An assignment of

Underground metal mining.

INTRODUCTION

Shrinkage stoping is a vertical, overhand mining method

whereby most of the broken ore remains in the stope to form a
working floor for the miners. Another reason for leaving the
broken ore in the stope is to provide additional wall support
until the stope is completed and ready for drawdown.
 Stopes are mined upward in horizontal slices. Normally,
about 35% of the ore derived from the stope cuts (the swell)
can be drawn off (“shrunk”) as mining progresses. As a
consequence, no revenues can be obtained from the ore
remaining in the stope until it is finally extracted and
processed for its mineral values.
The method is labor intensive and cannot be readily
mechanized.

APPLICABILITY

It is usually applied to ore bodies on narrow veins or ore

bodies where other methods cannot be used or might be
impractical or uneconomical. The method can be easily
applied to ore zones as narrow as 4 ft (1.2 m), but can also be
successfully used in ore widths up to 100 ft (30 m).

CONDITIONS
1)Logically, the broken ore should be free flowing and not
pack in the stope.
2)Neither the ore nor adjacent country rock should contain
undue amounts of clay or other sticky material to cause
the ore to hang together in the stope nor is either difficult
or impossible to draw.
 3)Additionally, the ore should not readily oxidize, which
may cause the broken pile to re-cement itself, and
consequently “hang up.” Oxidation can also have an
adverse effect on ore dressing.
4)Ore should be fairly continuous along the strike of the
vein or ore body in order to avoid mining extensive
amounts of waste as dilution from the stope back.
However, small waste areas may be mined around and left
as random pillars. Consideration must also be given to the
plunge or rake of the ore body, especially where the entire ore
body may be mined as a single stope (Fig. 3.1) rather than as
pre-established stope panels with defined vertical end lines. A
stope with shallow plunge or rake (<50”) may very difficult to
mine by shrinkage methods because the ore moves away too
quickly from the pre-developed extraction system (Fig. 3.2).
Additionally, stopes where ore abruptly extends for great
distances beyond stope end lines are also difficult to mine
because they often require much additional development work
to the stope extraction system (Fig. 3.3), especially raising

Figure:-
Fig 3.1: Longitudinal section-typical shrinkage stope.

Figure:-
Fig. 3.2. Longitudinal section—shrinkage on shallow-raking
ore body.

Figure:-
 Fi
g.3.3 Longitudinal section—shrinkage on irregular ore body.

DEVELOPMENT AND PREPARATION

Sites for shrinkage stoping are generally developed by drifting

in the vein or ore zone on two levels, spaced vertically 100 to
600 ft (30 to 180 m) apart.
 After a viable ore body has been established, the next
phase consists of driving one or more raises to establish
vertical ore continuity and also to provide ventilation and
access to the stope (Fig. 3.1)
Raises may be driven conventionally, with Alimak-type
raise climbers, or by raise boring machines. Drifting for
shrinkage development is normally done by conventional drill-
and-blast, track or trackless methods.

Stopes may be prepared with extraction raises on 25- to

30- ft (7.5- to 9-m) centers over the length of the ore shoot;
each raise is fitted with a chute, normally of timber
construction.
Extraction raises are belled out and “hogged over” as the
undercut for the start of the first stope cut. This type of
preparation is still used but on a very limited basis.

Another method of preparing a stope is to blast down at

least two backs of the ore zone, clean up the broken ore, and
install stull timbers or timber sets in the drift below the stope.
Timber chutes, or even “chainman” chutes, are installed at
approximately 25-ft (7.5-m) intervals as part of the timbering.

A more common method of preparing stope in modern

operation is to dry when extraction drift parallel to the ore
body development drift, about 25 to 50 ft (7.5 to 15 m) in
footwall of the ore body. Subsequently, drawhole extraction
cross cut are driven from the footwall drift into the ore drift on
25- to 50-ft (7.5- to 15-m) centers. The back of ore body is
then blasted down, and the swell is extracted through the
drawholes, either with rail-mounted mucking machines or
load-haul-dumps (LHDs) (Fig. 3.4).

Fig 3.4 Shrinkage stope with LHD extraction.

 STOPING OPERATIONS
Once a shrinkage stope has been established, man ways are
usually installed in the raise from the next level. A man way
and service way is normally constructed on one or both end
panels of the stope.
Often a timber slide is installed in one of the man ways
for hoisting and lowering materials into and out of the stope;
hoisting is often accomplished with a single-drum air hoist
installed in the level below the man way. Once the man ways,
ventilation raises, and service ways have been established for
a
stope, mining can commence.
Drilling of a shrinkage stope back is accomplished with
Hand-held stopers or jacklegs, although mechanized drill
wagons or stope jumbos may be used in wider stopes. Back
stoping is the normal mode of operation, but breasting down is
also common.
Up-holes are generally 1.8 to 2.4 m (6 to 8 ft) in length. In
most cases, all holes are loaded and a complete back is blasted
at a time. Breasts are drilled with a 8- to 10-ft (2.4- to 3-m)
horizontal holes and normally blasted once per shift.
Holes are loaded with ANFO products or water gels and
even with slurry blasting agents. Initiation is commonly with
non electric methods, but electric blasting is also practiced.
 After a cut has been blasted in a stope, drawdown of the
35% swell is necessary, after which the muck pile must be
leveled to facilitate drilling of the next cut.
Leveling of the pile can be done by hand shovels in the
case of small stope, with 2- or 3- drum slushers in larger or
longer stopes, and even with LHDs in large stopes.
After leveling, drilling of the next stope cut, raising of the
manways, and so forth are done to continue the mining cycle.

Variations for the establishment of openings for man- ways,

ventilation raises, or service ways may include installation of
Strategically placed timber cribbed openings, steel culverts or
rings, or timber sets within the broken ore area. These
installations may be very desirable during the mining phase,
but may create safety problems and nuisances with the
collapse of the materials used to construct these openings.
Pinning, stulling, or wedging these installations to the stope
walls may prevent their destruction during drawdown;
materials from a destroyed man way may be drawn down with
the broken ore into the chutes or Draw-holes and cause hang-
ups.

A stope should have strong, self-supporting walls to permit

the application of shrinkage stoping. Dilution through scaling

of walls can preclude use of the method. Good mining

practice coupled with state and federal regulations may dictate
a least a minimum ground support program.
 SUPPORTING AND ITS VARIATION

1) Pillars: - Wall and back support may be

accomplished by leaving random or even systematic
pillars. Pillars left in ore zones may be drilled off and
blasted upon drawdown of the stope.
2) Timber stulls fitted with plank headboards have been
installed to support suspicious slabs or areas of bad
ground of stope walls. Horizontal stulls and cribbing are
also used to support loose areas of stope backs;
however, the timbers may be buried in the muck pile
upon shooting the next stope back, and may become a
hazard.
3) Rock bolting has evolved into the preferred mode of
wall and back support. Mechanical as well as grouted
types of bolts are used. Correct installation of bolts in
the walls of narrow shrinkage stopes may be difficult
because of the lack of room to drill the bolt hole
perpendicular to the stope wall as well as to install the
required length of rock bolt.

SAMPLING OF SHRINKAGE STOPE

Sampling of narrow shrinkage stope backs is usually done
by either taking a channel or chip sample by hand. Sampling is
done at a systematic interval (say, 5 ft or 1.5 m) along the
entire back, ends, and in some cases, the ribs of the stope after
every stope cut.
In wider stopes, drill sampling of the back and ribs can be
done. The drill sample may criss-cross the stope back on a
predetermined pattern.
 STOPE DRAWDOWN

One of the most dangerous jobs in a mine is the

drawdown of shrinkage stopes, especially where the ore
contains sticky material to hang up between the stope walls.
Hung-up stopes must be washed down with water,
bombed down with explosives, picked down by miners (a
practice not recom- mended), abandoned, or re-mined. In any
case, a hung-up stope is a costly and dangerous problem, and
shrinkage stoping should not generally be used where the ore
has a tendency to hang up. Stopes should usually be drawn
down systematically, drawing the pile evenly so if the stope
walls do peel or slough, the waste remains atop the pile and
does not trap broken ore rilled above the pile.
Once a stope drawdown is started, the operator’s control
over the walls, pillar recovery, etc., is minimal and in most
cases, the re-entry of miners into a stope under active
drawdown would be considered too great a safety hazard to
risk.
Stopes can be drawn down from strategically placed
chutes or from draw point crosscuts.
Haulage from the stope extraction points may be done
with rail equipment or LHDs and/or trucks. Chutes should be
robustly designed and constructed to avoid destroying them
through blasting of large slabs in them. Stopes may also be
extracted through slusher trenches developed below the stope.
 VARIATIONS AND APPLICATIONS OF
SHRINKAGE METHOD

Variations of shrinkage stoping include inclined shrinkage

and longhole shrinkage.

One example of mines that employed shrinkage as a

primary stoping method is the Homestake mine at Lead, SD.
Fifty-foot (15-m) wide “bull pen” shrinkage stopes were
developed transversely across the full width of the great Main
Ledge ore body. Stopes were mined over a timbered sill where
strategic china chutes were constructed for ore extraction.
Stopes were mined over the sill for about 70 vertical ft
(20 m) to within 30 ft (9 m) of the next level. Twenty-five-ft
(7.6-m) wide pillars were left between stopes, which along
with the crown pillars, were subsequently extracted with
square-set stopes. Homestake abandoned this type of
shrinkage stoping just before World War II.

A second example is the Idarado mine located near

Ouray and Telluride, CO. Stopes were mined along the veins
and the full width of the veins, which varied from 5 to 25 ft
(1.5 to 7.6 m). Stope panels were generally 400 ft (122 m)
long and were prepared over a slusher trench developed about
20 ft (6 m) over the back of the main level drifts.
A series of pockets and raises on 25-ft (7.6-m) centers
were developed from the slusher trench and the pockets
“hogged over” to form pillars between the trench and the first
cut of the stope.
 Ore was extracted from the stope, shushing from the
pockets to a chute in the center of the stope. Stopes were
normally mined from level to level or about 200 ft (60 m)
along the dip.
A variation of the above was practiced at the Morococha
and Casapalca mines of the Cerro de Pasco Corp. located in
the central Andes Mountains of Peru, South America. Topes in
these mines were prepared over the main development level
driving 25-ft (7.6-m) raises on 25-ft (7.6-m) centers and
“hogging” out from the raises to form the first stope cut at
about 16 ft (5 m) over the level. Each raise was then fitted
with a timbered chute for ore extraction.
In all cases, a raise was first developed through each ore
block or stope panel for ventilation and service. Manways
were either carried as cribbed raises in the stope or, in the case
of Idarado, as boreholes 10 ft (3 m) in the footwall of the vein.
In the vein mines, drilling was accomplished with either
stopers or jacklegs, while at the Homestake, drilling as done
with bar- and-column mounted Leyner-type drills.

Variations of shrinkage stoping include inclined shrink-

age, longhole shrinkage, and construction shrinkage.
Inclined shrinkage refers to a rill stoping adaptation where
multiple faces or benches for drilling are carried along the
back of the stope as it is mined upward (Fig. 3.5).
 STOPE DEVELOPMENT

Stopes are developed conventionally over pillars and

chutes or over timber sets fitted with chutes on centers of
about 25 ft (7.6m). The advantage of carrying the stope in
benches is that multiple faces can be drilled in a given shift
where it is desirable to drill the stope with airleg-type drills
rather than stopers.
Longhole shrinkage (Fig 3.6) is developed conventionally
as described previously. The exception is that drilling of the
stope is done from vertical raises driven through the ore zone
on 50- to 100-ft (15- to 30-m) centers. Raises can be
developed with raise climbers or through cage raising
techniques.
The raise climber or the cage becomes the entry and exit
vehicle as well as the platform for drilling and loading.
Parallel longholes are drilled along the strike of the ore body
and loaded from the raises. Initiation normally is done from a
safe area on the service level above the stope.
Shafts, winzes, or large break raises for blasthole or
sublevel caving stopes may be developed through shrinkage
methods (Fig. 3.7).

In many cases, this is done as described in the longhole

variation. Given a large enough opening, conventional
shrinkage stoping of a shaft or raise may be justified.
1) Inclined shrinkage refers to a rill stoping adaptation
where multiple faces or benches for drilling are carried
along the back of the stope as it is mined upward
(Fig.3.5). Stopes are developed conventionally over
pillars and chutes or over timber sets fitted with chutes on
centers of about 25 ft (7.6 m). The advantage of carrying
the stope in benches is that multiple faces can be drilled in
a given shift where it is desirable to drill the stope with
airleg-type drills rather than stopers.

Fig.3.5 Shrinkage stope, Rosiclare, IL.

2)Longhole shrinkage (Fig 3.6) is developed
conventionally as described previously. The exception is
that drilling of the stope is done from vertical raises
driven through the ore zone on 50- to 100-ft (15- to 30-m)
centers. Raises can be developed with raise climbers or
through cage raising techniques.
The raise climber or the cage becomes the entry and
exit vehicle as well as the platform for drilling and
loading. Parallel longholes are drilled along the strike of
the ore body and loaded from the raises. Initiation
normally is done from a safe area on the service level
above the stope.

Fig.3.6 Longhole shrinkage stoping.

 Shafts, winzes, or large break raises for blasthole or
sublevel caving stopes may be developed through shrinkage
methods (Fig. 3.7). In many cases, this is done as described in
the longhole variation. Given a large enough opening,
conventional shrinkage stoping of a shaft or raise may be
justified.

Fig.3.7. Construction shrinkage stoping by conventional

method.
 CASE STUDY: LA LIBERTAD MINE,
PUEBLO NUEVO, DURANGO, MEXICO

The small La Libertad mine was brought on-stream in July

1977 by Minas de San Luis, S.A., a 51% Mexican-owned
Company (Haptonstall, 1980). The mine was developed
entirely for shrinkage stoping.
GENERAL. La Libertad was essentially a virgin silver-gold
deposit in a very rugged location in the Mexican Sierra Madre
Mountains. The only previous mining done in the area was a
small tonnage extracted from the outcrop of the principal
Santa
Rosa vein in the 1930s. The total investment to bring La
Libertad on stream was about $3.5 million (in 1975 dollars).
GEOLOGY. The ore deposit occurred in quartz veins hosted
in tertiary rhyolite intrusive and tuffs. The principal ore shoot
on the Santa Rosa vein is 1150 ft (350 m) long, 450 ft (145 m)
high, and on average 20 ft (6 m) wide. Dip of the vein is
70°W.
ORE RESERVE. Mine commenced with 193,800 tons
(176,200 t) averaging 11.5 oz/ton (400 g/t).
MINING METHOD. Shrinkage stoping.
EQUIPMENT. 1-yd3 (0.8-m3) LHDs, 2-drum air slushers,
stopes and jacklegs, on highway trucks.
PRODUCTIVITY. 7.7 tons (7.0 t)/employee-shift in stope.
 Parameters

The following parameters affect the shrinkage method:-

1)Ore characteristics: requires strong ore, non-oxidizing

ore, ore that does not pack or stick together, and ore that
do not spontaneously combust.

2)Host rock characteristics: requires strong to moderately

strong walls.

3) Deposit shape: almost any shape but should have

uniform dip and boundaries.

4) Deposit dip: greater than angle of repose (> 45°), and

preferably steeper than 60°.

5)Deposit size: narrow to moderate width (3 to 100 ft, or 1

to 30 m); length minimum of 50 ft (15 m) to unlimited
panel stopes on long strike lengths.

6)Ore grade: moderate to high.

 Features

Advantages:-
1. Small to moderate production rates.
2. Gravity drawdown of stope.
3. Simple method, especially for small mines.
4. Low capital investment, some mechanization possible.
5. Ground support of ore and walls minimal.
6. Stope development moderate.
7. Good ore recovery (75 to 100%) low dilution (10 to25%).
8. Reasonable selectivity possible.

Disadvantages:-
1. Productivity low to moderate, 3 to 10 tons
(2.7 to 9t)/employee-shift in stopes.
2. Mining costs moderate to high.
3. Labor intensive, mechanization limited.
4. Difficult working conditions, especially in narrow and
short stopes.
5. About 60% of ore tied up in stope until completed.
6. Ore can pack, oxidize, or spontaneously combust in
stopes.
7. Risk of loss of stope during drawdown if not properly
controlled.
 SUMMARY

Under most economic evaluations, the labor intensity of

shrinkage stoping precludes its widespread application in
modern mining situations. However, it may be the only
possible method applicable in the case of a mine in which the
ore bodies occur in very narrow veins and cannot be stopped
by other methods.
Shrinkage may also be used in special situations where small.
Ore blocks cannot be extracted economically any other way or
in conjunction with other stoping methods.

The End