Commonly used mining terms
English (Australia) not English (US)
Preferred spellings
Listed below are the preferred spellings of common terms in ACG literature.
A
above-ground
accessways
acknowledgement
air gap
AngloGold
as-blasted
as-built
as-designed
as-drilled
B
Back-break
Backfill
blasthole
blow-loaded
borehole
breakdown
Bulyanhulu Mine
bypass
byproduct
C
cable bolt
caveability
changeover
Chuquicamata Mine
clean out
coal gas
co-author
cone bolts
cooperation
cost-effective
crosscut
cutoff
FLAC2D/FLAC3D
flocculant
flocculated
flocculation
focussed/s
footwall
G
Gold Fields
H
half-barrel
hangingwall
hang-up
HEA Mesh
high density
high wall
hydrofracture
I
i.e.
in situ
in-cycle
in-pit
J
JKMRC (Julius Kruttschnitt
Mineral Research Centre)
K
kPa
E
e.g.
et al. (not italics)
L
land use
landfill
landform
LHD (load–haul–dump units)
life cycle
life-of-mine
long hole
long term (“it was long term”)
long-term (“long-term use”)
longwall
low wall
F
fall-off
fault slip
feedwell
fertiliser
fibre reinforced shotcrete
(fibrecrete)
M
man-made
Map3D
metal-binding
metalliferous
metasediment
microseismic
D
drawbell
drawpoint
draw zone
Commonly used mining terms – last updated January 2011
D:\533567025.doc
mine fill
mine site
mine-wide
Mn 3.0 (not 3.0 Mn)
MRMR (mining rock mass rating)
muck pile
multi-disciplinary
N
non-blasting
non-interlocking
non-linear
northwest/ern *but*
north-northwest;
north–south
O
ongoing
onsite/offsite
orebody/drive/pass
overbreak
overburden
P
P-wave/phase
paste fill
Perseverance Mine
Poisson’s ratio
post-harvest
pre-/post-closure
preconditioning
Q
R
raisebored
rilling
RMR (rock mass rating)
rock face
rock mass
rockbolt/bolting
rockburst
rockdrill
rockfall
rockfill
rockstuds
Rocscience
roofbolts
RQD (rock quality designation)
runoff
S
S-wave/phase
seismicity
semi-arid
set-up (noun) set up (verb)
shut-off
start up
store-release
strainburst
sublevel
subvertical/horizontal/ parallel
sulphide
T
take up
three-dimensional (3D)
trade-off
triaxial
U
UCS (unconfined compressive
strength)
underbreak/draw
uniaxial
Unwedge (Rocscience
programme)
up to
V
Version (software) use v for
subsequent usage, i.e. v2
versus (not vs)
viscosity
W
waste water
website
wellbeing
workforce
World Wide Web
worldwide
X
Y
Z
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Commonly used mining terms
English (Australia) not English (US)
Number/Units Formatting
All measurements should be in METRIC units
Comma to group thousands
e.g. 12,000 mm  1,480 mm  12000 mm  1480 mm  12 000 mm 
Use a non-breaking space (Shift+Ctrl+Space) between the number and its unit of measurement (except for % and ° where there is no
space between number and symbol)
e.g. 70,000 kg  50 MPa  25%  105°C  70,000kg  2mm  50MPa 
Time should be written as such
e.g. 1300 hrs  13 00 hrs  1300hrs  13:00 hrs  13.00 hrs  1 pm 
Currency should be written as such
e.g. US$ 100  A$ 100  C$ 100  US$100  AUD 100  CAN100 
Other Rules
copyright symbol (Alt+Ctrl+c)
degree symbol (Shift+Ctrl+@, Space)
non-breaking hyphen (Shift+Ctrl+ ‘_’)
non-breaking space (Shift+Ctrl+Space)
subscript text (Ctrl+ ‘=’)
superscript text (Ctrl+Shift ‘=’)
trademark ™ (Alt+Ctrl+t) first instance of word only
Qualifications
Upper case the type of qualifications studied
Job Description
Lower case the job description (e.g. mine manager)
Please try to avoid American spelling:
 analyse
analyze 
 authorise
authorize 
 catalyser
catalyzer 
 centraliser
centralizer 
 colour
color 
 dollies
dollys 
 galvanise
galvanize 
BUT program: software | programme: list, timetable, etc.
Commonly used mining terms – last updated January 2011
D:\533567025.doc
 globalise
 mechanise
 minimise
 recognise
 stabliser
globalize 
mechanize 
minimize 
recognize 
stabilizer 
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