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Set. — A frame of timber cut ready for putting into a shaft or drive. 
Shaft. —A vertical or inclined communication from the surface into a mine. 
Shakes. —A crack or fissure. 
Shale. —A rock which weathers into thin flakes along the lines of bedding, 
mostly associated with the coal measures. 
Shear Legs. —Three long poles fixed together at the top with a pulley sus¬ 
pended to stand over a shaft for hauling. 
Shelf. —A ledge of bed rock upon which drift rests. 
Shepherding. — Holding a mine or claim by doing as little work upon it as 
compelled by law. 
Shift. —The time during which men work in a mine, generally eight hours. 
Shoding. — Tracing pieces of detached vein stone to the parent lode. 
Shoot. — The portion of the lode, of greater or less length, carrying the ore 
which generally dips as an inclined plane at an angle along the line of lode; a 
larger form of pipe. 
Shot. — A charge of an explosive put into a drill hole. 
Sickening. —A scum which forms on the surface of mercury from grease, 
sulphides, arcenides, etc. 
Silicate. —A mineral of which silica forms a constituent. 
Silicious. — Sandy or of a flinty nature. 
Sink. —A sump or pit below a level. To excavate downwards. 
Skips. — Trucks in a mine. 
Slack. —Small coal. Quicklime after water is added. 
Slate. — An argillaceous rock which splits into plates at right angles to the 
bedding. 
Slickensides. —A polished or striated surface upon rock or in a mineral lode, 
due to a fault or slip. 
Slide. —A small fault or disturbance in a lode. 
Slimes.— The very finely-divided ore, which is most difficult to save. 
Slip. —A fault. 
Slip Vein. — A gash vein, accompanied by faulting, or dislocation. 
Sluice.— A long trough with a loose bottom, on which there are small cross 
bars, or in which there are holes. Through this trough the wash-dirt is carried by 
a stream of water, the gold being left behind at the bars or under the false 
bottom. 
Sludge. — Muddy matter. 
Slug. — A piece of alluvial gold up to about lib. weight. 
Smalls. — Small-sized pieces of ore, gangue, or coal. 
Smutt.—P oor, dull, sooty portions of a coal seam. 
Soapstone. —A soft, greasy, talcose rock. 
Spalling, — Breaking up. 
Spathic. —Of a sparry nature. 
Specimen.—A lump of gold intermixed with quartz, or quartz very rich in 
gold. 
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