: three elements: platinum, palladium and gold

4E: four elements: platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold

AC: air core (drilling)

Ag: silver, used in photography, jewellery, electronics, lining vats and other equipment for chemical reaction vessels, water distillation, etc. Largest silver reserves are in the US, Canada, Mexico, Peru and China

AISC: All-in sustaining costs

Al: Aluminium

Al2O3: alumina

aluminum: the most abundant metal element in the Earth’s crust, sourced mainly from bauxite. Guinea and Australia have about half the world’s reserves, others with major reserves include Brazil, Jamaica, and India

anthracite coal: hard coal has the highest energy content of all coals and is used for space heating and generating electricity

antimony: native element extracted from stibnite and other minerals, used as a hardening alloy for lead, especially storage batteries and cable sheaths

asbestos: silicate minerals readily separable into thin, strong fibres that are flexible, heat resistant and chemically inert

ASIC: Australian Securities and Investments Commission, agency overseeing companies, securities, financial services and credit

assay: laboratory test conducted to analyse the proportions of metal in samples to test for composition, purity, weight or other properties

ASX: Australian Securities Exchange

Au: gold

AuEq: gold equivalent

AusIMM: Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

barium: a heavy additive in oilwell drilling mud, paper and rubber industries, also used to make an expensive white pigment

bauxite: general term for a rock composed of hydrated aluminum oxides, the main ore of alumina to make aluminum and also used in the production of synthetic corundum and aluminous refractories

bBSO: beneficiate before shipping ore

beneficiation: process of physically separating ore from gangue (waste material) prior to processing

beryllium: beryllium alloys used in aerospace, automobiles, computers, oil and gas drilling equipment and telecommunications. Beryl is the source of emerald and aquamarine

BFS: bankable feasibility study, a study of the economic viability of the mining and production of base or precious metals or other minerals as customarily required by a bank or other financial institution

BIF: banded iron formation

bituminous coal: soft coal most commonly used for electric power generation, also used to make coke

breccia: rock composed of cemented fragments of minerals or rock

brownfield: development or exploration within existing mine operations that can share infrastructure/management

butane: natural gas that occurs in two isomeric forms (where sold separately, largely liquefied through pressurisation)

C: degrees celsius

C1: Operating costs including mining, processing, rail and port charges

CaFe: calcined iron, Fe content as a percentage of the total mass minus water and organics (which are burnt off in the blast furnace), calculated using the formula CaFe = Fe%/(100-LOI) x 100

Capital intensity: capital cost of the project divided by the tonnage of product produced per annum

Ce: Cerium

CEO: chief executive officer

CFO: chief financial officer

CFR: Cost and freight (seller is responsible for carriage of goods to port of destination)

chromite (chromium): 99% of the world's chromite is found in southern Africa and Zimbabwe

CIM: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by CIM Council

CO: carbon monoxide

Co: Cobalt

Co: cobalt, used in superalloys for jet engines, chemicals (paint driers, catalysts, magnetic coatings, pigments, rechargeable batteries), magnets, and cemented carbides for cutting tools. Principal cobalt producing countries include Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Canada, Cuba, Australia and Russia

CO2: carbon dioxide

coal: complex and diverse energy resource. Four basic varieties of coal are lignite, subbituminous, bituminous and anthracite

coking coal/metallurgical coal: used in the manufacture of coke for steelmaking processes

columbite-tantalite group: a natural oxide of niobium, tantalum, ferrous iron and manganese used mostly in the form of ferrocolumbium as an additive in steelmaking and in superalloys for heat-resisting and combustion equipment. Brazil and Canada are the world’s leading producers

copper cathode: electrolytically refined copper produced through leaching/electrowinning

copper: used in electric cables and wires, switches, plumbing, heating, roofing and building construction, chemical and pharmaceutical machinery, alloys (brass, bronze etc), alloy castings, electroplated protective coatings and undercoats for nickel, chromium, zinc etc.. Leading producer is Chile, followed by the US and Indonesia

cpht: carats per 100 tonnes

Cs: caesium, mineral which occurs in pollucite in extremely differentiated pegmatite systems, used primarily in high temperature/high pressure oil and gas drilling

Cu: copper, common reddish metallic element that is ductile and malleable, one of the best conductors of heat and electricity

CuEq: copper equivalent

cum: cubic metre/s

cut-off: nominated grade supporting definition of ore reserve or mineral resource

CV: calorific value (coal)

Davis Tube Test: test where iron ore is crushed to ~0.15mm, immersed in water and passed over a magnet. At the end of the test, the iron ore sticking to the magnet is weighed and the non-magnetic material weighed and the percentage calculated

Development: excavations used to establish access to the mineralised rock and other workings

DFS: definitive feasibility study

diamond core: drilling method utilising abrasive cutting by rotation of a diamond-encrusted drill bit, enabling collection of intact rock core for description, sampling and analysis of an orebody or mineralised structure

dip: a line directed down the steepest axis of a planar structure including a planar ore body or zone of mineralisation. The dip has a measurable direction and inclination from horizontal

dmt : dry metric tonnes

DNPM: Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral (Portugal)

doré: semi-pure alloy of gold silver and other metals produced by the smelting process ahead of further refining

down-dip: towards the deepest parts of an orebody or zone of mineralisation

DSO: direct shipping ore, that is simply crushed and sized prior to sale

EBIT: earnings before net finance costs and taxation

EBITDA: earnings before depreciation, amortisation and impairments, net finance costs and taxation

electrowinning: electrochemical process that recovers a metal by dissolving it within an electrolyte and plating it onto an electrode

energy coal/steaming coal/thermal coal: fuel source for electrical power generation, cement manufacture and industrial applications

EPC: engineering, procurement and construction

EPCM: engineering, procurement and construction management

Eu: Europium

fault breccia: rock made up of angular rock fragments cemented together by a finer grained matrix formed by the mechanical grinding of rock along the fault plane during movement of the fault

fault gouge: clay filling a fault that was formed by the mechanical grinding of rock along the fault plane during movement of the fault

fault: the plane along which two rock masses have moved or slid against each other

Fe: iron

feldspar: rock-forming mineral industrially important in glass and ceramic industries, abrasives, bond for abrasive wheels, cements and concretes, insulating compositions and as a sizing (or filler) in textiles and paper

flotation: selectively recovering minerals from finely ground ore using a froth created in water by specific reagents

fluorite (fluorspar): used in production of hydrofluoric acid in electroplating, stainless steel, refrigerant and plastics industries, aluminum smelting, a flux in ceramics and glass and in steel furnaces and welding rods

footwall: rock adjacent to and below an ore or mineralised body or geological fault

FRP: fibre reinforced plastic

FY: full year

g/t: grams per tonne or ton (when applicable)

g: gram

galena: lead sulfide, the commonest ore of lead

Gd: Gadolinium 

GJ/h: gigajoules per hour

GM: general manager

Gold: used in dentistry and medicine, jewellery and arts, coins, ingots as a store of value, scientific and electronic instruments and electrolyte in electro-plating. Significant resources in South Africa, US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and Russia

GPR: ground penetrating radar, used in a variety of media to detect objects, changes in material, and voids and cracks

grade: concentration of mineral within the host rock typically quoted as grams per tonne (g/t), parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb)

granodiorite: igneous intrusive rock similar to granite

greenfield: development or exploration outside the area of influence of existing mine operations/infrastructure

gypsum: used as prefabricated wallboard or as building plaster in cement manufacture, agriculture and other uses

ha: hectare/s

halite/sodium chloride: salt, used in food seasoning and food preservation, soda ash, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, chlorine, etc

hanging wall: rock adjacent to and above an ore or mineralised body or geological fault. Note that on steeply-dipping tabular ore or mineralised bodies the hanging wall will be inclined nearer to the vertical than horizontal

heap leach: process utilising gravity-fed chemical solution to recover metals such as copper, nickel, uranium and gold from low-grade ores

highly weathered material: portion of an orebody often located at surface that has been broken down in situ by environmental processes. This may result in the enrichment of iron and removal of gangue minerals. It typically requires less processing than unweathered material

HPA: high purity alumina

HY: half year

ICSID: International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, an autonomous international institution offering conciliation and arbitration of disputes between investors and states

IFRS: International Financial Reporting Standards

Igneous: rock solidified from molten material or magma

indicated mineral resource: mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics can be estimated with confidence sufficient to support mine planning and evaluation of economic viability

inferred mineral resource: mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality can be reasonably estimated but not verified

Intercept: sample or sequence of samples taken across the entire width of an orebody or mineralised zone. The intercept is described by the entire thickness and the average grade of mineralisation

Intrusive: a body of igneous rock that invades older rocks

IP: induced polarisation, a geophysical imaging technique used to identify the electrical chargeability of subsurface materials

IPO: initial public offering

iron ore: a mineral substance which yields metallic iron (Fe) when heated in the presence of a reductant. Almost always consists of iron oxides, primarily magnetite (Fe3O4) and hematite (Fe2O3). Mined in about 50 countries, principally Australia, Brazil and China,

IRR: internal rate of return

ISO: International Standards Organisation

JORC: Joint Ore Reserves Committee. Australasian body sponsored by mining and professional organisations that sets reporting standards for exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves

kaolin: a white aluminosilicate also known as china clay, widely used in paints, refractories, plastics, fiberglass, adhesives, ceramics, and rubber products

km: kilometre/s

kmph: kilometres per hour

kriging: statistical technique used with variograms, or two-point statistical functions that describe the increasing difference or decreasing correlation between sample values as separation between them increases, to determine the value of a point in a heterogeneous grid from known values nearby

kWh: kilowatt hour

La: lanthanum 

laterite: strongly leached, iron and aluminium rich rock, formed at the surface by weathering in tropical conditions

leaching: process of recovering soluble metal from minerals in ore by dissolution

lead: used in lead batteries, solders, seals or bearings, electrical and electronic applications. US is the world's largest producer and consumer of refined lead metal, others include Australia, Canada, China, Peru and Kazakhstan

lignite: brownish-black coal with generally high moisture and ash content and lower heating value, important form of energy for generating electricity

limestone: sedimentary rock composed mostly of calcite, about 15% of the Earth's sedimentary crust. A basic building block of construction and chief material for aggregate, cement, lime and building stone. Used to make paper, plastics, glass, paint, steel, cement, carpets, used in water treatment and purification

limonite: amorphous, hydrated iron oxide, dark brown to black, occurring in earthy masses of various forms

lithium: compounds used in ceramics and glass, primary aluminum production, lubricants and greases, etc

LME: London Metal Exchange

LNG: liquefied natural gas

LOI: letter of intent

LOM: life of mine

LPG: liquid propane gas

manganese: essential to iron and steel production. South Africa and Ukraine have over 80% of the world's reserves

MCP: mine closure plan

measured mineral resource: mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape, and physical characteristics can be estimated with confidence to support production planning and evaluation

metal equivalence: calculation of polymetallic deposits in terms of a single equivalent grade of one major metal such as gold or copper, usually obtained by taking the in situ value (grade times price) of each individual metal, adding the values and calculating the grade of the same value of the primary reported metal, assuming 100% recovery

metallurgical coal: includes all coals used in steelmaking such as pulverised coal injection process

Mg: magnesium

MgO: magnesium oxide

mica: commonly occurs as flakes, books or sheets. Sheet muscovite (white) mica is used in electronic insulators, ground mica in paint, joint cement, drilling muds, in plastics, roofing, rubber and welding rods

mineral reserve: economically mineable part of a measured or indicated mineral resource demonstrated by at least a preliminary feasibility study

mineral resource: occurrence of material including base and precious metals, coal and industrial minerals that has reasonable prospects for economic extraction

mineralisation: any single mineral or combination of minerals occurring in a mass or deposit of economic interest

Mo: molybdenum, used as an alloy in stainless steels and in alloy steels, chemical and lubricant industries. As a pure metal, molybdenum is used because of its high melting temperatures in light bulbs, metal-working dies and furnace parts. Major producing countries are China, Chile and the US

Moz: million ounces

MRE: mineral resource estimate

Mt: million tonnes (tons when applicable)

Mtpa: million tonnes per annum

mtu: metric tonne units

Nb2O5: oxide of niobium, uses include alloying and coatings to improve welding properties (stainless steel), resistance to chemical attack (zirconium, molten lithium and sodium) and corrosion resistance

Nd: Neodymium

NI 43-101: National Instrument 43-101 (Canada), rules and guidelines for reporting mineral properties

Ni: nickel, an alloying constituent of stainless steel, plays key role in the chemical and aerospace industries. Leading producers include Australia, Canada, Norway and Russia

NOx: oxides of nitrogen

NPAT: net profit after tax

NPV(7): net present value at 7% (or alternative) discount rate

OHS: Occupational Health and Safety

openpit mining: extracting minerals by excavating downwards from the surface such that the ore is extracted in the open air (as opposed to underground mining)

ore reserves: economically mineable part of a measured and/or indicated mineral resource

oz: troy ounce (31.103477 grams)

P: potash usually chloride of potassium, used as a fertiliser, in medicine and the chemical industry

P2O5: oxide of phosphorus

pa: per annum

PGM: platinum group metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium), among the most scarce of the metallic elements. Russia and South Africa have nearly all the world’s reserves

ppm: parts per million

Pr: Praseodymium

probable mineral reserve: economically mineable part of an indicated or sometimes measured mineral resource. Lower confidence than a proved ore reserve

proved ore reserve: highest confidence category implying a high degree of confidence in geological and grade continuity

pyrite: used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide, to recover iron, gold, copper, cobalt, nickel etc

Q1: first quarter (also Q2, Q3, Q4)

quartz (silica): semiprecious gemstone, used for pressure gauges, oscillators, resonators and wave stabilisers, manufacture of glass, paints, abrasives, refractories and precision instruments

quartz veins: deposit of quartz rock that develop in fractures and fissures in the surrounding rock

rare earth elements: primarily used in petroleum fluid cracking catalysts, metallurgical additives, ceramics and polishing compounds, permanent magnets and phosphors. Rare earth elements are lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium

REO: rare earth oxide

reserve life: current stated ore reserves estimate divided by nominated production rate

resource block: 3-dimensional model of the ore/mineralised body containing a mineral resource estimation

ROM: run of mine, product mined by regular mining activities

rutile (titanium dioxide): used in alloys, for electrodes in arc lights

SAMREC: South African Code for the Reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves

saprolite: weathered or decomposed clay-rich rock

SEC Guide 7: US Securities and Exchange Commission Industry Guide 7 standard of measurement for proven and probable reserves. Inferred material is treated as waste and not included in the measurement of reserves

Si: silicon, quartz used in manufacture of special steels and cast iron, aluminum alloys, glass and refractory materials, ceramics, abrasives, water filtration, hydraulic cements, etc

silver: used in photography, jewellery, electronics, lining vats and other equipment for chemical reaction vessels, water distillation, etc. Largest silver reserves are in the US, Canada, Mexico, Peru and China

SiO2: Silica

Sm: Samarium 

sodium carbonate (soda ash or trona): used in glass container manufacture, in fibreglass and specialty glass, cleaning and boiler compounds, pH control of water

solvent extraction: separating metals from a leach solution by treating with a solvent

stibnite: the main ore of antimony, used for metal anti-friction alloys, metal type, shot, batteries, in the manufacture of fireworks. Antimony salts are used in rubber and textile industries, medicine and glassmaking

stockpile: accumulation of ore or mineral

strike length: the longest horizontal dimension of an orebody or zone of mineralisation

subbituminous coal: dull black coal with a higher heating value than lignite used primarily for generating electricity and space heating

sulfur: used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid, fertilisers, chemicals, explosives, dyestuffs, petroleum refining, vulcanisation of rubber, fungicides

SX-EW: Solvent Extraction, Electro-Winning

t: tonnes

t: tonnes or tons (when applicable)

tailings: washed or milled ore with low metal or mineral content

tantalum: refractory metal used mostly in the production of electronic components, mainly tantalum capacitors. Leading producers are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Congo (Kinshasa), Ethiopia and Rwanda

titanium: a strong lightweight metal often used in airplanes, combines with oxygen to form a brilliant white pigment used in paint, paper and plastics. Major deposits are in Australia, Canada, India, Norway, South Africa, Ukraine and the US

total mineral resources: the sum of inferred, indicated and measured mineral resources

total ore reserves: the sum of proved ore reserves and probable ore reserves

tpa: tonnes per annum

tph: tonnes per hour

trench: elongated pit typically to 2m deep and up to 1.5m wide, to access fresh or weathered bedrock and take channel samples across a mineralised structure

TREO: total rare earth oxides

true width: the shortest axis of a 3D object (ie, ore/mineralised body), usually perpendicular to the longest plane. This often has to be calculated where channel or drill sampling was not exactly perpendicular to the long axis. The true width will always be less than the apparent width of an obliquely intersect sample

TSF: tailings storage facility

tungsten: used in metalworking, construction and electrical machinery and equipment, transportation equipment, a carbide in drilling equipment. Major producers are China, Korea and Russia

V: vanadium, used in metal alloys, in production of aerospace titanium alloys,  a catalyst for production of maleic anhydride and sulfuric acid. Russia and South Africa are the world’s largest producers of vanadium

vanadium: used in metal alloys, in production of aerospace titanium alloys,  a catalyst for production of maleic anhydride and sulfuric acid. Russia and South Africa are the world’s largest producers of vanadium

variogram: two-point statistical function that describes the increasing difference or decreasing correlation or continuity between sample values as separation between them increases

vein: occurrence of mineralised rock within non-mineralised material

VMS: volcanogenic massive sulfide

VWAP: volume weighted average price

W: tungsten, used in metalworking, construction and electrical machinery and equipment, transportation equipment, a carbide in drilling equipment. Major producers are China, Korea and Russia

wallrock: rock adjacent to an ore or mineralised body or geological fault

wet tonnes: ore volume usually quoted as wmt, adjustable to dry metric tonnes (dmt) by application of a factor based on moisture content

wireframe: using triangulation to produce an isometric projection of a rock type, mineralisation envelope or an underground stope to determine volumes of each solid

wmt: wet metric tonnes

XRF: X-ray fluorescence (spectrometry)

Y: yttrium

zeolites: used in aquaculture, water softeners, catalysts etc

zinc: used as protective coating on steel, die casting, alloying with copper to make brass, chemical compounds in rubber and paints, galvanising iron, electroplating etc. China is the leading producer followed by Australia, Peru, Canada and US

Zn: zinc, used as protective coating on steel, die casting, alloying with copper to make brass, chemical compounds in rubber and paints, galvanising iron, electroplating etc. China is the leading producer followed by Australia, Peru, Canada and US