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speleothem

A secondary mineral deposit formed in caves.

spell

A rest period for crews at furnace, stock house, etc., or a period of work
in drilling the taphole; a change or turn. Fay

spellerizing

Subjecting the heated bloom to the action of rolls having regularly shaped
projections on their working surface, then subjecting the bloom while
still hot to the action of smooth-faced rolls. The surface working is said
to give a dense texture to pipe made from the bloom, adapting it to resist
corrosion. Liddell

spelter

Zinc of under 99.6% purity. Hammond

Spence automatic desulfurizer

An improved maletra furnace provided with automatic rakes. Fay

Spence furnace

A furnace of the muffle or reverberatory type, the ore being supported on
shelves and stirred mechanically. Fay

spencerite

a. A monoclinic mineral, Zn4 (PO4 )2 (OH)2 .3H
2 O ; pearly white.
b. The synthetic material (Fe,Mn)3 (C,Si).

spencite

See:tritomite

spend

a. To break ground; to continue working.
b. To exhaust by mining; to dig out; used in the phrase, to spend ground.
Standard, 2

spent fuel

Nuclear-reactor fuel that has been irradiated to the extent that it can no
longer effectively sustain a chain reaction. Fuel becomes spent when its
fissionable isotopes have been partially consumed and fission-product
poisons have accumulated in it. Syn:depleted fuel

spent shot

A blasthole that has been fired, but has not done its work.

spergenite

A calcarenite that contains ooliths and fossil debris (such as bryozoan
and foraminiferal fragments) and that has a quartz content not exceeding
10%. Type locality: Spergen Hill, situated a few miles southeast of Salem,
Indiana, where the Salem Limestone (formerly the Spergen Limestone) is
found. Syn:Bedford Limestone

sperrylite

An isometric mineral, PtAs2 ; pyrite group; tin white; sp gr, 10.6;
occurs with heavy-metal ores, also in placers.

Sperry process

A process for manufacturing white lead in which softened and desilverized
lead anodes, preferably containing some bismuth, are placed in the Sperry
cells. Direct current dissolves the lead from the anodes, and carbon
dioxide is used to precipitate white lead (basic lead carbonate) from the
solution. The Sperry process slime, which contains the impurities from the
anodes, is washed, dried, and melted to an impure bismuth bullion, which
goes to the bismuth refinery. USBM, 5

spessartine

An isometric mineral, Mn3 Al2 (SiO4 )3 ;
garnet group with Mn replaced by Fe and Mg; crystallizes as dodecahedra
and trapezohedra; in skarns and granite pegmatites; may be of gem quality.
Also spelled spessartite. CF:emildine
Syn:manganese-aluminum garnet

spessartite

A "lamprophyre" composed of phenocrysts of green hornblende or
clinopyroxene in a ground mass of sodic plagioclase, with accessory
olivine, biotite, apatite, and opaque oxides. Named for Spessart, Germany.
Syn:spessartine

spew

The cauliflowerlike blowout or outcrop of a lode that extends beyond the
limits of the defined vein deeper down.

sphaerocobaltite

A trigonal mineral, CoCO3 ; calcite group; forms peach-blossom red
spherical masses. Also spelled spherocobaltite. Syn:cobaltocalcite

sphaerolitic

See:spherulitic

sphaerosiderite

Alternate spelling of spherosiderite.

sphagnum peat

Peat composed mainly of bog moss. It is characterized by an open texture,
is lightweight, has a high absorbing power, good isolating properties, a
clean appearance, and freedom from black dust. Tomkeieff