Meaning of Winze | Babel Free

Definitions

A steep shaft for such purposes as: to join two levels in a mine; or to explore greater depths when considering whether to open a new level; or to permit forced ventilation of deeper levels.

Equivalents

Examples

“The air on the 2,350-ft. level passes through the main drift, while the air from the fan on the 2,250-ft. level passes into a cross-cut and a drift east of the main drift, returns, and joins the air passing through the main drift towards the Ophir winze.”

“A formation that is liable to fool the prospector, I found in the Oconguas district... In prospecting along the stream ... I got some rich pannings. The gold was rather angular and I decided that it had not traveled far. I proceeded up the hill... panning the manto and getting "colors" all the way up... I found a veinlet about 15 in. wide and very rich in gold. Trenching along its outcrop showed that it extended about 100 ft. and then pinched out altogether. A winze sunk on the veinlet showed that it "petered out" entirely at 25 or 30 ft. Further work⟳ showed that small veinlets of this kind ran through the porphyry, and that the gold in the manto and the stream came from these elos, as the Nicaraguans call⟳ them, and not from a large, well-defined vein, such as I had hoped to find⟳. Although I got remarkably rich pannings from the hill, the discovery was of no economic importance.”

CEFR level