ore veins
Underground metal deposits
Ore veins are narrow deposits of valuable minerals running through surrounding rock, formed when mineral-rich fluids fill cracks in the earth's crust and solidify.
Miners follow these seams to extract gold, silver, copper, or other metals.
The term appears frequently in mining contexts and video games: The prospector discovered a rich ore vein in the mountainside.
- mineralNaturally formed crystalline solid
- lodeMineral-rich rock seam
- goldElement seventy-nine
- silverLustrous white precious metal
- copperReddish-brown metallic element
precious metals · quartz · mining · mine shaft · shaft · seam · deposit · pay dirt · excavate · pickaxe · underground · tunnel · prospector · stake a claim · motherlode · gold rush · streak · crystalline
- mineralsquartz, marble, granite, limestone, sandstone
- mininggold, mines, gold mines, mine, coal
- metal miningcopper mine, open-pit mine, underground mine, underground mining, strip mining
- mining historyminers, gold pan, gold mining, pickaxes, silver mining
- mining museumheadframe, mining equipment, pickaxe, miner's lamp, canary cage
- ore processingcrushing, grinding, crushers, flotation, magnetic separation
mineral concentration vs. absence
ore veinsgangue
Commercially worthless ore rock
country rock · overburden · regolith · tailings · topsoil