Mining Terminology N - P

• Nugget: A precious metal found in little sizes and that is found in nature.

• Native metal: Consists of a metal that takes place in nature in a pure form and that is not mixed with other elements. 

• Open pit: A mine that is completely on the surface.

• Ore: Consists of a combination of ore minerals and gangue from where at least one of the metals can be extracted at a profit.

• Pellet: This is a little ball of iron ore that is fused with clay for transportation and utilized in steelmaking.

• Pentlandite: Nickel iron sulphide, the most ordinary nickel ore.

• Peridotite: An intrusive igneous rock made up mostly of olivine.

• Picket line: A location line that is marked by pickets or stakes and that has been set up on a property in order for it to be mapped and surveyed.

• Pig iron: Crude iron that comes from a blast furnace.

• Pillar: A lump of solid ore or other rock left in place to structurally hold the shaft up.

• Pitchblende: Main uranium ore mineral that has a blackish color and a greasy lustre, it is also very radioactive. Placer - A deposit of sand and gravel containing valuable metals such as gold, tin or diamonds.

• Plant: This is a building or buildings where a mining process or function takes place. In the case of a mine site the plant would include warehouses, maintenance shops, hoisting equipment, compressors, offices and the mill or concentrator etc.

• Plate tectonics - A geological theory which postulates that the Earth's crust is made up of a number of rigid plates which collide, rub up against and spread out from one another.

• Plug: A frequent name for a little offshoot from a big body of molten rock.

• Polishing pond: The last in a sequence of settling ponds where mill effluent flows before it is discharged into the natural environment.