Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
| adit | a nearly horizontal shaft to the surface in a mine. |
| afterdamp | poisonous gas formed after the explosion of firedamp in a mine. |
| airshaft | a passage into a mine etc. |
| backwork | work done underground but not at the coalface. |
| backworker | a miner who does backwork, work done underground but not at the coalface. |
| banket | a gold-bearing pebbly conglomerate. |
| banksman | an overseer at a pit-mouth. |
| beneficiate | to treat ores to remove impurities. |
| blackdamp | air that is low in oxygen and high in carbon dioxide as a result of an explosion in a mine. |
| blasthole | a hole containing an explosive charge for blasting. |
| bonanza | (Spanish) a lucky strike in eg mining. |
| bondager | (Hist.) a field worker, esp a woman who works in the field. |
| borehole | a hole bored in the earth. |
| brakesman | a pithead winch operator. |
| bucker | a hammer for bucking ore, i.e. breaking it into small pieces. |
| buddle | a sloping container for washing ore; (verb) to wash ore in this. |
| casinghead | in mineral extraction, the part of a well that is above the surface. |
| chalkpit | a pit from which chalk is quarried. |
| checkweigher | a colliery worker who, on behalf of the miners, checks the weight of coal sent up to the pit-mouth. |
| chokedamp | an asphyxiating gas, mainly carbon dioxide, found in mines. |
| claggy | tenacious, sticky. |
| coalface | the part of a mine where the coal is being dug. |
| coalfield | a district or area containing coal strata. |
| coalmaster | the owner or lessee of a coalfield. |
| coalmine | a mine at which coal is dug. |
| coalminer | one who digs coal. |
| collier | a coal miner. |
| concentrator | an apparatus for concentrating solutions or for obtaining minerals from ores by physical means. |
| costean | to sink pits through the surface soil to the underlying rock in order to establish the direction of a lode. |
| dogman | (Aust. sl.) a person who directs the operation of a crane while riding on the object being lifted by it. |
| dollier | one who uses a dolly, an implement used to wash ore. |
| dolly | an apparatus for agitating and washing ore in a vessel; (verb) to wash ore with a dolly. |
| downcast | a current of air into a mine. |
| downhole | relating to the drills, measuring equipment used in a borehole. |
| drillhole | a hole bored in the ground eg for rock samples. |
| eluant | a liquid used for elution. |
| eluate | a liquid obtained by eluting. |
| elute | to extract one material from another by elution, purification or separation by washing. |
| elution | purification or separation by washing. |
| faceman | a miner who works at the coalface. |
| faceworker | a miner who works at the coalface. |
| firedamp | a combustible mine gas, mainly methane, that can explode upon contact with a supply of oxygen. |
| fireflood | a method of extracting oil from a well by burning some of the oil to increase the flow. |
| footwall | the layer of rock beneath a vein of ore. |
| fossick | (Aust. sl.) to search for gold (among tailings); to rummage (for profit). |
| fossicker | (Aust. sl.) one who fossicks, rummages about, or searches for gold near the surface of a mine. |
| fracker | one who engages in fracking for shale oil. |
| gasser | an oil well yielding natural gas. |
| gaulter | a person who digs gault, a heavy clay used for bricks. |
| goaf | a space in a coal-seam, into which waste is packed. |
| goldfield | a gold-producing region. |
| goldminer | one who mines for gold. |
| gusher | an oil well that does not have to be pumped. |
| headframe | the structure over a mine shaft supporting the machinery. |
| heapstead | the buildings and places around a mine shaft. |
| hydraulic | relating to water (verb) to excavate and wash out with powerful jets of water |
| hydraulically | (Adv.) HYDRAULIC, relating to water. |
| kelly | the top pipe of a rotary string of drill pipes. |
| limepit | a pit from which lime is dug. |
| locater | one who locates, or is entitled to locate, land or a mining claim. |
| locator | one who locates, or is entitled to locate, land or a mining claim. |
| lode | a deposit of valuable ore occurring between definite limits in the surrounding rock. |
| longwall | a long working face in a coalmine. |
| minable | able to be mined. |
| mine | a place from which minerals, esp coal or precious metals, are dug (verb) to dig into for valuable materials |
| mineable | able to be mined. |
| miner | one that mines. |
| mineshaft | a vertical entrance into a mine. |
| mineworker | one who works in a mine. |
| miny | abounding with mines; like a mine. |
| mudlogger | a person who looks for oil, gas etc. in traces of mud excavated from a borehole. |
| mudlogging | looking for oil, gas etc. in traces of mud excavated from a borehole. |
| mullock | (Aust. sl.) waste earth or rock from a mine. |
| mullocky | (Aust. sl.) like mullock, waste earth or rock from a mine. |
| oncostman | a mine worker paid by the day. |
| opencast | worked from a surface open to the air. |
| orebody | a mass of ore in a mine. |
| overman | a supervisor in mining (verb) to man excessively |
| overmine | to mine to excess. |
| oversman | an overseer; a superintendent. |
| owre | (Scots) over; (Spenser) ore. |
| pan | a broad, shallow container; (verb) to wash earth for gold. |
| panner | one who pans for gold. |
| pipework | piping or pipes collectively; a vein of ore in the form of a pipe. |
| pithead | the top of a pit or shaft in a coalmine; the area immediately surrounding this. |
| pitprop | a (usu timber) support in the workings of a coalmine. |
| powderman | a person in charge of explosives, especially in a demolition crew. |
| proppant | a material, eg sand, used to keep open fissures in an oil-bearing sediment. |
| prospector | one who prospects. |
| pumpjack | a pumping apparatus at an oil well. |
| quarryman | a quarry worker. |
| regulise | to reduce to regulus, an intermediate product in ore smelting. |
| regulize | to reduce to regulus, an intermediate product in ore smelting. |
| rockburst | a sudden, violent rupture or collapse of highly stressed rock in a mine. |
| schlich | (Ger.) the finer portion of a crushed ore, as of gold, lead, or tin, separated by the water in certain wet processes. |
| shadrach | a mass of iron on which the operation of smelting has failed of its intended effect. |
| shotfirer | the mining worker who fires the blasting charges. |
| speise | (Ger.) a mass of arsenides and commonly antimony compounds, a first product in smelting certain ores. |
| speiss | (Ger.) a mass of arsenides and commonly antimony compounds, a first product in smelting certain ores. |
| spoil | to mar. |
| spudder | a small drilling rig used for spudding in wells. |
| stannary | a place or region where tin is mined or worked. |
| stemmer | a metal bar used to tamp down a charge in a blasting hole. |
| stempel | (Ger.) a cross-timber in a shaft. |
| stemple | a cross-timber in a shaft. |
| stockwork | (Ger.) a mass of veins, impregnations, etc of ore that can be worked as one deposit. |
| stope | a steplike working in a mine to extract ore; (verb) to excavate in stopes. |
| stoper | one that stopes, excavates in mining using a stope. |
| stull | a horizontal prop in a stope. |
| stulm | an adit or level in a mine. |
| subclaim | part of a mining claim. |
| subshaft | a shaft that is beneath another shaft. |
| timberman | a man employed in placing supports of timber in a mine. |
| tinner | a tin-miner. |
| toolpusher | a supervisor of drilling operations at an oil well. |
| torta | in mining, a flat circular pile of silver ore. |
| tributer | one who works for a certain portion of the ore, or its value. |
| tye | an inclined trough for washing ore; (verb) to wash in a tye trough. |
| undercast | an air-passage crossing under a road in a mine. |
| underlooker | a mine manager's assistant. |
| underviewer | a mine manager's assistant. |
| unmined | not mined. |
| unwater | to drain, esp a mine. |
| weighboard | a thin geological seam separating larger strata. |
| wheal | a raised mark on the skin left by a blow. |
| whitedamp | a mixture of poisonous gases, esp carbon monoxide, in a mine. |
| wildcatter | one that drills wells in the hope of finding oil in territory not known to be an oil field. |
| winds | a small ventilating shaft between two levels of a mine. |
| winze | a small ventilating shaft between two levels of a mine. |