To perform secondary or salvage mining operations in a working that has already been commercially exhausted by the primary operators. Miners scram by meticulously scraping out thin veins, floor pillars, or bypassed low-grade material. It is a labor-intensive process usually undertaken by independent contractors or tributers on a small scale.
Heard on the job
They bought the old lease hoping to scram enough silver out of the upper levels to pay for the drilling program.