What is "stoping"

Stoping \Stop"ing\, n. (Mining) The act of excavating in the form of stopes.

Stope \Stope\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stoped; p. pr. & vb. n. Stoping.] (Mining)

1. To excavate in the form of stopes.

2. To fill in with rubbish, as a space from which the ore has been worked out.

n. In mining, the removal of the desired ore from an underground mine leaving behind an open space known as a stope.

Stoping is a process accommodating the ascent of magmatic bodies from their sources in the mantle or lower crust to the surface. The theory was independently developed by Canadian geologist Reginald Aldworth Daly and American geologist Joseph Barrell.

The process involves the mechanical disintegration of the surrounding country/host rock, typically through fracturing due to pressure increases associated with thermal expansion of the host rock in proximity of the interface with the melt. Once fractures are formed, melt and/or volatiles will typically invade, widening the fracture and promoting the foundering of host rock blocks (i.e. stoped blocks). Once suspended in the melt, stoped blocks may either sink or float depending upon the density of the block relative to that of the melt. Additionally, blocks submerged within melt are subject to further thermally-induced fracturing which may account for the often observed "lack of evidence" for the process of stoping.

Stoping is the process of extracting the desired ore or other mineral from an underground mine, leaving behind an open space known as a stope. Stoping is used when the country rock is sufficiently strong not to collapse into the stope, although in most cases artificial support is also provided.

The earliest forms of stoping were conducted with hand tools or by fire-setting; later gunpowder 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 tailings, or when needed for strength, a mixture of tailings and cement. In old mines, stopes frequently collapse at a later time, leaving craters at the surface. They are an unexpected danger when records of underground mining have been lost with the passage of time.

Stoping is considered "productive work", and is contrasted with "deadwork", the work required merely to access the mineral deposit, such as sinking shafts and winzes, carving adits, tunnels, and levels, and establishing ventilation and transportation.