Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

jagua

English translation:

black sands /black sand concentrate

Added to glossary by Taña Dalglish
Aug 26, 2017 02:45
6 yrs ago
Spanish term

jagua

Spanish to English Art/Literary Mining & Minerals / Gems Colombia novel/literary
Dear colleagues:

I would appreciate your help in finding the specific English term for "jagua". It is a literary piece written about mining experiences based in Colombia.

Lo de la afición por la minería, definitivamente, no se lo había heredado él a su padre. Su padre no había hecho más que despotricar toda la vida de la minería. Y eso que su familia había tenido minas por xx, y que él mismo le contaba cómo, de niño, lo llevaban al río y lo sentaban bajo un toldo de hojas de palma mientras las negras zambullidoras, casi con las tetas al aire, se sumergían en la corriente con una batea y luego salían a la orilla y comenzaban a mover la batea para desechar la arena y dejar solo la ***jagua***, entre la que podía haber pepitas de oro...

Links I have found include several descriptions:

1) https://books.google.com.jm/books?id=4DWBNjs8iwEC&pg=PA669&l...
Las arenas más pesadas y ricas se lavaban en bateas de madera, hasta obtener una masa oscura o ***jagua***, formada por diversos óxidos de hierro, fragmentos de roca dura y oro. La jagua se purificaba mediante dos sistemas: por disolución en agua con ciertos jugos vegetables, como habían hecho los indígenas prehispánicos, o mediante amalgama con mercurio, según el método descubierto a mediados de XVI por los españoles. Finalmente, el oro puro se obtenía por destilación y fundición. Cuando el oro se hallaba en forma de cuarzo aurífero era preciso triturarlo previamente en molinos de agua.

2) http://www.beskydyubytovani.eu/como-separar-el-polvo-de-oro-...
En otros casos intercambian sus productos agrícolas por pepitas de oro para oficio de separar el oro de manera artesanal de la ** “jagua" (arena de color negro). **

3) https://books.google.com.jm/books?id=-M0sDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT17&lp...
El mayor incremento de las explotaciones auríferas se alcanzó en la década de 1530, con los trabajos sistemáticos que se llevaron a cabo en las minas mexicanas de Tehuantepec y Oaxaca. Muchas veces mediante la violencia y el trato vejatorio hacia los trabajadores. El oro extraído, en polvo, pepitas, o bajo forma de cuarzo aurífero se trabajaba de diversas formas hasta conseguir ***una masa llamada jagua,*** luego se trataba por amalgama para su destilación y fundición, o bien, en el caso de rocas auríferas, se trituraban mediante molinos hidráulicos para lavarlas posteriormente.

I would be grateful for the help. Thank you.

Taña
Change log

Aug 27, 2017 18:42: Taña Dalglish changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/609894">Taña Dalglish's</a> old entry - "jagua"" to ""placer [deposit]/ black sands / magnetite / ""

Aug 27, 2017 18:43: Taña Dalglish changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/609894">Taña Dalglish's</a> old entry - "jagua"" to ""black sands ""

Discussion

Robert Carter Aug 27, 2017:
Thanks, Taña, I'd just realized you had already made the entry. I'll leave it to you now.
Taña Dalglish (asker) Aug 27, 2017:
@ Tom / Robert Thank you both so much for your invaluable contributions. Tom, I appreciate your input, after the fact, and precisely why I posted the question in the first place. Again, thank you both! I will correct the glossary entry.
Robert Carter Aug 27, 2017:
@Tom Thanks once again, great to get your input! I'll use that for the glossary then.
Thomas Walker Aug 27, 2017:
@Robert Yes, I would be inclined to use 'black sands' here. "Jagua" is not magnetite, although magnetite is a typical component of jagua. And based on a little Bing searching, "black sand(s)" or "black sand concentrate" seems to be pretty common usage in the field.
Robert Carter Aug 27, 2017:
Thanks very much for the clarification, Tom. Would you suggest "black sands" as the most approximate translation in that case?
Thomas Walker Aug 27, 2017:
Placer Although I see that this question has already been closed, I did want to clarify a couple of points.
'In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish word placer, meaning "alluvial sand".' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_deposit; incidentally, there's a photo of "black sand concentrates" in this article.)
The "jagua" referred to in the ST is the black sand(s), remaining in the washing pan after the less-dense quartz particles have been washed out, leaving only the gold, magnetite & a few other species of heavier particles.
So the "jagua" is clearly not the placer, often a very extensive deposit, from which the black sands are extracted through the process of washing.
Taña Dalglish (asker) Aug 26, 2017:
Hi Robert Thanks, you are probably correct that "placer/placer deposit" is the way to go! Again, I appreciate your help! [I do try to do my own research before posting - so while I was 75% of the way there, I needed the reassurance]! LOL! Many thanks for your support.
Robert Carter Aug 26, 2017:
Glad to be of help, Taña, but I really think you were already there by the time I posted.
I think my choice would be "placer"; as with "jagua", it's quite jargony without sounding too scientific, or failing that, just "black sand".

"Placer environments typically contain black sand, a conspicuous shiny black mixture of iron oxides, mostly magnetite with variable amounts of ilmenite and hematite."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_deposit

¡Suerte!

Taña Dalglish (asker) Aug 26, 2017:
@ Robert Thank you for your wonderful proposal. As you guessed correctly, I am wondering if there is a "colloquial" term for "jagua". You have provided some great suggestions "magnetite" & "black sands", but I am mulling it over given the fact it is more a literary piece and now wonder if "magnetite" is too technical a term [you can see from the tone of the piece "....lo sentaban bajo un toldo de hojas de palma mientras las negras zambullidoras, casi con las tetas al aire, se sumergían en la corriente con una batea ..."] that it is quite "relaxed" (for want of a better term). Great job, Robert. Thank you so much.
Robert Carter Aug 26, 2017:
Just as I imagined, it looks like you're already close to working it out yourself!
Taña Dalglish (asker) Aug 26, 2017:
More context .... Another link (in English) this time:
https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1991/0579/report.pdf
jagua nf [Col] powdery, sulfide ore | black sands in placers | concentrates rich in gold and heavy minerals | j. de recorte heavy mineral
residues from gold recovery in an arrastre (arrastre nm creep, drag | drag-mill used to crush ore (generally misspelled in English as arrastra).
Thank you!

Proposed translations

+4
37 mins
Selected

placer [deposit]/ black sands / magnetite /

Hi Taña, here are a couple of ideas, I don't know if there's a specific colloquial word for it though:

"When dealing with the black sands (jagua) containing gold flakes and iron oxides, the colonial miners used indigenous inventions"
(Google books reference)
http://tinyurl.com/yah82gk6

"For final clean-up, a combination of other methods may be used: 1) a hand magnet to remove the magnetite (jagua) from the dried gold concentrate"
https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2015AM/webprogram/Paper256435.htm...

“La jagua siempre va con el oro, la jagua es nosotros la llamamos en términos científicos la magnetita” (Adolfo García).
https://repository.javeriana.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10554/1...

And apparently, "placer" is a Spanish word for alluvial sand, wouldn't you know. And there's me thinking it meant "pleasure"!

In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish word placer, meaning "alluvial sand". Placer mining is an important source of gold, and was the main technique used in the early years of many gold rushes, including the California Gold Rush. Types of placer deposits include alluvium, eluvium, beach placers, and paleoplacers.
Placer materials must be both dense and resistant to weathering processes. To accumulate in placers, mineral particles must be significantly denser than quartz (whose specific gravity is 2.65), as quartz is usually the largest component of sand or gravel. Placer environments typically contain black sand, a conspicuous shiny black mixture of iron oxides, mostly magnetite with variable amounts of ilmenite and hematite. Valuable mineral components often occurring with black sands are monazite, rutile, zircon, chromite, wolframite, and cassiterite.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_deposit

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Note added at 42 mins (2017-08-26 03:27:40 GMT)
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Here's another reference from the same document I cited above:

"La jagua es una mezcla negra de varias partículas las cuales dentro de sus componentes hay óxido de hierro magnético, ilmenita y polvo de oro (Ramos-Betancur, et al., 2007; West, 1957)."
https://repository.javeriana.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10554/1...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day16 hrs (2017-08-27 18:47:19 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

With Tom Walker's contribution, we decided to go with "black sands", since, as he mentions:

"The "jagua" referred to in the ST is the black sand(s), remaining in the washing pan after the less-dense quartz particles have been washed out, leaving only the gold, magnetite & a few other species of heavier particles.
So the "jagua" is clearly not the placer, often a very extensive deposit, from which the black sands are extracted through the process of washing."

Thanks, Tom!
Peer comment(s):

agree Charles Davis : Great stuff!
2 hrs
Thanks, Charles :-)
agree Marie Wilson : Very informative!
3 hrs
Thanks, Marie!
agree neilmac : "Placer" is the open cast mine. I came across it in plural "placeres" once and also thought it meant "pleasures" at first... :)
4 hrs
Thanks, Neil, yes, it's an odd usage. I think in traditional mining it would be referred to as the ore body or deposit.
agree Yvonne Gallagher
6 hrs
Thanks, Gallagy.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Again, thank you so much."
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