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top rod

Scot. The rod connecting the uppermost pump rod to the bellcrank (lever)
on a bellcrank drive. Fay

top shot

An explosion or puff of gas at a furnace top. Syn:top kick

topside

a. On the surface as opposed to underground. Long
b. Above the drill rig in the derrick or tripod. Long
c. The inlet end of the hydraulic cylinder of a hyraulic-feed mechanism on
a diamond drill. Long

top slice

A horizontal block of ore extracted by top slicing. The dimensions vary in
different mines. Nelson

top slicing

A method of stoping in which the ore is extracted by excavating a series
of horizontal (sometimes inclined) timbered slices alongside each other,
beginning at the top of the orebody and working progressively downward;
the slices are caved by blasting out the timbers, bringing the capping or
overburden down upon the bottom of the slices that have been previously
covered with a floor or mat of timber to separate the caved material from
the solid ore beneath. Succeedingly lower slices are mined in a similar
manner up to the overlying mat or gob, which consists of an accumulation
of broken timbers and lagging from the upper slices and of caved capping.
See also:block caving

top slicing and caving

See:top slicing and cover caving

top slicing and cover caving

A mining method that entails working the orebody from the top down in
successive horizontal slices that may follow one another sequentially or
simultaneously. The whole thickness of the slice is worked. The ore may be
broken by overhand or underhand stoping in each unit. The overburden or
cover is caved after mining a unit. Syn:mining ore from top down;
top slicing and caving; transverse slicing with caving. Fay

top slicing combined with ore caving

A method of working an orebody from the top down in successive slices.
Instead of taking the full height of the slices, only the lower part is
taken and the upper part is caved. After removing this portion of the ore,
the cover is caved. A timber mat is used in most cases to separate the
broken cover from the ore and for safety. Also known as caving system
subdrifting and caving; subslicing; slicing under ore with back cave;
sublevel caving; sublevel slicing. Fay

top testing

See:roof testing

top wall

See:hanging wall

top water

Water introduced with the raw coal feed to assist the transport of
material through the washbox. Also called transport water.
CF:flush water

tor

A high, isolated crag, pinnacle, or rocky peak; or a pile of rocks, much
jointed and usually granitic, exposed to intense weathering, and often
assuming peculiar or fantastic shapes, e.g., the granite rocks standing as
prominent masses on the moors of Devon and Cornwall, England. AGI

Torbane Hill mineral

See:torbanite

torbanite

a. A variety of algal or boghead coal from Torbane Hill, Scotland. It is
layered, compact, brownish-black to black in color, very tough, and
difficult to break. On distillation, torbanite gives a high yield of oil.
Also called bathvillite. See also:bitumenite; boghead cannel;
boghead coal; boghedite; kerosine shale. Syn:Torbane Hill mineral
Tomkeieff
b. A dark-brown variety of cannel coal.
c. An oil shale mined in South Africa. Beerman

torbernite

A tetragonal mineral, Cu(UO2 )2 (PO4 )2 .12H
2 O ; autunite group; strongly radioactive; green; in tabular or
foliated crystals, associated with other uranium minerals; commonly in
parallel growth with autunite; a secondary mineral resulting from
alteration of uraninite. Also called chalcolite, copper uranite,
cuprouranite. Syn:uranmica; uranphyllite. CF:metatorbernite

torch

An oil-burning, wick-fed, miners' lamp of tin or copper, with a long
spout. Fay

torendrikite

A monoclinic mineral, (Na,Mg,Fe)7 Si4 O11 (OH,F)
approx.; an amphibole intermediate between richterite and glaucophane;
dark blue; at Itorendrika, Madagascar, and near Tine, Wadai, Africa.

torf dolomite

See:coal ball

torf-dopplerit

See:dopplerite

tormentor

a. A wooden axle, studded with iron spikes, for puddling auriferous clay
as it spins or turns in a trough. See also:puddler
b. A device somewhat similar to a log washer. Fay

Tornado

The Tornado crusher is based on the principle of central impeller shoes
spinning to hurl particles of gravel against breaker plates at tremendous
speed. The impact literally "explodes" the rock, causing it to cleave
across the grain as well as with the grain, producing the most desirable
cubical product. Pit and Quarry