A segment of a lode, vein, or working area where the ore grade drops to zero or falls well below the economic cutoff. Miners must often drive through dead ground to reach the next payable ore shoot, which increases development costs without yielding immediate revenue.
Heard on the job
We've been driving through dead ground for the last twenty meters, but the drill core shows the vein picks up again ahead.
Do not mix it up with
- Deads: Dead ground is unmined barren rock in place, while deads are the broken waste rock packed into mined-out areas.