JARGON BUSTER

A short glossary of Cornish mining terms

ADIT
A level tunnel (usually driven into a hillside) in order to give access to a mine, and used for drainage or the hauling of broken ore. Deeper adits did not necessarily connect to surface, and were used to carry water back from distant workings to a pumping shaft

BUDDLE  A shallow inclined container in which ore is washed

CROSS-COURSE
A mineral vein whose direction crosses that of the lodes in a particular district

CULVERT
A small tunnel constructed to carry a channel of water

DRIFT
Any horizontal or near horizontal working underground that usually does not connect with the surface

DRIVE (alternatively lode drive or heading)
A tunnel excavated on the line of a lode as the first stage of the development of a STOPE

LEAT
An artificial water-course, built to carry a supply of water to a mine

LEVEL
A tunnel usually driven along the STRIKE of a mineral lode to enable access and ore extraction

LODE
A linear area of mineralisation underground which is known in other parts of Britain as a VEIN, or SEAM; these are generally vertical or near vertical, and often extending for considerable distances along its STRIKE

SETT
One of the components of timber framing of an adit where it ran through loose ground; also the timber framing of a shaft to which the shaft guides and LAGGING BOARDS were attached

SHAFT
A vertical or near-vertical tunnel sunk to give access to the extractive areas of a mine

STAMPS
A mechanical device for crushing ore-bearing rock to a fine sand. Heavy vertically-mounted beams (or later iron rods) carrying cast or forged iron heads were sequentially lifted and dropped onto the prepared ore beneath them by a series of cams mounted on a rotating drum; this usually being driven by a water-wheel or rotative steam engine

STOPE
Excavated area produced during the extraction of ore-bearing rock; often narrow, deep and elongated, reflecting the former position of the lode.

STRIKE
The principal direction of a mineral lode in the landscape.

TYE
In mining: a trough to separate valuable material from dross.