Cut & Fill Stoping

Cut and fill Mining
Description
In cut and fill mining the ore is excavated by

drilling and blasting in horizontal slices, starting
from the bottom of a stope and advancing upwards
as in shrinkage stoping. A slice has a thickness of
not more than 3m. The broken ore is loaded and
completely removed from the stope. When one
slice of ore has been excavated, the corresponding
volume is filled with waste material upto within 2-3
m of the back before the next slice is attacked. The
filling serves both as support for the walls and as a
floor when the next slice above is mined.
Cut and fill Mining

Description (Contd.)
The filling material may be waste rock excavated during

development, crushed and distributed mechanically over the
stope area. In modern cut and fill, however, the hydraulic filling
method is a normal practice. The filling material may be mill
tailings from the ore dressing plant, sand, crushed rock, boiler
plant ash or slag of smelter plants. The mill tailings should be of
coarse size as fine tailings , available from the mills where the
ore needs to be crushed very fine for treatment, are easily
washed away by the flowing water. The filling material mixed
with water, is transported into the mine and distributed through
pipelines. When the water is drained off a solid consolidated fill
with a smooth surface is produced. Sometimes the material in
the last pour in a fill is mixed with cement to provide a hard
working surface.
Cut and fill Mining

Applicability
Cut and fill mining can be used with steeply dipping as

well as large deposits with irregular outline can be
worked. It is thus a versatile method.
The filling operations are easier with steeper deposits.
An important advantage of this method is the flexibility
and high degree of extraction.
Compared to sublevel stoping and high shrinkage
stoping, cut and fill method offers advantage of
selectivity. High grade ore can be extracted leaving the
low grade ore behind in the fill.
Dilution of ore is very little. It is therefore often used for
ores with irregular boundaries, ores of rather high value
and unstable wall rocks.
This method is preferred to other mining methods where
ground surface is to be prevented from subsidence.
Cut and fill Mining

Preparation
The ore block may be prepared in the same way as

for shrinkage stoping but the chute raises are not
funneled out at the top. The preparations of :
Haulage drift along the ore body at the lower main
level.
Undercut of the stope, usually 5-10 m above the
haulage drift.
Short raises for manways and ore passes from
haulage drift to undercut.
Raise from undercut to the level above for
transport of material and for ventilation.
Cut and fill Mining

Preparation (Contd.)
Provision of sufficient water and filling material and

arrangement for their storage and transport.
Adequate pumping capacity underground to pump out
water overflowing from the filled stope.
The ore slice in cut and fill can be drilled in two
different ways, with horizontal shot holes or with
upward, vertical holes. With the later method a certain
headroom is required between the back and the fill
surface, usually 2.5-3m. After blasting and removal of
the ore, this distance is increased to 6-7m, which
means that a comparatively competent ore and
hanging wall are required.
Figure 2.16
Cut and fill Mining

For the drilling, light rock drills on simple wagons are often
used. More mechanised drill rigs can also be used. An
advantage of the up-hole drilling method is that large sections
of the root can be drilled without interruptions and large
rounds can be blasted.
After every 2.4-2.5m slice of ore has been stripped from the
back, a series of specially cut planks of wood are built up
above each chute to within about 2.5m of the back. Waste
filling material is now placed in the stope between adjacent
timbered chutes and between the end chutes and the
barricades.
As the stope proceeds upwards, timbering and filling proceed
on a cyclic basis. When the crown pillar is reached, the stope
is completed and abandoned.
Figure 2.17 in definit
Cut and fill Mining

Where hydraulic filling is adopted it is possible to fill the stope
almost completely, close to the back. In this case the drilling
has to be performed with roughly horizontal holes in a vertical
face. The drilling equipment may consist of light air-leg rock
drills or rubber-tyred hydra boom jumbos. With this method, the
size of the round is limited which is, in a way, an advantage for
controlling the roof. Horizontal stopes are normally found these
days in improved cut and fill mines.
Cut and fill methods permit of mechanisation of drilling, and
loading operations.
With the complete back filling and horizontal drilling, scraping
becomes difficult and other method of loading have to be
considered. Rocker shovels are suitable for loading in stopes,
where the operation is characterized by a comparitively short
haul. In comparison with scrapers these shovels are more
versatile, clean the stope efficiently and work is unaffected by
curves and supports.
Cut and fill Mining

Cut and fill mining has a very broad range of
applications, due to the flexibility, good recovery
and the possibility of mining under rather weak
rock conditions. The hydraulic fill has improved the
economic and technical aspects of this method.
A characteristic of this method is that the cut and
fill is a cyclic operation, ore production from a
stope is discontinuous, as the mining has be
interrupted during the filling; with hydraulic fill the
filling period, however, is a compariaively short.
Cut and filing

Advantages
Unlike in shrinkage stoping, ore is removed immediately

after blasting. Hence no capital remain blocked up.
There are no fire hazards and no oxidation problem.
It is a safe method. A large area is not exposed and the
workers work in newly exposed area which does not get
sufficient time to deteriorate.
Preparatory arrangements or stoping are not heavy.
Stopes can be brought into production comparatively
quickly provided arrangements are made in advance for
filling operations.
Ventilation is comfortable because of small area of
stope for air current.
Cut and filing

Advantages (Contd.)
Dilution of ore is reduced to the minimum as there

is no spalling of wall rock.
General safety in the mine is increased as there are
no old stopes to collapse or transfer their roof
stresses to existing stope.
Secondary blasting can be done in the stope.
The method provides permanent support for
structures and other features on the surface which
must not be disturbed.
Mill tailings, if they are used for filling, reduce their
disposal problem on the surface.
Cut and filing

Disadvantages
As cut is a cyclic method, production of ore

is intermittent unless a few stopes are
worked simultaneously. When production
operations are suspended in one stope for
filling the other stopes should be able to
supply ore.
Suitable filling material may not be
available in all cases. Arrangements for
procuring filling material and transport to
the stope involves a sizable cost.

Cut & Fill Stoping

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Cut and fill Mining

In cut and fill mining the ore is excavated by

Cut and fill Mining

The filling material may be waste rock excavated during

Cut and fill Mining

Cut and fill mining can be used with steeply dipping as

Cut and fill Mining

The ore block may be prepared in the same way as

Cut and fill Mining

Provision of sufficient water and filling material and

Cut and fill Mining

Figure 2.17 in definit

Cut and fill Mining

Cut and fill Mining

Cut and filing

Unlike in shrinkage stoping, ore is removed immediately

Cut and filing

Dilution of ore is reduced to the minimum as there

Cut and filing

As cut is a cyclic method, production of ore

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