6 Key Terms Flashcards
Block caving
Underground mining that involves building a concrete-lined tunnel under an ore deposit, then collecting the ore through openings in the liner.
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Carats per hundred metric tons (cpht)
Measure of a mine’s productivity based on the carat weight of the rough diamonds it produces per 100 metric tons of ore.
Dense media separation
A recovery process that separates diamonds from lighter material. Also called heavy media separation.
Drift
A horizontal tunnel drilled through a diamond pipe.
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Grease belt
An apparatus that uses diamonds’ affinity for grease to separate them from other minerals.
Open-pit mining
Removal of mineral-bearing ore from a large surface excavation.
Overburden
Sand, gravel, or rock that covers a diamond pipe. Must be removed to reach diamond bearing ore.
Primary crushing
Reduction of newly mined ore to a manageable size.
Recovery
Any method used to separate diamonds from ore or alluvial sediments.
Scrubber
An apparatus that washes away dirt and clay from diamond-bearing ore.
X-ray separation
A recovery method that uses X-rays to detect diamonds and an air jet to remove them from ore.