|
G Words |
Meaning |
| Gad | A thin chisel used to chip rock when forming a hitch, removing loose ground or similar activities |
| Gate |
An openable part of a securely
fenced or bounded area. Cage Gate – The openable part of a cage to allow personnel to enter and leave, whilst keeping them confined in safety whilst travelling through a shaft. Gates coul be dropped into holders, have scissor action, or swung on hinges. Shaft Gate – The openable part at shaft stations and surface of a mine shaft to allow personnel to enter and leave a cage, skip or access a ladderway, etc. |
| Gelatine Dynamites | The most common form of nitro-glycerine based explosives used in the mining industry before the use of AN-FO based slurries and prills. They are still used for specific purposes, having better water resistant properties and velocities, etc. |
| Gelignite | A nitro-glycerine based high explosive that was superceded by the range of gelatine dynamites. |
| Gangue | The waste materials in the lode, generally quartz, fluorspar, oxides of iron |
| German Key | A 2 to 3ft. long, square section steel bar with right angled crook at one end, used as a spanner for large (3 to 4 inch) screw thread ‘steam union’ joints in pipework. |
| Grade |
Two meanings as below Grade and Line – The means of setting the correct gradient and direction of a heading, particularly for cross-cuts and access drives. The grade being set by strings across the drive and the line by strings hanging from the back. These lines were strung from pegs put in and advanced, when required, by the survey department. Mill Grade – The grade, by percentage, of the metal contained in the treated ore produced by the mill, as deduced from samples. Mine Grade – As above but applying to the average amount of metal contained in the ore as sent up the shaft. Ore Grade – As above but applying to any batches of ore produced, for example that trammed from a stope in a shift. |
| grade lines | 2 surveyors lines across the heading, directed up or down progress. |
| Granby | A type of wagon to transport broken rock. The granby wagon has a side opening door that, by a system of levers, opens up as the wagon butt is raised at the other side. At SC the granby wagons were of 40 and 65 cu ft capacity. |
| Granite | An igneous rock containing quartz, biotite mica and feldspar and various other additions that give it differing appearances. The coarseness of the constituent minerals depends on its initial cooling. |
| Grass | Miner’s term for surface. ‘Going to grass’ meant going up the shaft to the open air. |
| Grizzly |
A grid of rails or other steel
section laid over girders and placed over a rock pass. The rails
are spaced a foot or two apart depending on position and prevent
oversize rocks from entering the pass. The oversize was either
broken by sledge hammer or, occasionally, blasted with small
charges. Grizzly Bars – The rails or other steel bars forming the grid of a grizzly. At SC these were ex-GWR bullhead rails laid on their side. Grizzly Hammer – A 10lb hammer with the two opposite heads of a flat, cut-off wedge shape, ideal for applying maximum impact to the cleavage planes in the rock to be broken. Went out of use by the 80’s when there were fewer small aperture grizzlies used. Grizzly Man – The person working on the grizzly, breaking up oversize. At SC crushers were installed below the rock passes in the mid 60’s and the need for permanent grizzly men was done away with. A favourite ‘punishment’ for ‘boys’ was to put them on the grizzly alone, the two grizzly men taking a well earned break for a few hours |
| grizzly | a set of metal bars, through which tipped wagon dirt has to pass |
| Guide |
The timber, steel or rope that
stretches the length of a shaft. The cage or skip has shoes or
wheels that engage with the guide, generally in pairs, and keep
it in place as it travels throught he shaft. Guide Rail – A length of rail inside the inside rail of a track switch or sharp curve that, by trapping the inside of a wheel flange, helps guide it round the curve. |
| Gunnis (Gunnies) | The empty space resulting from a stope being mined out and the broken rock removed. |
| gunnis | a void, an empty stope etc. |
| Gutter |
The ditch running along any
mine roadway to convey water back to the slime (settling) bays
for pumping. Gutter Boards – 8 x 1 inch lengths of timber sometimes used to confine water to the gutter, generally nailed to the ends of track sleepers. |
| GWR | Term for ex-GWR (Great Western Railway) bullhead rail, mainly used for grizzly bars and chute brows. These rails had a head on either side and were turned over when one side was worn down, they were held in chairs with wedges rather than being fastened directly to the sleepers. |
Peter Hughes has
supplied words of this colour
D.C.Williams
at Exeter University, better known as Gus. has supplied words of
this colour
The
remainder are supplied by Michael Davis