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small ore

Eng. Copper, lead, and zinc ore dressed to a small size.
See also:smalls

smalls

a. Small coal; slack. Standard, 2
b. One of the three main size groups by which coal is sold by the National
Coal Board of Great Britain. It embraces all coals with no lower size
limit and ranges from a top size of 2 to 1/8 in (50 to 3.3 mm), and can be
either untreated, i.e., have received no preparation other than dry
screening; or treated, having been washed or dry cleaned.
See also:graded coal; large coal. Nelson
c. Small particles of mixed ore and gangue. Standard, 2
d. See:small ore

small-stone bit

In mineral exploration drilling, a diamond bit set with 100% size or
smaller diamonds. Long

small tin

Eng. Tin recovered from slimes.

smaltine

An arsenide of cobalt, often containing nickel and iron. Also called gray
cobalt; tin-white cobalt. See also:smaltite

smaltite

a. Arsenic-deficient variety of skutterudite. Syn:smaltine;
tin-white cobalt; gray cobalt; white cobalt; speisscobalt.
b. A general term for undetermined, apparently isometric, arsenides of
cobalt or for a mixture of cobalt minerals.

smaragd

a. A precious stone of light green color; a variety of beryl. Fay
b. See:emerald

smaragdite

A thin-foliated variety of amphibole, near actinolite in composition but
carrying some alumina. It has a light green color resembling much common
green diallage. Fay

smart aleck

A limit switch that cuts off power if a machine part is moved beyond its
safe range. Nichols, 1

smashup

A wreck, usually of haulage equipment.

smectic state

Liquid-crystalline state of some fatty acids and soaps in which bundles of
long molecules are oriented into parallel layers. Smectic liquid crystals
are composed of a series of planes. They glide rather than flow. When less
completely oriented (nematic), they are distributed at random and flow.
Pryor, 3

smectite

a. Any clay mineral with swelling properties and high cation-exchange
capacities; an expansive clay.
b. A term originally applied to fuller's earth and later to
montmorillonite; also to certain clay deposits that are apparently
bentonite, and to a greenish variety of halloysite.
c. The mineral group beidellite, hectorite, montmorillonite, nontronite,
pimelite, saponite, sauconite, sobotkite, stevensite, and swinefordite.

smeddum

a. Fine particles of coal or ore.
b. Fine coal slack. Also spelled smiddam; smiddum; smitham; smithem;
smitten; smytham. Standard, 2

smelt

See:smelting

smelter

a. Person engaged in smelting or works in an establishment where ores are
smelted. Fay
b. An establishment where ores are smelted to produce metal. Fay
c. A furnace in which the raw materials of the frit batch are melted.
See also:batch smelter; continuous smelter; rotary smelter.
ASTM

smelter returns

In a contract, returns from the ore, less the smelting charges, without
deducting transportation charges. Ricketts

smelting

a. The chemical reduction of a metal from its ore by a process usually
involving fusion, so that earthy and other impurities separate as lighter
and more fusible slags and can readily be removed from the reduced metal.
An example is the reduction of iron ore (iron oxide) by coke in a blast
furnace to produce pig iron. Smelting may also involve preliminary
treatment of ore, such as by calcination and further refining processes,
before the metal is fit for a particular industrial use. Rolfe
b. A process distinct from roasting, sintering, fire refining, and other
pyrometallurgical operations. The two most important types are reduction
smelting, which produces molten metal and molten slag, and matte smelting,
which produces molten matte and molten slag. Smelting may be conducted in
a blast furnace, a reverberatory furnace, or an electric furnace.
Reduction smelting is usually performed in blast furnaces and matte
smelting in reverberatories, but there are exceptions in both cases.
Syn:smelt

smelting furnace

A blast furnace, reverberatory furnace, or electric furnace in which ore
is smelted for the separation of a metal. Standard, 2

smelting works

An establishment in which metals are extracted from ores by furnaces.
Standard, 2

smiddam

Derb. Lead-ore dust. A variation of smeddum.

smiddum

Eng. A variation of smeddum.