Geology Rocks!: Gold Rush: Mining and Metals

The minerals and metals that make our technology possible come from underground, and they undergo multiple transformations on the surface. Do you have the mettle to learn this hole list of mining and metallurgy vocabulary?
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. alloy
    a mixture containing two or more metallic elements
    Frank touched the surface as though it were an alien spacecraft made of a strange alloy. Slate (Jul 1, 2020)
  2. anvil
    a heavy block on which hot metals are shaped by hammering
    Then he opened a local shop about 20 years ago with forges, anvils and a creative itch. Washington Times (Feb 23, 2020)
    If you've ever seen a blacksmith hammering a piece of steel, the metal block beneath the hot steel is an anvil, which often has a flat area and a tapering curved surface for shaping the hot metal with blows from a hammer.
  3. auger
    a hand tool used to bore holes
    The auger of the mobile drill hit an active power line and caught fire. Washington Times (Mar 26, 2020)
    An auger is a spiral drill bit, similar to a corkscrew, but often much larger and sometimes attached to large machines like excavators where they're used for drilling wells. Be sure not to confuse this with augur, which means "to tell the future using omens."
  4. claim
    an assertion of a right, as to money or property
    The existence of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank is fiercely opposed by Palestinians who claim all the territory for a future independent state. BBC (Jul 10, 2020)
  5. crucible
    a vessel used for high temperature chemical reactions
    The discovery that most glitters, though, is smoking-gun evidence that neutron star mergers—rather than run-of-the-mill supernovae—are the cosmic crucibles that forge the universe’s heavy elements: substances including uranium, platinum and gold. Scientific American (Oct 16, 2017)
    A crucible is a ceramic vessel, often with a pouring spout, used for melting metals. They can be quite small, like the ones jewelers will use, to the enormous ones used in foundries to cast huge parts for ships or giant machines.
  6. deposit
    the phenomenon of sediment or gravel accumulating
    “The election is considered the most important since Guyana became independent from Britain in 1966, given the recent discovery of major oil and gas deposits near its coastline,” the Associated Press reported last month. Washington Post (Jul 7, 2020)
  7. drill
    make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool
    Turkey dispatched warship-escorted vessels off Cyprus to drill for gas, insisting that it’s acting to protect its interests and those of Turkish Cypriots to the area’s natural resources. Washington Times (Jul 6, 2020)
  8. element
    a substance that cannot be separated into simpler substances
    All stars are fueled by nuclear fusion reactions in which protons combine to form helium nuclei, which in turn fuse to create heavier elements. Scientific American (Jul 9, 2020)
  9. flux
    a substance added to molten metals to bond with impurities
    Flux facilitates soldering, brazing, and welding by keeping the metal from oxidizing; it allows the weld or solder to adhere to clean metal.
    Flux comes from the Latin fluxus, a form of the verb fluere, meaning "to flow." Flux is often used to describe a fluid, changeable situation, but in metallurgy it refers to a chemical paste used to protect metals from oxidation during soldering or welding.
  10. forge
    create by hammering
    The resulting fireball, 5 billion times as bright as the Sun, forges a suite of metals from chromium to nickel in the periodic table. Science Magazine (Jun 4, 2020)
    A forge is a furnace used to heat metal so it can be worked or melted, and to forge something means to make it: literally, if it's an iron tool, for example, or figuratively, if it's a friendship or an agreement about a complicated or contentious issue. In either case, whatever is being made or transformed requires a lot of heat or energy.
  11. foundry
    a factory where metal castings are produced
    Reid and 11 other enslaved Black men built a foundry near Lafayette Square and did the casting for the Jackson statue there. Los Angeles Times (Jun 26, 2020)
    Foundry comes from the Latin verb fundere, "to melt," which is also the root of fondue the famous Swiss dish of melted cheese or sometimes chocolate.
  12. ingot
    a piece of metal cast in the shape of a block
    There is also a bracelet believed to be from what is now north-west France, and copper ingots possibly originating from the Alps. The Guardian (Feb 10, 2020)
  13. ore
    a mineral that contains metal valuable enough to be mined
    With state government approval, the world’s biggest iron ore miner in May destroyed two sacred caves in the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia as part of a mine expansion. Reuters (Jul 9, 2020)
  14. prospector
    someone who explores an area for mineral deposits
    It deals with the encroachment of developers, hunters and gold prospectors on the rainforest. BBC (Apr 16, 2020)
  15. quarry
    a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate
    The latest casualties were from the gendarmerie security forces carrying explosives from the factory to a stone quarry to be detonated in a controlled explosion, the ministry said. Reuters (Jul 9, 2020)
    A mine goes deep beneath the surface, but a quarry is open to the sky. Quarries are generally used to excavate stone used for construction, whether solid blocks or gravel and sand for making concrete.
  16. shaft
    a long vertical passage sunk into the earth, as for a mine
    In a multistory building, it is usually the elevator shaft that goes up first. Washington Post (Jun 27, 2020)
  17. smelt
    extract by heating, as a metal
    Among the major initiatives, the EU made clear it wants to accelerate development of "green hydrogen" as a zero-carbon replacement for fossil fuels in industry, andthe smelting of steel in particular. Salon (Jun 15, 2020)
    Smelting involves heating raw ore to melt the metal within it, letting it flow away and leaving the rock behind.
  18. solder
    join or fuse with an alloy
    Naomi, the arcade’s technician who keeps the games running, is more at home with her soldering iron than with new people. Washington Post
    Solidare means "to make solid" in Latin, and over the years, after a trip through French, it came to refer specifically to the process of attaching metal together using a different metal with a lower melting point.
  19. vein
    a layer of ore between layers of rock
    Guided by stacks of stones deeper and deeper in the darkness of the cave, she finally spied her prize: a blood-red vein of rock in the fire-lit wall. Science Magazine (Jul 3, 2020)
    When talking about minerals, a vein refers to a line, seam, or distinctly visible part of a rock where the desired material can be seen. It comes from the Latin root vena, used to describe the veins in your body.
  20. weld
    a metal joint formed by softening with heat and fusing
    The white glow of welding at a workbench. BBC (Jul 6, 2020)
Created on Sat Jun 27 11:20:53 EDT 2020 (updated Mon Jul 13 11:01:51 EDT 2020)

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