Exploration & Mining Glossary

Deposit - A mineral deposit is a mineralized mass that may be economically valuable, but whose characteristics require more detailed information. An ore body being mined may be called a deposit.

Devonian - A geological time period of 60.3 million years ranging from 358.9 million years ago (Mya) to 419.2 Mya.

DHEM (Geophysics) - An exploration method for conductive mineralisation, particularly in areas where the ability of surface EM to define a target is limited either by large depths or by interfering conductive bodies such as overburden, shallow sulphides and peripheral mineralised horizons. DHEM allowed explorers to widen the search radius of boreholes, when used in the search of massive sulphides.

Diamond drilling - A drilling method used to collect a small diameter core samples of rock from the orebody, geologists can analyse the core by chemical assay and conduct petrologic, structural and mineralogical studies of the rock.

Dilution - The contamination of ore with waste rock.

Dip - The angle at which a planar feature is inclined to the horizontal plane; it is measured in a vertical plane perpendicular to the strike of the feature.

Disseminated - Ore deposits consisting of fine grains of ore mineral dispersed through the host rock.

Down-dip - Located down the slope of a dipping plane or surface.