ClipArt ETC

The Mining ClipArt gallery offers 99 images of mining and ore processing techniques for gold, silver, coal, and iron ore.

Two coal miners working.

Miners

Two coal miners working.

French sappers and miners.

Miners

French sappers and miners.

Ancient mining shaft from the mound-builders, where copper was brought up.

Mining

Ancient mining shaft from the mound-builders, where copper was brought up.

An illustration of a miners loading a mine cart with iron ore in St. Louis, MO.

Mining

An illustration of a miners loading a mine cart with iron ore in St. Louis, MO.

Cars entering the mines.

Mining Cars

Cars entering the mines.

"When rock is reached, a curb or crib of either wood or iron is inserted."—Finley, 1917

Mining crib

"When rock is reached, a curb or crib of either wood or iron is inserted."—Finley, 1917

Ingersoll-Sergeant mining drill

Mining Drill

Ingersoll-Sergeant mining drill

An illustration of an iron ore mine dump in St. Louis, MO in 1874.

Mining Dump

An illustration of an iron ore mine dump in St. Louis, MO in 1874.

A trommel is a screened cylinder used to separate materials by size, separating the biodegradable fraction of mixed municipal waste or separating different sizes of crushed stone.

Mining Machine

A trommel is a screened cylinder used to separate materials by size, separating the biodegradable fraction…

Older methods of mining often included the necessity of the miner lying in a rigidly plane position. Old manner of work was done by hand.

Method of Mining

Older methods of mining often included the necessity of the miner lying in a rigidly plane position.…

A salt mine is an operation involved in the extraction of salt from rock salt or halite. The manufacture of salt in Mason City, West Virginia was started by Albert Edward Smith in 1880.

Salt Mining

A salt mine is an operation involved in the extraction of salt from rock salt or halite. The manufacture…

"Cave's modification of Nasmyth's Hammer." — The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Nasmyth's Hammer

"Cave's modification of Nasmyth's Hammer." — The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

A common pick used in excavation.

Pick

A common pick used in excavation.

Sharp implement used for removing materials like coal.

Coal Pick

Sharp implement used for removing materials like coal.

A mining pick used for breaking hard metals.

Miner's Pick

A mining pick used for breaking hard metals.

A common push pick with a crutch handle.

Push Pick

A common push pick with a crutch handle.

A pick with a point at one end, a transverse edge or blade at the other, and a handle inserted at the middle.

Pickax

A pick with a point at one end, a transverse edge or blade at the other, and a handle inserted at the…

A machine used to separate cotton from dirt, twigs, etc.

Pickax

A machine used to separate cotton from dirt, twigs, etc.

"The principle of proving a mineral field by boring is illustrated in [the illustration], which represents a line direct from the dip to the rise of the field, the inclination of the strata being one in eight." -Britannica, 1910

Proving Mineral Field

"The principle of proving a mineral field by boring is illustrated in [the illustration], which represents…

"The term "refining," although in strictness applicable to all methods by which impure iron is purified, is in practice restricted to one particular operation practised as a preliminary stage in the puddling process, viz., melting pig iron on a hearth, on which the fuel is piled, the combustion being urged by a blast of air, which also partially oxidizes the iron, both as it melts and subsequently; the molten mass when the operation is complete is either run out into moulds, chilled by throwing water on it." — The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Refinery

"The term "refining," although in strictness applicable to all methods by which impure iron is purified,…

Refinery Siphon and Alembic.

Refinery Siphon

Refinery Siphon and Alembic.

This furnace is used to purify a gold concentrate. The gold concentrates, if non-pyritic, are treated in grinding pans in the bottom of which mercury is placed. The amalgam (mercury alloy), after squeezing out the excess mercury, is heated in the retort, to distil (separate) off the rest and leave the gold, which is then melted and cast into bars of gold bullion of varying fineness.

Retort Furnace for Gold Bullion

This furnace is used to purify a gold concentrate. The gold concentrates, if non-pyritic, are treated…

"Brown's revolving squeezer, the ball being made to pass between two rotating cams which flatten it out, and subsequently between the second of these and a third which carries the operation further; in more powerful machines of the kind a larger number of cams still is employed." — The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Revolving Squeezer

"Brown's revolving squeezer, the ball being made to pass between two rotating cams which flatten it…

"Brown's revolving squeezer, the ball being made to pass between two rotating cams which flatten it out, and subsequently between the second of these and a third which carries the operation further; in more powerful machines of the kind a larger number of cams still is employed." — The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Revolving Squeezer

"Brown's revolving squeezer, the ball being made to pass between two rotating cams which flatten it…

A lamp surrounded with a cylinder of wire gauze, to give light in mines, without the danger of setting fire to inflammable gases.

Safety-lamp

A lamp surrounded with a cylinder of wire gauze, to give light in mines, without the danger of setting…

"Until hard rock is reached the sides of the excavation are supported temporarily by a lining"—Finley, 1917

Shaft lining

"Until hard rock is reached the sides of the excavation are supported temporarily by a lining"—Finley,…

"Until hard rock is reached the sides of the excavation are supported temporarily by a lining"—Finley, 1917

Shaft lining

"Until hard rock is reached the sides of the excavation are supported temporarily by a lining"—Finley,…

Shaft wall from mining.

Shaft wall

Shaft wall from mining.

"A small skip; the upper illustration showing position for dumping. The lower cut is of a skip for either ore or water; note valve in bottom. Hoisting buckets or kibbles are employed for small scale work or temporary service, such as raising the material blasted in sinking shafts."—Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910

Ore and Water Skips for Inclined Shaft

"A small skip; the upper illustration showing position for dumping. The lower cut is of a skip for either…

"One of the simplest forms of sluice as used in river diggings in the north-west of America. A rectangular trough of boards, whose dimensions depend chiefly on the size of the planks available, is set up on the higher part of the ground at one side of the claim to be worked, upon trestles or piers of rough stone-work, at such an inclination that the stream may carry off all but the largest stones, which are kept back by a grating of boards about 2 inches apart at a." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Sluice

"One of the simplest forms of sluice as used in river diggings in the north-west of America. A rectangular…

"In mining, a trough made of boards, used for separating gold from the gravel and sand in which it occurs. Its bottom is lined with riffles, and these, with the help of quicksilver, arrest and detain the particles of gold as they are borne along by the current of water." &mdash;Whitney, 1889 <p>Illustration of miners working in a forest, shoveling material into the sluice.

A Sluice Box - Miners Work in the Forest

"In mining, a trough made of boards, used for separating gold from the gravel and sand in which it occurs.…

Stamp Mill.

Stamp Mill

Stamp Mill.

A stamp mill facilitates the crushing of ore (in this case, gold ore) into very small grains, with many mechanical parts, including: the ore car, to carry ore from the mine to the Mill (a); the trestle, the tunnel from the mine to the mill that the ore car travels through (b); the grizzly (c); the crushing floor (d); the bin for crushed ore (e); the stamp, a vertical iron rod having a cast-iron or steel shoe, which, falling on the mortar block, crushes the ore (f); the mortar (g); and the apron plate (h).

Stamp Mill for Gold Ores (Sectional View)

A stamp mill facilitates the crushing of ore (in this case, gold ore) into very small grains, with many…

An illustration of mine train carts loaded with coal.

Coal Train

An illustration of mine train carts loaded with coal.

A trepan used for boring large shafts.

Large trepan

A trepan used for boring large shafts.

A trepan used for boring small shafts.

Small trepan

A trepan used for boring small shafts.

"Two kinds of successions of grooves used for rectangular bars in "two-high" train." &mdash; The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Two-high Trains

"Two kinds of successions of grooves used for rectangular bars in "two-high" train." — The Encyclopedia…

Men are breaking up the rocks with water so they can get to the silver or gold among the rocks.

Washing

Men are breaking up the rocks with water so they can get to the silver or gold among the rocks.

They take the gravel and dirt to the sides of the streams, and roll it about in wooden bowls. After a while there is nothing but the gold and the gravel. The miners throw the gravel away handful by handful.

Washing Gold

They take the gravel and dirt to the sides of the streams, and roll it about in wooden bowls. After…