[PRCo] Re: Spur

[Edward Skuchas]

Here is the terminology used in the industry:

Slag-steel making waste
Culm-anthracite mining waste
Gob-bituminous mining waste

Ed
On Mar 22, 2008, at 9:35 AM, robert netzlof wrote:

> --- "Dennis F.  Cramer" <dfc1 at windstream.net> wrote:
>
>> To me, slag has always been a term of waste coming from a steel
>> mill.
>
> To me also. I said I found its use regarding mine waste jarring.
>
>> Typically the waste from a small mine would have been the boney
>> pile.
>
> Usage may depend on locale. I think I was 30 years old before I heard
> the term "boney pile". It had always been "mine dump" when I was
> growing up.
>
> Nonetheless, I have seen/heard refernces to mine waste as "slag".
> That may not be too outre, as the dictionary says "slag" comes to us
> from the low German "slacke". I've heard many people refer to poor
> quality coal as "slack" or "slack coal". So, one man's slack may be
> another man's slag.
>
>> Miners have always
>> been very efficient at getting the pay dirt and there was usually
>> little waste.
>
> I beg to differ. I suppose it depends on the locale, but where I grew
> up in Westmoreland county, mine dumps were a prominent feature of the
> landscape. Indeed, in the aerial photo of the spur, look to the
> northeast of the tipple to see a part of a large dump. Go to:
>
> http://www.pennpilot.psu.edu/photos1940s/allegheny_1938/allegheny_1938_photos_jpg_400/allegheny_051739_aps7266.jpg
>
> to see the full extent of the dump associated with this mine.
>
> In the 1950s and '60s, many mine dumps were consumed as sources of
> "cinders" for anti-skid material on roads. Later, the EPA got upset
> over the potential for acid to leach out of the dumps and into
> streams, so megabucks were spent to bury them. As a result, mine
> dumps have disappeared from western PA, creating the impression that
> they never existed.
>
>
> Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob
>
>
>
>       
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