Only a Coal Miner Will Know the Meaning of All These Words

It's a basic industry term. If you're "running coal," you're simply coal mining.

The working face is the place were miners are scrambling for their precious prize. It's were the activity reaches a frenzied pace.

It's the best thing mine owers can hear -- the news of a particularly large vein of coal ore. Those veins are the lifeblood of the mine.

In coal mining, not all ore is the same. Really rich, high-value ore is called high-grade ore … and it's the stuff that can make mine executives rich.

In a mine, it's not really a ceiling. Instead, miners call it the "roof."

When you're underground, you call the ceiling (or the roof) the "back." Hopefully the back will never come crashing down on your head.

An adit is the entrance to an underground mine. In most cases, it refers to entryways that are horizontal, often located at the lowest possible level on a hill to make ore extraction easier.

In a coal mine, rocks are "muck." You have to get the muck out of the way in order to get to the good stuff.

The "drift" is the coal mine's tunnels. In some large mines, the drift runs on for miles and miles underground.

The jumbo is the machine that drills into the working face. Without the jumbo, the drift wouldn't extend very far.

In a mine, it's not called a "floor." Any flood (or just the ground) in a mine is the "bench."

Crushers are big, powerful machines that literally break rocks from the mine into smaller pieces. They help miners extract as much valuable ore from the rock as possible.

Glory holes are open pit mines, ones that use gravity to drop ore through vertical raises. The raises intersect with a horizontal passageway that leads back to the surface, so it works best on big hillsides.

Tailings are the leftovers. They're the minerals and rock that have no economic value compared to the coal ore.

A "raise" is a vertical drift, or tunnel. In most coal mines, a raise is used to provide ventilation for the drift far underground.

Binder refers to impurities within a seam of coal. As such, the bosses don't like it much because it doesn't make them any money.

"Old Harry's down there 'saving the mine.'" That guy is way too serious about the job … and himself.

After the coal is extracted, miners are often left with leftover waste rock. They can use that stuff as backfill to keep the mine's roof from collapsing.

Open-pit mines are often called open-cast or open-cut mines. They're the mines that often draw the ire of environmentalists who say these mines are much harder to reclaim once closed.

In the hardship and agony of early mining, it was easy to become downcast. If you "broke your pick," you were exasperated because of your exhaustion or lack of success.

Airways are obviously critical for ventilation in a mine. They're also called "air courses."

Every part of a coal mine tunnel has unique terms. The "ribs" are the side walls of a tunnel, or drift.

Miners work hard all day to get at precious ore. But gangue -- worthless minerals -- are often part of the job's exasperation.

Muckers are vital mining equipment. Muckers, or scoops, are the the big bulldozers that get the muck (rock) out of the way.

In the olden days, "cacklers" were deserving of derision. They were the guys who picked their noses while everyone else was getting their hands dirty.

A "jackleg" is a type of percussion drill used to access ore. It's one of the most common tools you'll find at a mine.

Sometimes when blasting the working face, there are leftover explosives. These are called "bootleg."

The "metal" prefix is the giveaway. Metallurgical coal is used to make steel, and as such, it's a valuable commodity.

In certain parts of the mine, the ore is tapped out. So miners stuff the "gob" with waste rock and forget about it.

"Deadwork" is all of the energy expended just to get access to precious ore. "Productive work" is the work that actually brings the valuable stuff back out for processing.