stoping

In mining, the act of excavating mineral ground to remove the ore after this has been rendered accessible by the necessary preliminary exeavations—namely, sinking one or more shafts or winzes and running drifts.

A method by which intrusive igneous masses are supposed to make a way for themselves by breaking off blocks of the overlying rock and passing them downward and backward until wholly or partially absorbed. See the extract.

The act of excavating in the form of stopes.

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