[stoh-ping] 
| a process by which magmas move upward in the earth by breaking off and engulfing blocks of overlying rocks. |
[stohp] ,noun, verb, stoped, stop⋅ing.| 1. | any excavation made in a mine, esp. from a steeply inclined vein, to remove the ore that has been rendered accessible by the shafts and drifts. |
| 2. | to mine or work by stopes. |
| stope (stōp) n. An excavation in the form of steps made by the mining of ore from steeply inclined or vertical veins. tr.v. stoped, stop·ing, stopes To remove (ore) from or mine by means of a stope. [Perhaps from Low German, step, from Middle Low German stōpe.] stop'er n. |
stoping
in mining engineering, the opening of large underground rooms, or stopes, by the excavation of ore. Stoping is practiced in underground mineral mining when the surrounding rock is strong enough to permit the drilling, blasting, and removal of ore without caving. In mines where the rock requires no artificial support, the operation is known as open stoping. A common open-stoping method is room-and-pillar mining, in which pillars of ore are left standing to support the rock over a flat-lying ore body.
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