Mining in Manitoba
Cut & Fill Mining
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In cut and fill mining, the ore is excavated in horizontal in horizontal slices, starting at the bottom (sill) of a stope and advancing upwards (crown).
The ore is removed from the stope with mechanized mobile equipment. When a slice of ore has been mined, hydraulically placed sandfill is poured into the mined out area and serves both as a floor when the next slice is mined out and as support for the walls.
Each horizontal slice (or cut) is mined 8 - 9 feet thick, by downbreak blasting, with about 10 feet advance each blast. This downbreaking is commonly called breasting.