Serpentinites - A rock comprised of one or more serpentine minerals.

 

Shear Zone - A wide zone of distributed shearing in rock.

 

Shotcrete - Mortar or concrete conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a surface.

 

Shut-off Grade - The grade of ore at which drawing from a draw point becomes un-economic.

 

Silicate - Types of rock that consists predominantly of silicate minerals.

 

Slag - The by-product of smelting ore to purify metals.

 

Slimes - Extremely fine sediment (#200mesh), produced in the processing of ore or rock.

 

Smelting - A smelting process to upgrade further the fraction containing the valuable materials.

 

Spiral Concentrator - Sluice formed in five or six tight spirals, in which centrifugal force aids the separating effect of sluice action.

 

Steel Sets - Mechanical support used to render tunnels safe. The sections have I-beams for caps and H-beams for posts or wallplates, theH-section giving equal stiffness in two directions at right angles to each other.

 

Stockpile - An accumulation of ore or mineral built up when demand slackens or when the treatment plant or beneficiation equipment is incomplete or temporarily unequal to handling the mine output.

 

Stoping - Underground excavations to effect the removal of ore.

 

Strike - The course or bearing of the out crop of an inclined bed, vein, or faultplane on a level surface; the direction of a horizontal line perpendicular to the direction of the dip.

 

Stope - An excavation from which ore has been removed in a series of steps.

 

Subduction Zone - An area where two tectonic plates meet and move towards one another, with one sliding underneath the other and moving down into the mantle, at rates typically measured in centimeters per year.

 

Sub-Level - A secondary level for working ore in top slicing and sub level caving.

 

Sub-Level Caving Method - A stoping method in which relatively thin blocks of ore are caused to cave by successively undermining small panels.

 

Sulphides - A mineral compound characterised by the linkage of sulphur with a metal or semimetal; e.g., galena, PbS, orpyrite, FeS2.

 

Surface Subsidence - The sudden sinking or gradual downward settling of the Earth’s surface with little or no horizontal motion.