Vanning

Vanning is a type of ore dressing by which ores are washed on a shovel.[1] Typically, a powdered sample of orestuff is swirled with water on the blade of a shovel and then given a series of upward flicking motions. The heavier ore is tossed up through the water and appears as a crescent shaped patch at the top of the charge with the lighter gangue below. Developed in western England, this process was still in use at a major tin mine and a mine waste collection firm in Cornwall until 1985.[2]

  1. ^ "Definition of vanning".
  2. ^ Bryan Earl & K. Aslihan Yener. "Tin Smelting at the Oriental Institute". Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. PDF version