Acid mine drainage where the ore is a sulfide mineral or is associated with pyrite. In these cases the predominant metal ion may not be iron but rather zinc, copper, or nickel. The most commonly mined ore of copper, chalcopyrite, is itself a copper-iron-sulfide and occurs with a range of other sulfides. Thus, copper mines are often major culprits of acid mine drainage. At some mines, acidic drainage is detected within 2–5 years after mining begins, whereas at other mines, it is not detected for several decades. In addition, acidic drainage may be generated for decades or centuries after it is first detected.
Ore shoot for hundreds or thousands of feet horizontally and vertically. Such a structure could contain an area of enhanced metal content extending horizontally and vertically. This would be termed an "ore shoot." The existence of the ore shoot could be recognized visually in a tunnel or "drift" excavated along the structure, or by the assaying of rock samples cut from the walls and roof of the tunnel. Ore shoot In mining and geology, an ore shoot is a long seam of mineral or metal bearing rock that can be profitable to extract. The term may have originated in the 17th and