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An A to Z of Mining Terms

Every geologist owns (or should own) an A to Z of geological terms. Mine is a dog-eared Penguin paperback; a nerd-fest of geoscience words that was used over and over when I was still learning the trade. It cost me 50 pence new in Portsmouth in 1981. Now that I’m an experienced professional with …ah hem..30+ years under my belt, and in theory I know what I need to know for the job, it sits discarded in a tattered box along with my sedimentary geology and stratigraphy texts (good riddance to them…)

I was reminded of the old A to Z recently by my good friend Mario, currently COVID-stuck in Colombia. He suggested I put together an Urbancrows alphabetical list of some favourite mining terms; my own personalized dictionary with some customized definitions. It’s taken longer than I’d hoped and I had a tough time picking one word for each letter, but here goes. Enjoy.

PS: there are 2 terms under “C” because I had to write about Cornwall and its influence on the development of modern mining but wanted to include something else as well.

Things Geologists Do.

Answering The Call Of Nature

This week, Urbancrows tackles one of the more fragrant subjects that other lesser blogs won’t touch. A few weeks back, some friends and I were discussing field dump stories. Actually, someone asked the question “What’s your worst toilet experience in field?” which triggered a prolonged discussion that went downhill fast. If you’re of a nervous disposition, stop reading now and check out my harmless posting on crows or classical music instead. If you’re made of sterner stuff, don’t forget to read the comments at the end of this piece. Thanks to everyone who’s sent me their own personal misadventure.

*Let’s talk toilets. Or the lack of them*

Know Your News Releases

I’ll Take Disclosure for $500 Please.

Urbancrows’ adult education series continues today with a post focused on junior mining company news releases.

Writing a good mining/exploration news release takes patience, skill, persuasive rhetoric and apparently, for some companies, a shit ton of old fashioned chutzpah.

They come in many flavours, ranging from 100% plain-vanilla factual to 100% artificially-enhanced, bubblegum fiction.

Whether it’s regulatory or technical, these are some of the different types of releases that you can find on the wires on any given day. Many were suggested by my eclectic and awesomely intelligent group of mining buddies who’ve seen just about everything there is to see news-wise given their hundreds of collective years of experience. (Thanks, Whatsapp & Twitter crowds, you know who you are.)

I thought it would be fun to also throw in a quick question suggestion to put to the IR person if you’re motivated enough to call the company after reading their latest issuance.

My First Field Trip

One day in early September 1981, my dad dropped me and my Berghouse backpack off at a scummy B&B at No. 14 Nightingale Road, Southsea, what was then the red-light district of Portsmouth.

Bye. He said, climbing back into our blue Chevette. See you at Christmas.

Righty ho. I replied stuffing the tenner he’d given me into my empty wallet.

And with that, I tumbled headfirst into a brave new world of post-secondary education, pubs, field schools, and student poverty.

Mrs. Smart

“Mrs. Smart’s B&B: No Vacancies” read the tired, unwelcoming sign in the window of the 3-story terrace house. Nicotine-stained lace curtains added a touch of brothel chic to the look.

A car parked in front of a building

Description automatically generated — *I spent far too long here.*

A Musical Interlude

Why Is It Mining, Always Bloody Mining?

I know. I hear you. I’ve been so preoccupied dredging up old mining stories from the caved-in stopes of my aging brain, I’d clean forgotten that I used to post musical curios on the urbancrows blog. So, as a brief diversion from earth moving, I want to highlight a new guitar discovery for me. Not strictly classical this time around -it’s more contemporary guitar, but with a huge dash of Latin flavour.

For some obscure algorithmic reason, Australian musicians have muscled their way to the top of my youtube page recently. The Ozzie genius, Tommy Emmanuel, stands out as perhaps the best of the lot; a self taught master of finger style guitar. I had tickets to see him at the end of April at Vancouver’s QE Theatre but- guess what?- the gig was cancelled. Funny that. I live in hope that it’ll be back on next year.

Emmanuel’s total technical mastery of the steel string is on display as he turns House of the Rising Sun into a walking blues. And here he is in a fun recording of an old Django Reinhardt gipsy jazz tune with the great German jazz guitarist, Joscho Stephan.

Into Africa

It’s funny how certain blog posts seem to bring back fond memories for some readers. And it’s not always the stories you expect that end up resonating with the audience. To my surprise, this story turned out to be one of them. Many thanks for all the kind comments.

A Biographical Interlude

Tell me Ralph, how did you end up in Africa working down a mine? How did a middle class boy from southeast Kent, of distinctly average intelligence, end up in exotic places smashing rocks, and getting paid to do it?

Glad you asked. See.. I was lucky. Somewhere, sometime back in the 1980s there was a golden horseshoe flying about with my name written on it.

I graduated from a second-rate college which had a first-rate geology program in June 198…8…oh alright, if you must know, 1984. To my surprise, I landed a decent degree which gave me a few more career options than I might otherwise have had.

Things Geologists Do #7

Ore Pass Mapping

Mines are amazing places. I’ve made no secret on the blog for my love of underground. The smells, the sounds. It’s visceral shit that gets deeply ingrained. It grabs hold of your innards and won’t let go. To this day, if someone invites me on an underground trip, the excitement builds the moment I hit the change house. Overalls, hat lamp, boots, gloves, hard hat…

Luckily, I’ve never suffered from claustrophobia -if I did, I’d never have taken my first job in South Africa and would probably still be stacking shelves in Waitrose supermarket. More Heinz beans on aisle 6 please.

Things Geologists Do #6

Rock Licking

What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever licked- something that you’re happy to talk about in polite company which isn’t a body part?

When I was very small, I licked a slug and some squashed caterpillars I’d collected in a bucket and then pulped with a potato masher (I think I relived that episode as a student on a particularly depraved University field trip but my memory is hazy.)

Then, in my twenties, when I really should’ve known better, I managed to get my tongue stuck on a deep-frozen door key in the middle of an Albertan winter. Sad to say, I was sober, so I can’t claim student inebriation as mitigation for that brainless chapter in The Life Of Ralph.

*Hello. My name is Ralph. Can I lick your rocks?*

Geophysics Is All Bullocks.

I regard geophysics as a necessary evil -something proper geologists use to find out useful things about rocks but should otherwise avoid if they know what’s good for them. Some people understand geophysics -they design clever equipment with wires and buttons and dials that geologists pay a lot of money to rent- but I don’t, never will, and never really wanted to.

Urban Crows Is On Tour

The Self-Isolation-Round-The-World-In-14-Days Tour

I flew in from Santiago a week ago with a plane load of worried Canadians heading home from their business trips, or cancelled cruises or their we-had-a-bit-too-much-adventure holidays.

*The road in Chile goes on and on and on and on*

The handy leaflet I was given at Toronto airport that passes for Canadian government COVID-19 screening tells me that I have to self isolate for 14 days, so now I’m effectively stuck in the house until March 30th.

Well, screw that. I’m an experienced world traveller with the constitution of an ox on steroids, and I’m simply not prepared to sit around, thumb up my bum, while the wonders of the world pass me by. So, the Urbancrows blog has embarked on an all expenses paid (funding source to be determined) virtual world tour to take in some of the sights I’ve always wanted to see. Madagascar, Mongolia, Chad – I’ve crossed them all off my bucket list already.

Regular readers will be pleased to hear (I hope) that I’ve been keeping an illustrated travel diary to while away the time spent on my virtual plane, sipping virtual bubbly in my virtual fully-reclinable First Class seat. I’ll be updating the diary everyday, so let’s dive in and see where I’ve been…

Day 9: The Lord Of The Rings

Today I visited the set of the Lord of The Rings in New Zealand -I read the book over and over as a kid & it’s one of my favourite films. I went dressed as Bilbo & they let me climb Sauron’s tower, which was only 12 ft high and wobbled alarmingly; something of a let down! A pathetic looking rubber “Smaug” flew over on the end of fishing line & grilled one of the extras but that’s why they call them extras I guess! Gandalf was smoking his wand (wtf?) & a bit out of it. His tobacco smelled funny.

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An A to Z of Mining Terms

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