placer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a surface or near-surface deposit of sand or gravel containing particles of a valuable mineral, especially gold

   The prospectors washed sediment from the placer to separate its flakes of gold.

2. 2
   noun

   a place where valuable minerals are extracted from such an alluvial deposit

   The crew worked a shallow placer beside the river throughout the summer.

Borrowed from American Spanish placer, 'sandbank or alluvial deposit,' probably through an older form placel. In mining English it came to denote loose sediment in which water has concentrated heavy valuable minerals.

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