The term is also in common usage amongst the geological fraternity in
Australia where you're either a 'hard rock' geologist (generally metals
mining) or a 'soft rock' geologist (oil, gas and coal). In referencing
the latter community, the often contemptuous 'hard rock' geologists will
commonly misspell 'soft rock' with a 'c'...
No slight intended.
Ian
(a hard rock geologist)
On 19/07/2013 1:44 AM, Roy Fellows wrote:
> Cornwalls Central Mines by T A Morrison
> Inside the cover is a short bio on the author in which the term is used in
> connection with him working underground in "Cornwall, Germany and in
> Canadian gold mines in Northern Ontario and at Yellow Knife near the Arctic
> Circle. Since 1976 he has worked at Dome Mines Ltd, near Timmins Ontario
> where is he a mine captain." (1980)
>
> So there you are, I have taken you round in a circle back to where the query
> originated from.
> Sorry
>
> Roy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Brooks [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 18 July 2013 14:31
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Hardrockers / hard rock mining
>
> Hi List
>
> I have never come across this term being used either in southern Africa
> (Zambia, Zimbabwe, S Africa) or here in Cornwall. I think that it is
> purely a N American term
>
> Tony Brooks
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christopher J Williams
> Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 2:07 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Hardrockers / hard rock mining
>
> There is a book by John Rowe, The Hard-Rock Men, Cornish Immigrants and
> the North American Mining Frontier, first published in 1974 by the
> University
> of Liverpool Press in the UK, and Barnes and Noble in the USA. I don't
> have access to a copy, but the publisher's blurb on a copy for sale online
> describes it as 'a thorough history of the Cornish miners who brought their
> skills to America and played a crucial role in the development of hard-rock
> mining, especially in the West'. The Cornish miner was accustomed to
> working
> in granite, of course.
>
> The Oxford English Dictionary (online) says that the use of the term in
> mining is only in North America: 'experienced in underground work in hard
> massive formations;--said of a miner (Webster 1934)'. The earliest example
> given is from 1923.
>
> The alternative meaning of 'a type of strident music' is found in both the
> USA and UK.
>
> Christopher J Williams
>
>
> In a message dated 18/07/2013 12:57:47 GMT Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Here in New England, this term is often used among geologists to describe
> those of us who work on bedrock geology, vs. the "softrockers" who are
> concerned with non-lithified glacial and postglacial sediments.
>
> I'm not sure what the bedrockers are called in states beyond the glacial
> limit, where the rocks are deeply weathered to saprolites!
>
> Woody Thompson
> Maine Geological Survey
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Peter Claughton
> Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 4:38 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Hardrockers / hard rock mining
>
> I've had the following query on the term 'hardrocker' as used to denote a
> miner working on hard rock mining and it's first use in North America - is
> it perhaps of European origin?
>
>> My name is King Adkins and I am a professor at the South Dakota School
>> of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota. I'm doing research
>> into our school nickname, "The Hardrockers." Located in the Black Hills
>> of South Dakota, I know, of course, that the term relates to hard rock
>> mining, but my interest is in tracking down the origins of this
>> specific term. Was it for instance, a slang term invented by the miners
>> themselves, or was it created by the industry to refer to such miners?
>> Did it originate here in the Black Hills, or does it date back further
>> in the history of mining?
> Peter
>
>
> Dr Peter Claughton,
> Blaenpant Morfil, nr. Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
> Tel. +44 (0)1437 532578; Fax. +44 (0)1437 532921; Mobile +44 (0)7831 427599
>
> Hon. University Fellow - College of Humanities, University of Exeter
> http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/about.htm
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
> See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
>
> Mining History Pages - http://www.people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/mhinf/
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