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GeneralTips

20th Oct 2016 23:42 UTCTony Albini

I gather the term "tips" in the UK is the same as "mine dumps" in the US. Please let know that this is correct.

20th Oct 2016 23:59 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Yes

21st Oct 2016 00:19 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Short for tipple.

Mainly places where coal was loaded onto coal train cars.

21st Oct 2016 01:33 UTCStuart Mills Manager

Means a garbage dump in Australia :)-D

21st Oct 2016 01:40 UTCChester S. Lemanski, Jr.

In the US they refer to "tipping fees" for dumping garbage into a trash dump (sanitary landfill) = isn't English a great language???.

21st Oct 2016 15:13 UTCTony Albini

Everyone, thanks for the information. Tony

22nd Oct 2016 19:53 UTCJohn M Stolz Expert

Some people work for tips.

22nd Oct 2016 21:35 UTCColin Robinson

David Von Bargen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Short for tipple.

> Mainly places where coal was loaded onto coal

> train cars.

NOT places where coal was tipped into train cars (trucks or wagons, as we call them here). A tip is any heap of mine waste as opposed to the stockpile which is where the good stuff is kept. The word dump is also used here but is not as common as tip.

22nd Oct 2016 22:40 UTCAlex Homenuke 🌟 Expert

Some people work tips for rocks

22nd Oct 2016 23:18 UTCColin Robinson

and some people work rocks for tips....

27th Oct 2016 08:06 UTCDale Foster Manager

Tony Albini Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

I gather the term "tips" in the UK is the same as "mine dumps" in the US. Please let know that this is correct.

The word 'tips' can refer to any kind of dump, not just mine dumps.

Another term in Cornwall for mine dumps is brawse, which has corrupted to burrows over time.

27th Oct 2016 11:58 UTCAndy Lawton

Slag heap - mostly used in relation to the massive hills of waste rock produced by coal mining.

27th Oct 2016 13:34 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

A slag heap is more for a furnace tip.

27th Oct 2016 13:45 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

Just to know for sure: does the word 'talings' mean the same as 'tips'?

27th Oct 2016 14:28 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Tailings is more for the waste from a concentrator/mill. It is usually finely ground and had most of the desired ore minerals removed..

27th Oct 2016 14:30 UTCColin Robinson

Tailings are produced as part of the ore processing, rather than from the mining and are small fragments of waste rock. Slimes are very fine particles of the same material. They may well be called something else in other parts of the world. Paul, in the U.K. colliery waste tips are known as slag heaps, as Andy says.

27th Oct 2016 15:09 UTCDoug Schonewald

Where I was born and raised (Silver Valley, Northern Idaho) these piles are often referred to variously as 'waste', 'dump' or 'gob'. Some use one term, some use one of the other terms, and some use all of them when talking about these piles. I always thought it interesting when talking to someone about these piles and they used all three terms interchangeably. English, such an interesting and confusing language.

27th Oct 2016 15:44 UTCAlex Homenuke 🌟 Expert

I believe "gob" is the loose waste inside a mine.

27th Oct 2016 20:19 UTCEd Clopton 🌟 Expert

In the midwestern US, dumps of waste rock from coal mines are known to laymen as "slag piles" even though they have nothing to with metallurgical slag from metal refining. In really flat country like central Illinois a modest slag pile can be seen for miles and may serve as a local landmark for giving directions.

27th Oct 2016 20:51 UTCTom Goodland

Another (British) term is spoil tip or heap, the waste rock or soil (dirt) not wanted by the mine/quarry. I don't know how the phrase "spoils of war" came about, presumably they are something the victors wanted; just an unfortunate byproduct of the war.

28th Oct 2016 00:43 UTCAndy Lawton

Paul, furnace slag too, but it definitely refers to coal mining spoil heaps in vernacular English.

28th Oct 2016 02:04 UTCJim Robison

A corollary to the above points out what happens to language when miners from one region or country move to another and take their names along with them. I worked in an area once that had strong Norwegian, Finnish, Irish, English, German, Italian (etc.. you get the point) heritage, and observed how the local names varied with time and location.

In Utah, local terminology called a headframe, or the works at the top of a shaft, a 'gallous' frame. Turns out that years back, especially in the southwestern states where there were often not many trees, and vigilante groups needed a support for a hanging, they would throw the rope over the top of a local mine head frame timbers and use it for a gallows, which term was eventually corrupted into the aforementioned "gallous" Go figure that one out.

28th Oct 2016 02:09 UTCLawrie Berthelsen (2)

Just to muddy the waters further, in Australia they are referred to as "mullock heaps".

28th Oct 2016 16:04 UTCTony Albini

Everyone, love the information. In the US, when field collecting, material of no mineral value to the collector is called "leaverite", leave it right on the dumps!

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