Love referring to mineral (3)
I believe the answer is:
ore
'mineral' is the definition.
(I know that ore is a type of mineral)
'love referring to' is the wordplay.
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'referring to' becomes 're' ('re' means regarding or about).
'o'+'re'='ORE'
(Other definitions for ore that I've seen before include "Natural material from which metals can be extracted" , "Natural minerals" , "Raw mineral" , "Small coins" , "Rock from which metal is extracted" .)