Goodquarry Glossary

Also known as a fluxgate gradiometer. A remote sensing instrument capable of identifying sub-surface archaeological features by measuring the difference in their magnetic properties against the surrounding soils

Magnitude

a combination of the scale, extent and duration of an effect.

Manganese spread

Manganese steel is liable to plastic deformation or spread caused by the high stresses induced during crushing.

Mantle

Lining of a gyrating crushing member. It applies to cone and gyratory crushers.

Manufactured sand

Crushed rock sands.

Marine aggregates

Aggregates dredged from the seabed.

Marine sand and gravel

Aggregates dredged from the seabed.

Maximum Instantaneaous Charge (MIC)

The Maximum Instantaneaous Charge is the amount of explosive in kilograms which is detonated at a given moment in time. Quarry blasts are usually made up of multiple holes with a delay of a few milliseconds between each one. In this way, the amount of energy entering the rock at a single moment is reduced, which lowers the vibration level.

Medieval

The period between the end of Roman Britain in c. AD450 and the dissolution of the monasteries in c. AD1540. Often split into ?earlier? and ?later? sub-periods either side of the Norman conquest of AD1066.

Metallophyte

Metal tolerant plant species such as alpine pennycress and alpine scurvygrass.

Metamorphic

These are rocks within the Earth?s crust which have been altered by heat, pressure or chemically active fluids.

Metamorphic rocks

Rocks which have been subject to heat/pressure/chemical changes which have caused changes in their solid state. They include rocks such as slate, schist and gneiss.

MIC

See Maximum Instantaneaous Charge.

Micro-topography

Small changes and variations in the shape of the ground surface.

Milling

Grinding of material to a desired finer particle size.

Mine

Defined by law (Mines and Quarries Act 1954) as any mineral extraction activity occurring below ground.

Mineral

This has two definitions.
a) A naturally formed chemical element or compound with characteristic form or structure and definite composition (geology).
b) A naturally occurring mineral material with foreseeable use (Industrial).

Mineral Industry Sustainable Technology (MIST)

The Mineral Industry Sustainable Technology programme aims to deliver environmental benefit through development and demonstration of new technologies and approaches. It funds projects with money from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund and is administrated by MIRO.

Mineral Planning Authorities (MPAs)

The Mineral Planning Authorities are the statutory bodies (county councils, metropolitan borough councils, national park authorities, etc.) which control the mineral workings in their areas. They are given guidelines by the government in the form of national and regional strategies and guides.

Mineral waste

Waste is any material which the holder discards, or intends, or is required to discard. In practical terms it consists of overburden, rock or processed material, which has no economic value and is stored temporarily or permanently at the extraction site.

Minerals Consultation Areas

Minerals Consultation Areas are defined under Section 86(2) of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. They exist to ensure that district planning authorities who are not MPAs do not unduly sterilise important mineral resources by permitting surface development.

Minerals Local Plan (MLP)

Through the Minerals Local Plan a County Council provides the detailed policy framework for assessing proposals for the working of the minerals in its area. The aim is to balance the County Council?s responsibilities to make provision for the winning and working of minerals for local, regional and national needs, with its responsibilities to protect the environment and the amenity of local residents. An example is given for Leicestershire County Council.

Minerals Planning Guidance (MPG)

Minerals Planning Guidance. These are the documents with which the Government lays out its national planning policy for minerals in England. Some are being replaced by Minerals Policy Statements.

Minerals Policy Statement (MPS)

Minerals Policy Statement. These are the new documents with which the Government lays out its national planning policy for minerals in England. They are gradually replacing some of the Minerals Planning Guidance notes.

Minimisation

The process of minimising the use or production of energy, noise, water, materials etc in a mining operation.

MIST

See Mineral Industry Sustainable Technology programme.

Mitigate

The removal or reduction of a deleterious effect, practice or process.

MLP

See Minerals Local Plan

Mobile plant

Machinery, which is capable of movement under its own power or by pulling with a suitable tractor. It can vary from small trucks to primary crushers, bucketwheel excavators or walking draglines weighing thousands of tonnes. It enables additional flexibility in the mine or quarry throughput.

Mortar

A blend of sand and lime to which cement and water is added on site to produce a masonry mortar for binding bricks and other building materials.

MPA

See Mineral Planning Authority

MPG

See Minerals Policy Guidance.

MPS

See Minerals Policy Statement.

Multiplier

This is the number of Standard Errors which must be added to the intercept of the best fit regression line to give the appropriate percentage confidence limit. For a single tail test, the multiplier is 1.645 for the 95% confidence limit, 2.33 for 99% and 3.09 for 99.9%. These values can be obtained from statistical tables, but care must be taken to use the values for a single tail test.