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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Mine Types & Mining Operations

Shaft

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

/ʃæft/nounCore term

In oil, gas & mining, shaft means: A vertical or steeply sloping tunnel sunk from the surface into an underground mine, used to move workers, ore, materials and air.

In Turkish: kuyu, maden kuyusu, şaft

How it is used

Shafts are 'sunk', and the work is called shaft sinking. A headframe stands above the shaft, and a hoist (winder) moves the cage, which carries people, and the skip, which carries ore. Mines may have production shafts and ventilation shafts.

Example sentences

  1. The new shaft will reach a depth of 1,100 metres.

  2. At the start of the shift, the crew goes down the shaft in the cage.

Common collocations

  • sink a shaft
  • shaft sinking
  • ventilation shaft
  • production shaft
  • shaft headframe
  • underground mineA mine where ore or coal is reached through shafts, declines or tunnels and extracted below the surface, used when the deposit is too deep for an open pit.
  • ventilationThe system that moves fresh air through an underground mine to supply oxygen, remove dust, heat and dangerous gases, and keep the air safe to breathe.
  • seamA layer of coal or another mineral lying between layers of other rock. It may be a few centimetres or many metres thick.
  • wellA deep, narrow hole drilled into the ground to find or produce oil, gas or water, or to inject fluids back into a reservoir.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Mine Types & Mining Operations

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