Glossary terms

Surface mine – a pit or excavation in the earth from which mineral substances are taken (an ore deposit)

Precision surface mining – uses continuous surface miners to excavate the mineral deposit, can provide an efficient, cost-effective alternative or complement to drilling and blasting

Heap leach – an industrial mining process to extract precious metals, copper, uranium, and other compounds from ore via a series of chemical reactions that absorb specific minerals and then re-separates them after their division from other earth materials

Road demolition – breaking up any road surface

Quarry – an open excavation usually for obtaining building stone, slate or limestone

Water table – the highest underground level at which the rocks and soil in a particular area are completely wet with water

Primary crusher – first step in the crushing process.

Civil construction – segment of the broader construction industry focused on building core infrastructure like pipelines, telecommunications, sewers, water treatment systems, highways, roads, bridges, subway tunnels and light rail transit lines.

Usable product – what is created by Vermeer surface miners

Controlled floor – results from grade control

Site prep – preparing the ground for processing

GPS – Global Positioning System

Grade control – ability to control the cutting depth to produce a designed floor

Haul road – road inside a mine or quarry to transport product from the mine face to the stock pile

Highwall – the edge of a mine or quarry

Top-down cutting – a style of cutting where the cutter tooth engages the ground from the top of the surface

Hydrostatic transmission – uses a variable displacement pump driving a variable or fixed displacement hydraulic motor to power the cutting head and the tracks.

Tilting cutting head – this patented technology aids production by keeping the drum level and allows you to use grade control systems more effectively

USC – Unconfined compressive strength tests rock hardness

Abrasivity – wearing or tearing away of particles and material from the solid surface; this is measured using the Cerchar Abrasivity Test

Density – the degree of compactness of a substance