Showing Results for "mining"

See Also:

• present participle of mine.

mining

American  

[mahy-ning] / ˈmaɪ nɪŋ /

noun

1. the act, process, or industry of extracting ores, coal, etc., from mines.

2. the laying of explosive mines.

3. Digital Technology. the act or process by which cryptocurrency transactions, especially bitcoin, are verified and new cryptocurrency is generated: computer networks are used to solve sets of mathematical problems, that, when solved, yield a unit of that currency.

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mining British  

/ ˈmaɪnɪŋ /

noun

1. the act, process, or industry of extracting coal, ores, etc, from the earth

2. military the process of laying mines

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Etymology

Origin of mining

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English: “undermining (walls in an attack)”; mine ² + -ing ¹

Explanation

The process of removing something valuable from underground is mining. In order for coal to be used as fuel, it has to first be extracted from sedimentary rock through mining. Mining is used to extract minerals, gemstones, oil, gas, and any other materials that are useful or valuable enough to make the process worthwhile. Digging up substances from the earth is always tedious and sometimes dangerous. Coal mining is notoriously unhealthy for its workers, and surface mining involves blasting rocks with explosives to extract precious metals. You can think of mining as a kind of underground tunneling, from the verb mine, "to dig a tunnel."

Related Words

• drilling