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Underhand stoping, also known as horizontal-cut underhand or underbreaking stoping, is the working of an ore deposit from the top downwards. Like shrinkage stoping, underhand stoping is most suitable for steeply dipping ore bodies. Because of the mechanical advantage it offers hand tools being struck
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Depending on rock conditions and other technical considerations, once the stope has reached its engineered height, it may be left open or backfilled for support. A common historical method of hydraulic fill involved dumping waste rock into a completed stope, then slurrying in a mixture of mill sand
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Longhole raise, a pattern of tightly spaced blastholes and reamers (empty holes with no charge), similar to a burn cut in a development round. Can be done as downhole and fired in multiple lifts (15m rise in 3 lifts of 5 m to minimise chance of blast failing) or as uphole in one single firing.
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Holes drilled underground are generally drilled perpendicular, in a radial pattern around the drive. For the blastholes to successfully extract the ore material they must be able to fire into a void in front. A slot is required in every stope to provide the initial void. The slot is often the most
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A stope can be created in a variety of ways. The specific method of stoping depends on a number of considerations, both technical and economical, based largely on the geology of the ore body being mined. These include the incline of the deposit (whether it is flat, tilted or vertical), the width of
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that uses systematic or random timbering ("stulls") placed between the foot and hanging wall of the vein. The method requires that the hanging wall and often the footwall be of competent rock as the stulls provide the only artificial support. This type of stope has been used up to a depth of 3,500
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Long hole stoping as the name suggests uses holes drilled by a production drill to a predetermined pattern as designed by a mining engineer. Long hole stoping is a highly selective and productive method of mining and can cater for varying ore thicknesses and dips (0 – 90 degree). It differs from
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Square-set stoping is a historical method of stoping which relies on interlocking timbers set into place forming a grid, wedged tightly against the rock. As the mining progresses, generally upwards, new timber sets are added to fill the void. Ore is dropped through the sets freely or fed into
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and water. The water drains away leaving the sand to lock the fill in place. Other methods of hydraulic fill using cement and mill sand, such as paste fill, are more contemporary methods of stoping and unlikely used in conjunction with the antiquated method of squareset timbering.
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The biggest limitation with this method is the length of holes that can be accurately drilled by the production drill, larger diameter holes using in the hole hammer drills can be accurate to over 100 m in length while floating boom top hammer rigs are limited to ~30 m.
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Raise bore, a circular shaft mined bottom up using mechanical rollers to achieve shaft profile. This method works well in larger stopes however requires both access to top and bottom of stoping block. Raise bores work most effectively between 45 and 90
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bodies (70°—90°). In shrinkage stoping, mining proceeds from the bottom upwards, in horizontal slices (similar to cut and fill mining), with the broken ore being left in place for miners to work from. Because blasted rock takes up a greater volume than
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Breast stoping is a method used in horizontal or near-horizontal ore bodies, where gravity is not usable to move the ore around. Breast stoping lacks the characteristic "steps" of either underhand or overhand stoping, being mined in a singular cut.
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Open stoping is generally divided into two basic forms based on direction: overhand and underhand stoping, which refer to the removal of ore from above or below the level, respectively. It is also possible to combine the two in a single operation.
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manual methods such as timbered and shrinkage as once the stope has begun blasting phase it cannot be accessed by personnel. For this reason the blasted rock is designed to fall into a supported drawpoint or removed with remote control
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Airleg raise, using an airleg (jackleg) machine to develop a sub vertical raise into the stoping block. This method has the advantage of giving geological and geotechnical teams further analysis of the stoping block prior to
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Boxhole boring, similar to raise boring but less productive as broken material is extracted from the same location as the drill, is used to bore vertically with no top level access required. (Hamza, 2016)
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In overhand stoping, the deposit is worked from the bottom upward, the reverse of underhand stoping. With the advent of rock blasting and power drills, it became the predominant direction of stoping.
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In combined stoping, the deposit is simultaneously worked from the bottom upward and the top downward, combining the techniques of overhand and underhand stoping into a single approach.
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difficult, costly and highest risk component of mining a stope. Depending on the shape, height and other factors, different methods to create a slot can be used such as:
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was introduced. From the 19th century onward, various other explosives, power-tools, and machines came into use. As mining progresses the stope is often backfilled with
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This method works well for shorter raises between 45 and 90 deg, however it is prone to freezing and may require remedial drilling to extract slot to full height.
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It is common to dig shafts vertically downwards to reach the ore body and then drive horizontal levels through it. Stoping then takes place from these levels.
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Stoping is considered "productive work", and is contrasted with "deadwork", the work required merely to access the mineral deposit, such as sinking
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downward (rather than upward, against gravity), this method was dominant prior to the invention of rock blasting and powered tools.
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the deposit, the grade of the ore, the hardness and strength of the surrounding rock, and the cost of materials for supports.
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is sufficiently strong not to collapse into the stope, although in most cases artificial support is also provided.
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or goffen. A common method of mining such vertical ore bodies is stull stoping, see below.
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in
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feet (1,077 m) and at intervals up to 12 feet (3.7 m) wide. The 1893 mining disaster at
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A large stope in the
Treadwell gold mine, Alaska 1908; an example of shrinkage stoping
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A large stope converted into a chapel in a salt mine in Poland – now open to tourists
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Sketch painting of miners stoping at the Burra Burra Mine, Burra, Australia, 1847.
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539:. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.
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This article is about the mining term. For the geological process, see
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The earliest forms of stoping were conducted with hand tools or by
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chutes and either loaded into ore cars or mucked out from there.
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When the ore body is more or less horizontal, various forms of
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in an
American iron mine in the 20th century (museum exhibit)
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Vivian, John (1970). "When the Bottom of
Dolcoath Fell In".
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can take place. In steeply-dipping ore bodies, such as
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282:or left empty, depending on the rock conditions.
494:Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms
566:. St. Austell: H. E. Warne Ltd. pp. 38–40.
262:Shrinkage stoping is most suitable for steeply
474:"Trust In Gold – Production, – Mining Methods"
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536:A Glossary of the Mining and Mineral Industry
434:. New York City: G.B. Putnam's Sons. p.
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210:Stull stoping is a form of stoping used in
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581:. Finland: Tamrock Corp. pp. 126–127.
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65:, leaving behind an open space known as a
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340:Learn how and when to remove this message
57:is the process of extracting the desired
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61:or other mineral from an underground
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518:. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp.
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458:. New York: McGraw-Hill. p.
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550:SME Mining Engineering Handbook
410:. Cornish Mining World Heritage
355:LHD (load, haul, dump machine)
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197:is a type of breast stoping.
564:Tales of the Cornish Miners
320:the claims made and adding
69:. Stoping is used when the
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431:Principles of Metal Mining
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512:Hoover, Herbert (1909).
452:Hoover, Herbert (1909).
577:Puhakka, Tuula (1997).
533:Fay, Albert H. (1920).
428:Collins, J. H. (1874).
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201:Timbered-stope systems
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236:Virginia City, Nevada
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515:Principles of Mining
476:. World Gold Council
455:Principles of Mining
230:was invented in the
228:Square-set timbering
667:Mountaintop removal
365:Slot – initial void
820:Underground mining
499:2003-01-16 at the
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29:Stoping (geology)
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276:swell factor
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124:cut and fill
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78:fire-setting
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71:country rock
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794:Prospecting
676:Sub-surface
704:Directions
622:techniques
552:, Volume 1
480:2009-05-08
414:2009-05-08
391:References
314:improve it
280:backfilled
99:, carving
784:Automated
779:Abandoned
695:Soft rock
690:Hard rock
642:Quarrying
330:June 2020
318:verifying
122:stoping,
82:gunpowder
48:air drill
814:Category
754:Longwall
731:Borehole
726:Bell pit
657:Dredging
637:Open-pit
497:Archived
107:Overview
86:tailings
80:; later
759:Retreat
741:Stoping
683:Classes
629:Surface
383:mining.
312:Please
272:in situ
264:dipping
55:Stoping
652:Placer
620:Mining
140:gunnis
97:winzes
93:shafts
772:Other
721:Shaft
716:Slope
711:Drift
647:Strip
132:lodes
126:, or
101:adits
67:stope
522:–97.
375:deg.
95:and
63:mine
316:by
267:ore
136:tin
134:of
59:ore
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444:^
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399:^
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612:e
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